Even moving from a white 5 door manual Ed40 to a white five door TCR it feels familiar and yet very different.
Exonian would you mind explaining this in a bit more detail? I am torn at the moment and pondering changing to a TCR so would appreciate your view of the differences after a few months ownership, as I am close to changing from an ED40 to a TCR and you’ve been on a similar journey.
My rational
I would prefer 5 doors rather than 3
I am growing to like DSG after driving my partners Polo GTI
Every time I get in my ED40 it seems a bit dated - love the interior of the TCR
VW made a few compromises with the ED40, interior lighting, armrest, limited chassis mods and smaller exhaust which frustrate me and do not think this applies to the TCR.
You’ll never find any financial justification and I’d expect the CS to hold value better
but the TCR has touches that make it feel quite different depending on spec.
If going five door DSG with DCC Ed40 to similar spec TCR then I’d say keep the former as it looks far more unique and means something to more people. The Ed40 is a fantastic car and the TCR only beats it in details.
Moving from a 3 door manual to 5 door DSG will be a significant change. The DSG is a totally different drive and de-skills you in some ways but requires you to learn different techniques for spirited driving which adds to the experience. You soon learn to snick it quickly into Sport gearbox setting for a fast overtake which will change gears far more quickly than you could in manual mode on the paddles. The only shame is not having a separate easy to reach button to quickly put the dampers into Sport on the fly so one can firm up briefly to take a sharp bend or fast roundabout without any roll before going back to Normal for some comfort when back cruising again.
The adaptive LED lights are a huge step up from the Xenons which I never thought as good on a mk7 as a mk6.
The fluffy steering wheel in the Ed40 was always a nice touch but also feels synthetic. I like the dimpled leather of the TCR ‘wheel more.
I didn’t have CS buckets so standard seats to standard seats it’s all about the centre section cloth difference which adds colour to the interior. I’ve grown really fond of it, and despite not missing the interior ambient lighting on the Ed40 it’s nice to have it back!
Performance is harder to quantify because of the different gearbox.
Clutch slip hampers the DSG annoyingly at lower speeds but under WOT it comes into its own.
Manual is more intuitive and involving and DSG more ‘on/off’ but I’ve warmed to the dual clutch semi-auto as a different entity.
The three door mk7 looks really good and my PP was a 3 door.
The smaller doors of the 5 door are much better in use and currently having a back back it’s much less painful not having to contort to reach the seatbelt or squeeze out in a tight parking space.