Bye-bye GTi hello R

[Jimble]

What are the standard cloth seats like.

They don't have the same character as the GTI tartan, but I liked them. The lighter Alcantara bolsters and edges add a bit of colour to what is usually drab VW/Audi's sea of black (as the Tartan adds something different to the GTI and GTD). The car I test drove yesterday had grey/carbon nappa leather seats - look very nice, i'd be worried about dye transfer from jeans on a wet day though with those.

[RobS23GTI]

Be interesting to see how you stomach the fuel consumption MH.

I initially ordered the R, but bottled it and changed to the GTI due to the stories of MPG...
Currently sitting on 2000 miles and haven't seen above 38mpg brim to brim, and my journey to work is an easy 25 miles with all 50/60 roads, in theory within the optimum MPG range. Whether I give it some beans or drive like Miss Daisy, in sport, eco or normal it doesn't seem to change. I reckon I would be getting 26/27mpg in the R so am quite pleased I changed the order. Just missing the extra horses from the M135i so will remap eventually.

[Misterp]

What is the mpg on the GTI and R pottering around town. I wouldn't be changing for mpg purposes but would be nice to know. My daily commute is a 12 mile round trip.

[monkeyhanger]

Be interesting to see how you stomach the fuel consumption MH.

I initially ordered the R, but bottled it and changed to the GTI due to the stories of MPG...
Currently sitting on 2000 miles and haven't seen above 38mpg brim to brim, and my journey to work is an easy 25 miles with all 50/60 roads, in theory within the optimum MPG range. Whether I give it some beans or drive like Miss Daisy, in sport, eco or normal it doesn't seem to change. I reckon I would be getting 26/27mpg in the R so am quite pleased I changed the order. Just missing the extra horses from the M135i so will remap eventually.

It'll be a shock to the system for sure, but i'm only averaging 44mpg on the GTD anyway (and that dips to just over 40 in the winter. I have heard of the R loosening up a bit in time (the haldex needs to loosen as much as the engine, so I hear - maybe Jimble can tell us of his experiences). If I got 30mpg on the commute or around the doors without driving like a nun i'd be pretty pleased. 35mpg on a longer journey would be good. When I get my redundancy lumper, I will be saving loads on finance interest which will probably be eaten up by fuel. I pay out £120 a month on fuel right now, i'm expecting £180 (maybe £200). The 6 mile blast in the used R at Pulman yielded 26mpg, and it had a few heavy blasts. It's an experience i've never had before anyway, never had a high performance petrol before.

[Jimble]

Normal motorway speeds with cruise set to 75-80 mine does around 37mpg which is pretty good imo, it does take a dive if you get a bit excited though, picking my wife up from work is about 12 miles round town and by the time i pull back on the drive the display is showing about 29-30 which has improved quite a bit in 4k miles, that is driving miss daisy though, if you have a little bit of fun it'll be late teens early 20's. ECO mode seems to make it worse and normal mode seems the happy medium but race is the most fun!!

[monkeyhanger]

Normal motorway speeds with cruise set to 75-80 mine does around 37mpg which is pretty good imo, it does take a dive if you get a bit excited though, picking my wife up from work is about 12 miles round town and by the time i pull back on the drive the display is showing about 29-30 which has improved quite a bit in 4k miles, that is driving miss daisy though, if you have a little bit of fun it'll be late teens early 20's. ECO mode seems to make it worse and normal mode seems the happy medium but race is the most fun!!

I'd be happy enough with those numbers! I had a fair bit of fun in the DTUK GTD on the way down the A1 from Newcastle to Durham. Once I passed Washington, I had a 2.0TSI (210ps) Scirocco on my tail for the next 12 miles. The road in front of me was doing 60-80mph in the fast lane, depending on whether a wagon pulled into the outside lane. When they pulled back over and the flow was able to get back from 60-80, both me and the Scirocco were flooring it to get to 80 and he was getting left behind for about 10 seconds every time - must have happened a dozen times until I came off at Durham. With the acceleration fresh in my mind I was out in the used R and the acceleration of that was far more than moderately better.

[matchboy]

@monkeyhanger Good stuff, those numbers make sense as well.  As long as you can cope with the higher fuel costs then you've defintely made the right choice - and I agree with you having the standard wheels, they look much better than the Pretoria's with the Lapiz Blue.

I'm assuming you went for a factory order? What sort of lead time have you been given?  Any movement on the tracker for you yet?

Someone asked about the difference and why people are changing - well, I hammer my GTI PP (up to the speed limit) and when I drove an R I was blown away by the difference in performance.  That, for me, was the biggest reason for changing along with the affordability given what I am all ready paying for my GTI.

Maybe we should start a thread for those who went through the pain of the original GTI/GTD first orders who are now changing to an R 12 months later - gluttons for punishment 

[mikeok]

Slightly of subject but are people going for the larger 19in or keeping the standards?  Iv not seen them in the flesh yet. I was tempted by the 19in but not so sure yet...?

[virginVWman]

@monkeyhanger Good stuff, those numbers make sense as well.  As long as you can cope with the higher fuel costs then you've defintely made the right choice - and I agree with you having the standard wheels, they look much better than the Pretoria's with the Lapiz Blue.

I'm assuming you went for a factory order? What sort of lead time have you been given?  Any movement on the tracker for you yet?

Someone asked about the difference and why people are changing - well, I hammer my GTI PP (up to the speed limit) and when I drove an R I was blown away by the difference in performance.  That, for me, was the biggest reason for changing along with the affordability given what I am all ready paying for my GTI.

Maybe we should start a thread for those who went through the pain of the original GTI/GTD first orders who are now changing to an R 12 months later - gluttons for punishment 

Tell you something, I am so close to calling up VW just to hear the numbers involved! GTD is in mint condition, 11 months old and 15k miles. Wonder what I could achieve swapping it for a white R on 18s with leather/DSG. Pay £346 a month at moment, would pay £380 - £400 tops. Don't ask don't get I suppose. Insurance could be a bugger too

[Mr Savage]

Slightly of subject but are people going for the larger 19in or keeping the standards?  Iv not seen them in the flesh yet. I was tempted by the 19in but not so sure yet...?

Seeing both in the flesh the Pretoria's are gorgeous and i'm not usually one who bothers speccing for optional upgraded wheels but in the R I definitely would. My brother's placed an order for one and he's gone for the Pretoria's. They do look a lot better than the standard wheels in my opinion. Just not a fan of the standard wheels, look a bit basic.