So Today I had a 45 Minute test drive of a 5 door GTi TCR with DCC, I managed some dual carriageway a fair amount of Scottish A and B roads - car was on 19” Pirellis rather than Cups.
Here are my very subjective thoughts
What I liked
- The Performance, the car builds speed brilliantly and you can feel the albeit modest performance advantage over the Performance Pack.
- The brakes are really crisp, even allowing for the 8k difference between my own and the new TCR, for me these were the biggest performance difference.
- The Exhaust cracks on the overrun, I found the exhaust well judged other than at Motorway Speed where I did notice more of a drone.
- I liked the Pure Grey Paint, the front splitter and lip spoiler.
- I’d imagine the TCR would be a much better track car than the PP
What I didn’t like
- I couldn’t get a DCC setting on the country roads that I really liked..and found I was switching modes a lot, why VW didn’t move it’s location for the RHD car?
- I missed the lack of Manual, although less than I did in the Std PP ( I’m not against autos the A110 is auto)
- The Matte Wing Mirrors - they just seem poorly executed particularly when in the drivers seat and don’t match the other gloss black accents.
- Seat Fabric Quality, the Colour is great but the fabric quality isn’t the best.
In summary if I didn’t have a Mk 7.5 GTi and at the current market prices I’d go for one as I think they are a great use everyday hot hatch, but I didn’t find enough of a difference to make me consider a swap just now.
Interesting comments. I'm not sure the TCR was ever £8k more than a GTI Performance. In fact, it was just £2k difference in list price when launched, prior to them making the Akra exhaust standard and increasing the price.
The pricing sat between the GTI PP and the R when it was released and given what you got extra in BHP, style, brakes, and even the soft aspect of exclusivity feel that pricing point was correct
However the Akrapovic was a game changer as as standard fit and not an option, adding another £2500 to that price which would for most have them stay with the standard GTi PP and the R - Of course add Akrapovic to the R and you add another £3000.
I would not have paid for the exhaust, I would be in an R now if had to, but it definitely adds to the car as a package and its nice knowledge that the car driving matches the early concept photos completely.