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Model specific boards => Golf mk8 => Topic started by: Snoopy on 11 December 2021, 11:03

Title: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: Snoopy on 11 December 2021, 11:03
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GU92h1hez_8
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: fredgroves on 11 December 2021, 12:11
I always find it funny watching yanks trying to drive "stick"  :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: dfm on 11 December 2021, 12:31
Thanks for this. Liked their GTI review too.
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: BillSan on 13 December 2021, 12:24
Wait a minute!!!   Why do they get a manual gearbox when the UK R's are all DSG?  Will we be getting a manual option?
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: fredgroves on 13 December 2021, 13:30
Wait a minute!!!   Why do they get a manual gearbox when the UK R's are all DSG?  Will we be getting a manual option?

No its USA only.
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: DCmk3 on 14 December 2021, 13:49
Wait a minute!!!   Why do they get a manual gearbox when the UK R's are all DSG?  Will we be getting a manual option?

No its USA only.

Well that's a useful anti-theft feature for them.
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: Snoopy on 14 December 2021, 18:57
Wait a minute!!!   Why do they get a manual gearbox when the UK R's are all DSG?
Because VW USA asked for it.
https://youtu.be/mSSvLDzJzgA
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: GtiJames on 15 December 2021, 07:09
My guess is fuel consumption figures for why we don’t get the manual.

Whenever I drive the dsg in manual mode I barely see more than low 20s. To get anything close to what they claim you have to drive around like miss daisy in eco mode doing motorway journeys without any traffic.
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: SRGTD on 15 December 2021, 08:26
My guess is fuel consumption figures for why we don’t get the manual.

Whenever I drive the dsg in manual mode I barely see more than low 20s. To get anything close to what they claim you have to drive around like miss daisy in eco mode doing motorway journeys without any traffic.

I think emissions is more likely the reason. IMHO VW don’t really care what the mpg figures are. They do have an interest in CO2 emissions though - probably not so much in terms of any environmental concerns; more likely their interest will be in relation to how much they’ll exceed the EU official fleet average CO2 emissions target figures by, because that will impact the amount they’ll be fined for exceeding the target.
Title: Re: USA Savagegeese Golf R Manual review
Post by: BanksyGTI on 15 December 2021, 11:45
It’s probably down to cost too. VWoA’s head of product line for Golf had to personally fight tooth and nail with the Germans to give them a ‘stick’ because so many ‘enthusiasts’ in the US love manuals and it makes up a high degree of R sales. VW now sees the US market as more ‘emotional’ (that’s the Wolfsburg term for it, not mine) and so their model line up is less geared towards volume, hence why they send the Golf 8 there in GTI/R form only. The Jetta does boggo Golf’s job there.

VW gave us (and Europe) the manual option on mk7, and just like the 3 door body-style, nobody bought it. I’ve never seen how a manual (over DSG) suits the character of a 4pot 300ps 4WD daily driver like a Golf R anyway. It ain’t exactly a Cayman GT4. VW knew that nobody would buy the manual mk7 R because they never bothered to engineer a compatible clutch for the 300ps/4wd combo; they just gave it the one from the GTI 230 in and thus they all melted after 10,000 miles. They’ll have almost certainly done the same on the Golf 8 in the US so I don’t think we’re missing much!

I do hear the argument for a manual GTI Clubsport though, and it is a shame that we don’t get that. Would have been interested to see overall manual/DSG sales figures for all iterations of mk7/7.5 GTI/Clubsport. Obviously they’d made their mind up by the TCR so is probably quite conclusive.