Ever tried a Dsg tune Exonian?
No. It’s something I would look at though. I’m wondering if a pedalbox might be a half answer.
The dsg manual dilemma. Normal manual gti would be the answer for me, but I like the seats and rear spoiler on the clubby. The extra power probably wouldn't use it enough these days. I have never driven a dsg though....
Then the whole m135 thing. Decisions decisions
The M135i is well worth checking out. Very impressive in many areas. The Golf is too though, just in different ways. Try and spend a bit of time in both.
To be perfectly honest I hardly use much of the performance of the Clubby these days either. The roads I drive don’t really lend themselves to wringing every last ounce of performance, they’re more about carrying speed through corners which means flexibility and the gearbox being in the right gear. Either that or stuck behind someone in a camper van with no places to safely pass.
But it’s the full package of the Clubsport that attracts me as opposed to any other model in the range (with the exception of a well loaded R which wasn’t available at the time I had to commit to a deal). Looks, exterior features, suspension, brakes, seats...
In previous generations I’d always said the DSG lacks a vital ingredient, that’s the driver’s vision to anticipate and plan.
With the mk8 it has most of that benefit. The car has a systems manager working with supposedly every component on the vehicle. The car tells me when I need to lift off the gas, it warns me of bends, speed limit changes and roundabouts well in advance. It has that eye in the sky capability built in.
So why can’t the car tell the gearbox to be in an appropriate gear when cruising down from 60 in an NSL towards a roundabout, so that once the driver has checked it to be safe to continue ahead at the roundabout still in NSL? I just end up with what feels like a box of clutch slip and indecision when trying to safely accelerate briskly but not balls out fast away from the potential danger zone (roundabout) into the continuing road ahead.
The car has masses of torque so a drop from 6 or 7th to 4th would easily suffice, using no more than 2500 - 3000 rpm going back up through the ‘box after the roundabout.
It would do that in the BMW but the DSG farts around before either selecting too high a gear way off boost or too low a gear and getting all frenetic. Basic basic stuff.
I’ve got 4 years of PCP to master it!
I’ll be a wizened old, long white bearded, DSG guru by then.
