Golf R 24 Hour Test - After Thoughts

[jaceyboy]

So just taken the R back after having it since 9am yesterday, got to say what a car, launch mode is just unreal, it gave the tummy feeling being the driver!, not many cars have done this to me and ive had BMW M4 Comps and M2 Comps, Nissan GT-R and Porsche 911 C2S!, the handling is just unreal, so planted and with traction fully off even in the wet does not scare you, it just goes and grips.....fuel economy is just mental, really good, I spent almost 100% of the time in Race Mode manual, it hardly drank.

Now would I spend £40k to change to one?, that's a 100% no, it would be another £25k on top of our GTi, the quality is just not there on the basic car (which I would have to keep under the higher tax), the screen is good but very laggy, you definitely get used to all the gesture buttons over time and its not as bad as reported if you are into tech,  and I would hope over time they speed it up with firmware updates because it drives you mad!, the seats are nice shape but the fake leather is just terrible with the blue, I think the CS is much nicer inside by some way. I also didn't like the way switching into R mode the screen changes to the default, I prefer the rev counter in the middle so you have to scroll through to the right one every time you want to go into Race, along with turning off the traction control.

Don't get me wrong its a great car, but its just too much money, £40k+ is in lots of second hand car territory which have much better spec/power, when these come down to under £30k I would seriously think about the changing the misses GTi for one, just not now.

[fredgroves]

Interesting.

I guess the long and the short of it is that like many great cars, its a great car but if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

The nigggles are the niggles and its a shame with the Mk8 in general because the actual mechanical driving part is really good.... the rest is not flat terrible but not as good as you'd expect.

For me its not even the buttonless BauHaus design thats the problem, its software problems and lag.

[jaceyboy]

Interesting.

I guess the long and the short of it is that like many great cars, its a great car but if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

The nigggles are the niggles and its a shame with the Mk8 in general because the actual mechanical driving part is really good.... the rest is not flat terrible but not as good as you'd expect.

For me its not even the buttonless BauHaus design thats the problem, its software problems and lag.

I can afford it alright, I just dont want to spend the money on one I dont think its worth £40k or more, saying that you can get discounts right now to take it to £34k, but for me (it is really for the misses ) I cant warrant the change

[Sootchucker]

Think I could get use to the buttonless interior over time (though I have to say buggy and slow software would irritate the hell out of me), and the slightly less nice build quality (i.e no illuminated sill strips, no bonnet strut. etc). No the only real problem I have with the R, isn't the R's fault really. Due to the stupid £40k luxury VED thresholds, you only need to add a nice colour like Lapis and the Estoril wheels and you are bang in that zone.

The base price of the R doesn't lend itself to much at all in the way of options unless you are willing to enter that zone and don't care about the nearly £500 VED per year. I suppose you could say it's not VW's fault but more the UK government as £40k isn't really that expensive these days and it doesn't take much with a lot of car from various manufactures to break that limit.

[fredgroves]

Well my gti is quite loaded... If I was to order again I'd not bother with the options.

I'd buy a lightweight set of wheels and leave it at that.

It's hardly a poverty spec with zero options but I guess you can't see that yourself until you've tried the options... Which of course you can't.

[Exonian]

Good to read your thoughts jaceyboy.

Yeah, £40k plus is a hell of a lot of money but, as said, it doesn’t necessarily get you that much these days. The A35 and M135i are pretty much on a par after all.

Similar to what fredgroves said, I’ve had a few highly optioned cars on the trot too now and, to be honest, much of it is superfluous so I’m happily in a zero optioned car now and I don’t feel I’m missing out on anything. Ok, maybe 20bhp difference to an R!!
Some people just have to have the top of the range fully loaded everything just because they can so won’t bat an eyelid at the higher road tax cost. Everyone has their own needs and wants, everyone has a different viewpoint.

A standard R with aftermarket wheels can be had at reasonable discount (assuming it gets built within a tolerable waiting period) but still not worth the high cost to change from a decent mk7 unless temptation is too much. The 8R might be the best drag racer on the Internet but it ain’t that much better than a mk7 and retrograde in a few areas as we all know.

[mcmaddy]

Interesting.

I guess the long and the short of it is that like many great cars, its a great car but if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

The nigggles are the niggles and its a shame with the Mk8 in general because the actual mechanical driving part is really good.... the rest is not flat terrible but not as good as you'd expect.

For me its not even the buttonless BauHaus design thats the problem, its software problems and lag.

it's a bit of a presumption Fred to say someone can't afford it isn't it??

[jaceyboy]

Interesting.

I guess the long and the short of it is that like many great cars, its a great car but if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

The nigggles are the niggles and its a shame with the Mk8 in general because the actual mechanical driving part is really good.... the rest is not flat terrible but not as good as you'd expect.

For me its not even the buttonless BauHaus design thats the problem, its software problems and lag.

it's a bit of a presumption Fred to say someone can't afford it isn't it??

He obviously didn’t see the bit where I said I’ve had M4 Comp, M2 Comp, GT-R, 911 C2S etc etc

[mcmaddy]

Interesting.

I guess the long and the short of it is that like many great cars, its a great car but if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

The nigggles are the niggles and its a shame with the Mk8 in general because the actual mechanical driving part is really good.... the rest is not flat terrible but not as good as you'd expect.

For me its not even the buttonless BauHaus design thats the problem, its software problems and lag.

it's a bit of a presumption Fred to say someone can't afford it isn't it??

He obviously didn’t see the bit where I said I’ve had M4 Comp, M2 Comp, GT-R, 911 C2S etc etc

😂😂

[fredgroves]

I assumed that just because I had a tenner in my pocket yesterday, I might not have one any more.

I think sometimes we all suffer from a lack of awareness of how prices change too.

A 23k mk7 gti vs a 30k one today... But it has been eight years from one to the other and a lot of "stuff" happened in between.

Thirty grand buys you nothing exciting much now. Even in the time I've mused bmw's what i could have bought for just over thirty is more like 37k...and that was from only the last two years.

Worth it? Hard to say, but it's definitely simply the entry price and there is nothing you can do to influence that.

I suspect in the next couple of years the family milk float will always be North of 40k.

I also suspect that car ownership is not a thing for most in the future.

Enjoy it while you can.