A brief Affair

[DrivenToDistraction]

A platonic relationship that never blossomed into love! I am a manual gearbox fan at heart so learning to love the DSG in the 8.5 was always going to be difficult. I tried all combinations of drive modes and paddle shifting (over my 4 months of ownership), but the sense of fun I have enjoyed in some previous cars was somehow always lacking. We are all different I guess.

Perhaps I should have stayed with my manual 7.5 GTI (you can guess who has been saying that!), but things are always easy with hindsight. Going back to a 7.5 would have been a retrograde step – quite literally – so I have gone for the only ‘old school hot hatch’ that I could afford: a manual 2023 Focus ST, which I am very pleased with so far. I have only had it a couple of days, but a few pros and cons (mostly pros) are immediately apparent. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to elaborate.

I have enjoyed my time on this forum, which is one of the best I have been a member of. A refreshing lack of trolls and other undesirables! I may still pop in from time to time as I am still interested in things VAG.

[GTI_for_her!]

Sorry to hear you just didn't bond with the 8.5 but these things happen. If its just not for you and its not too much of a financial hit then better to be in a car you can enjoy and feels more you.

Back in 2013 I bought a year old Merc CLS. I loved it for the first week then thought, this just isn't me, its more a car for my dad. It lasted 12 days!!!

I also understand your love of manuals. A dsg is so much easier for day to day stuff but the manual always gives that little bit more connection. In the last year we've done about 8k miles in the Up gti and 4k in the S3. The keys get grabbed for it first most of the time as its a wee old school manual you can chuck about and enjoy.

I'm sure you'll get on well with the ST, all fast Fords are good fun.

[DrivenToDistraction]

In the last year we've done about 8k miles in the Up gti and 4k in the S3. The keys get grabbed for it first most of the time as its a wee old school manual you can chuck about and enjoy.

I'm sure you'll get on well with the ST, all fast Fords are good fun.

Thanks. The Focus is obviously a lot bigger than the Up! but you can still chuck it around.

The financial hit wasn't too bad. For mainly logistical reasons (the ST was at a Ford dealership 100 miles away) I decided to px the GTI. So they had to give me a few £k, which is always nice. Judging by other similar cars on AT, the ST was also a bit under-priced, which was confirmed by plugging the ST's reg number into Motorway. I also got within £500 of the initial Motorway quote/valuation for the GTI as a trade-in, so I am happy with the financial aspect of the swap.

[Exonian]

If anyone is interested, I would be happy to elaborate.

I for one would be very interested in you elaborating, and some photos of the ST would also be appreciated.


It’s a shame your ownership didn’t last beyond that short time but I can understand your reasons.

Without wishing to bore everyone stupid for the umpteenth time, I was very much a manual gearbox devotee myself until I decided to take a punt on a TCR back in 2019. I traded my cherished and much missed Ed40 in and embraced the more luxuriously specced TCR to use as a daily driver rather than the previous manual gearbox garage queen.
Similar to yourself, I didn’t really get on that well with the DSG, and I hated the DCC - the latter mostly because of the squishiness of the dampers in comfortable settings until the oil in them had fully warmed up combined with very stiff springs.
After a short time I moved to a recently launched F40 M135i that was better built, more comfortable and had a preferable (to me) auto box.
That car was a breath of fresh air after a long history of Golf ownership.
But alas it came to an end after only a short time as my darling pain in the backside son wanted a “loan” for a house deposit. As I owned that car outright it was a fairly easy decision to release some equity from that as I didn’t have masses of savings locked away doing next to nothing that I could “lend” him.
The mk8 Clubsport had just been launched and I managed to nab one of the first off the boat with a decent discount so it was win/win (sort of).
To keep this relatively brief, I immediately gelled with the mk8 Clubsport and kept it for a full 3 years which is a record for me. In fact I lament not keeping that car, even though I’m happy enough with my current Golf.
The DSG in the Clubsport felt more “right” to me and after a year or so of familiarising myself with auto-boxes this one felt more honed to the car than the TCR ‘box and now four plus years later I really couldn’t be bothered with returning to a manual ‘box car despite being half tempted by an up! GTI a few times.

The caveat here is when I occasionally jump into one of our works vans, even just moving it in the yard it immediately feels “better”. You really can’t beat the feel of a manual gearbox.

Oh, and I fully get why you wouldn’t return to a 7.5 after owning a newer car. Much as I adore the 7.5 things have moved on a bit and there probably aren’t too many mint ones left that are actually on the market. Most of the very best will be cherished possessions of enthusiasts.

