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.