Golf GTI TCR announced

[fredgroves]

R performance pack has been out for ages.... why on earth are AE banging on about it now?

[Jeff Wood]

Fred, I assume so, I can find out, that pic was from a US forum, so if they are prices, it will be in US dollars,

The point of that pic is to say that the TCR is basically the new Clubsport, same concept, same idea of putting the R engine in (same engine as the GTI btw but bigger turbo).

But the Clubsport is (was better) though, you got that lovely rear spoiler which the TCR doesnt have, and those lovely seats that the CS can have. SO it isn't better than a Clubsport imo.

Personally if I had the spare cash I'd spend £30k or so on a mint low miles CS S rather than a new TCR...

[fredgroves]

In dollars? Crikey, that's even cheaper than I'd have expected.

On the other hand, if you are swapping those bits out I'm sure you could find even better performing non-OEM parts - might as well if you are stripping that much down.

[scanesare]

Pictures are in fact from a thread in this very forum (it's the one I was referring to several posts back) : http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=279388.0 but they have been deleted for some reason. Seems someone in the GolfMK7 forum managed to copy them in time and re-upload them elsewhere but I am pretty sure they originate from here. As such, prices are in GBP, those parts are not even available in  US dealerships.

I've said before why the TCR is not a 7.5 Clubsport in my opinion of-course: They both are special editions of a GTI but the TCR is more like a "celebration" edition for the TCR car wins, essentially a 7.5GTI with the R engine and a couple of decals. The Clubsport was a more focused variant all-together with noticeable changes in many departments like engine, chassis (not just springs but balance and aero) and crucially, looks. It even came with exclusive ultra lightweight forged wheels as standard. It was a package that stood out much more from the standard mk7 GTI than the TCR will from the 7.5 GTI so it's hard to see it as a continuation of the "Clubsport" spirit. If VW intended on building a 7.5 Clubsport they would have simply and easily done so. But they didn't and it shows in the fact that most of the unique bits that made the CS different, are just not there in the TCR.

[Jeff Wood]

you sound like you're talking about the Clubsport S though,

The CS doesnt come with forged wheels as standard,

the clubsport chassis is the same, it's only the springs that are different,

put it another way, the only real difference between the clubsport and the TCR is the roof spoiler.


also interesting that that picture originated from the UK, I thought those prices seemed cheap.

[scanesare]

you sound like you're talking about the Clubsport S though,

The CS doesnt come with forged wheels as standard,

the clubsport chassis is the same, it's only the springs that are different,

put it another way, the only real difference between the clubsport and the TCR is the roof spoiler.


also interesting that that picture originated from the UK, I thought those prices seemed cheap.

Quite the opposite - where do you get this info? I'm curious. Funnily, only the CS ever came with forged wheels, the 18" Belvederes made by Fuchs. The CSS only came with the already available on the R, flow formed Pretorias (+2kg per wheel) and there were no other options to choose from. And by chassis we do also mean balance and aero, which on the CS is different from the standard GTI due to the "air curtains" at the front and the rear roof spoiler, there was an interview with the main development engineer who talked about all that and how they wanted to make the rear end of the GTI more stable at higher speeds (a known weakness of the mk7 GTI)

On the differences list: the entire front bumper, side skirts, rear diffuser, rear spoiler, wheels, steering wheel, seats (not talking about buckets), doors and gearknob trim, exhaust muffler, tail-pipes, even seat belts and floor mats are all Clubsport specific! but hey, if that means "just a roof spoiler" to you I will not argue any further 

[douglaslad]

The Clubsport has the lightweight 18" forged Belvederes which are manufactured by Otto Fuchs and weigh in at 7.6KG, these are the standard wheels for the Clubsport, anyone that says otherwise is totally wrong.

https://www.fuchsfelge.com/en/wheel-program/detail/vw-golf-leichtbau-schmiederad-409.html

[Jeff Wood]

Hey I'm not arguing, I'm really interested to find out the facts.

If the CS came with Belvederes as standard then I apologise, I always thought it came with Brescia's as standard.

And point taken about the styling differences, yes compared to a non facelift its a lot different, not so much different to a facelift though.

But the point I was making is that the CS is just like the TCR, apart from the roof spoiler,

[scanesare]

Also, the CS still has the heavy calipers and discs of the PP, those calipers are 7.5kg each, compared to 4.5kg of the Audi TT RS. That's a hell of a lot of unsprung weight.

And unless you get the Belveldere wheels, you get the Brescia's which are heavy wheels !, plus 235/35 tyres which slow down the acceleration dues to their larger overal diameter compared to the 18's with 225/40..

Bit late but i just read that bit, two things: PP, CS, R, CSS all come with the same calipers. No MK7/7.5 comes with anything other than those single pots so the TT RS calipers are a bit irrelevant in this discussion.

And regarding the CS wheels it's the other way round: the Belvedere was the standard wheel that came with the car, not an option. You would have to manually spec the 4kg heavier (and way uglier imo) Brescia to get it on the car.  I love my CS facts I know...

[Jeff Wood]

you sure its not Quaranta wheels that were standard ??