[DrivenToDistraction]

I for one would be very interested in you elaborating, and some photos of the ST would also be appreciated.
It’s a shame your ownership didn’t last beyond that short time but I can understand your reasons.

Firstly, thanks for the brief history of your association with manual cars. Fascinating stuff.

My initial observations/impressions of the ST are as follows:

A. Features of the base spec ST that are (arguably) better than on a base spec GTI

1. Smart 19in alloys with Pirelli P-zero tyres
2. Sound system (B&O with sub-woofer in the boot)
3. Selecting drive mode menu options using a button on the steering wheel, with a separate dedicated steering wheel button for Sport mode.
4. Much more pronounced difference between ‘normal’ and ‘sport’ mode than the GTI.
5. Ability to turn off lane assist with the press of a physical button (at the end of the indicator stalk).
I think this feature was present on the Mk8 GTI but it was not carried over to the 8.5!
6. Proper bucket sports seats with huge side bolsters.
Some might not regard this as an advantage as they a pretty figure hugging!
7. Electrically powered front seats (both)
This has been an real eye opener. The tiny adjustments make it possible to achieve the perfect driving position. I have to admit that it took a while, but now everything "just feels right". No memory function but that's just another reason not to let anyone else drive it! One downside is that tall drivers (er, not me!) may find that the gear stick is a bit of a reach.
8. Better engine noise. Much better actually and totally authentic.
9. Room for a spare wheel and the sub-woofer in the space under the boot floor.
10. Sun visors are deep(er) and provide much better eye shading on bright sunny days.
This doesn’t sound like a big deal but it could be a life saver on bright winter days when the sun is very low.

B. Things that are not so good in the ST
1. Quality of the physical buttons in the cabin are not quite up to the quality of VW.
2. The doors do not shut with the same reassuring thud of a Golf.
3. No USB sockets in the rear
4. Exhaust tail pipe tips are not chromed so look a bit naff (I need to do something about that one).
5. Front fog lights are integrated into the LED headlights rather than being separate.

C. Features that are equally good in both cars
1. Native satnav
2. Infotainment system quality and ease of use
3. Digital dash layout and options
4. Smartphone app integration (via wireless CarPlay/AA)
5. General practicality (boot space, door pockets, etc).

I will post a few pics after I have given the car a good clean. Thanks for your interest.

[Exonian]

Thanks for taking the time to write out that summary. Some really good insights in there and food for thought.
Little details like the exhaust pipe finish matter to enthusiastic owners and would rarely be mentioned by anyone who didn’t really care for their cars.,

What is the actual quality of the gear change like?
How does the fuel consumption fare after the Golfs?

And lastly for now - what colour? I’d guess grey but Ford do have some funky colours available.

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

I share the same feelings with regard to DSG v manual boxes. I have adapted but struggle to really like DSG. I really miss the engine / transmission breaking when driving spiritedly. Somehow, I never quite feel that sense of control to push cars with DSG boxes as much as I would with a manual.

[DrivenToDistraction]

What is the actual quality of the gear change like?
How does the fuel consumption fare after the Golfs?
And lastly for now - what colour? I’d guess grey but Ford do have some funky colours available.

Good question. I would say a bit slicker than in the 7.5 GTI but not as precise as in the Civic Type R. Basically, very good.

I think fuel consumption is roughly the same around town (I am getting about 30 mpg atm) but I think the GTI would be better (I got nearly 50mpg in mine once) on a long motorway run.

Colour. Yes! That is why I travelled over 100 miles to test drive this one. There were a couple of red ones and white ones with similar mileage about 50 miles away but I had convinced myself that this car really looks the part in black. I was going to wait till I had given it a good clean before posting photos, but I just remembered that I had taken a couple of shots in the showroom prior to purchase. These will give an idea anyway.

[JoeGTI]

That's very nice! Always had a soft spot for fast Ford's too. Shame they're killing off the Focus.

[fredgroves]

I took a bit of time to get with DSG when i got my Mk8.... it had some niggly things about it and I was going to get a DSG tune to delete some of them... but in the end I just got used to it.

Now I find driving the rest of the family manual cars a pain in the bum tbh, especially on long journeys.

DSG with all of the cruise/travel assist functions is simply amazing and takes the pain out of long journeys massively.

I'd not go back to manual now, well, not if an auto with travel assist was available.