Arrived at my local dealers this morning to test drive the R.......and it still isn't registered for the road.
Had a good look around it and I must say.......
I'm NOT convinced it is the car for me!!
I was driving over and almost salivating at the prospect of getting into the car and it just didn't do it for me when I got there.
Highlights...
The rear lights when on are lovely
Detailing like the silver knurled trim is better resolved than the MKV R32
The R logo's are embossed into the trim on the glovebox and entrance sills
The front DRL's look very nice indeed.
The leather seats are very comfortable and look better quality than in the MKV
Lowlights...
The boot space looks worse than the R32 - hardly a couple of inches deep
Not a lover of the black wing mirrors
Inside it was almost like being in my ED30 - everything in exactly the same place and the extra brushed aluminium detailing is a bit too overdone and reminds me of a 1970's chromed out car!
The pedals don't have the "R" logo in them. They look EXACTLY the same as a manual MKV GTI's
The exhausts are still TOO close together
The side sill extensions are rather flimsy and stick out such that you catch them on getting in and out of the car
The salesman was very amenable as was to be expected, but didn't know his arse from his elbow when it came to the details of the tech side of the car. When I mentioned the S3 he almost had an aperplectic fit, saying it was an old style car and the new R was a much better car.....even though he hadn't driven one either!!!
The car I specced up would cost £36k, which isn't too bad, but for a car I'm not sure about I'll leave it for now. Maybe the test drive will help next week
It looks like I'm back to square one again. Still can't find a car that I can fall in love with. but then again, I'm hardly falling out of love with the ED30.
Maybe the ED35 or the RS3 will float my boat more....who knows.
