Collected my CSS yesterday from the excellent team at Murray VW Newton Abbot, Devon
Family run dealer with just 2 VW sites (+Plymouth).
I originally emailed a few dealers about an Ed40 and David Lay, Sales manager at Murray was one of the few prepared to talk figures by email, many said I should call in to chat regardless of the fact they were on the other side of the country.
When CSS was announced I tried some of the better dealers to see what their response was and one even said names had to go into a hat with members of staff! Didn't fancy that so just as well David came back with an enthusiastic response about proposing me as their customer and his enthusiasm continued right through to me driving off yesterday after accompanying their technician Steve perform the PDI process which was very interesting. Let me keep all the covers, stickers, build sheets, transit blocks etc and not have the car washed, supplied rubber mats (my choice) and some Autoglym stuff FOC which was very kind. Also let me apply ACF50 underbody protective spray while it was raised.
Anyway, after all that excitement I still had to drive 170 miles home to Birmingham and it was getting dark and raining and rush hour.
First impressions is that there is a lot of road noise from no back seats even at slow speeds but this doesn't become a deafening roar.
The steering feels really sharp, possibly higher ratio rack than R but might be wrong, might just be the lack of slack in everything, feels like a very stiffly bushed car. There is something very special about the steering feel and the way it ride the bumps. Even in comfort mode it feels firm and certainly doesn't have the floating feeling of an R in comfort. I think the springs are really stiff hence why DCC doesn't make much difference unless you load up the suspension by riding kerbs etc.
The Cup tyres are interesting, look half worn when new and a very wide ungrooved area on the outer half of the face. Had rain all the way home but luckily not torrential so didn't hold me up too much. Had to get off M5 in Gloucester due to an accident closing it so did last bit on some roads I know well. The tyres grip really well in the wet when cornering with steady throttle but the torque kick does upset them very easily in a straight line and it's easy to get ESP activating without trying too hard for example half throttle in third over a very slight crest in the road surface.
I guess that's the price you pay for that engine, even new and tight it still feels mighty rapid from 3000 rpm, can't wait to see how that loosens up!
Exhaust noise could be a little louder, in RACE mode it's certainly louder from 3000 rpm and does perform pops and crackles which are fun and not OTT like some remapped cars I've heard (Focus ST and Cooper S mainly). Does a brief crackle on start up too.
I was getting ache in the lumbar region of my back after 2 hours in and with no lumbar adjustment that was a worry but didn't get worse, might just need to tweak driving position.
The staff at Murray were surprised to see no under-bonnet sound proofing, wouldn't be surprised if that's the only bit that's missing as it's not too boomy.
To summarise, I think it feels pretty special driven normally without achieving that by being too harshly set up for the road but it's when you start to load it up in corners that you can sense there is some real magic there, something I hope to experience more of on a dry day!
IMG_4794 by
Andrew Chapple
IMG_4786 by
Andrew Chapple
IMG_4822 Steve Horsey (technician), Kevin Murray (MD), David Lay (sales manager)
IMG_4842 Sophie the receptionist very excited about sitting in it
