Me neither, but it was a cheap lease so went with what was available and this was the last one in the cheap lease batch.
Who owns a Golf GTD / GTI / R?
- Thread starter craig_t
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So a new Golf R Black Edition arrived on a trailer this morning at 7:45am to replace my other half’s A5….which was sold at 11:30am and collected by the dealer who bought it. Effortless process and timed perfectly.
So far so good and goes quite well for a hot hatch. Far too many icons to faff with but i’ll let her work all those out
Will stick some pics up at some point.
So far so good and goes quite well for a hot hatch. Far too many icons to faff with but i’ll let her work all those out
Will stick some pics up at some point.
Soldato
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So far so good and goes quite well for a hot hatch. Far too many icons to faff with but i’ll let her work all those out
Too many icons and nowhere near enough physical buttons. Drives nicely though.
Soldato
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Sounds about right. I'll make sure to check next time I'm out in the car.
That's about right when droven properly. After a gentle school run earlier it got up to 93 in my '21 Cupra Leon ST (more-or-less the same underneath). Water was 90, gearbox 83.
We have now covered around 850 miles in the Golf R we leased, me doing circa 800 of those miles and I thought I would share my thoughts, for anyone interested. My point of reference is having performance / super cars over the last 30 years and also running some more mundane stuff as part of the household for decades including some of the 80's/90's hot hatchbacks and other Golf GTI's. I have also been lucky enough to drive lots of other nice stuff, be it friends stuff on road and track or stuff leant to me by manufacturers / dealers.
First impression is how quick the thing is. I feel it to be as quick if not quicker than my E46 M3's back in the 2000's. The modern hot hatches are so much quicker than 80's and 90's hot hatches, even when they weight twice as much and as quick as early 2000's super saloons. No surprise with manufacturers endless chasing of BHP but it really is rapid little car when wound up.
Handling is fun, but I am yet to really give it beans cross a long selection of different roads, ideally in the company of good drivers in faster cars to really get its measure, but I suspect not much would get away from it on a twisty mountain pass. It puts the power down really well, you can feel the bias they have tried to create around being RWD rather than FWD, the 4WD system is quite nice and it does achieve a nice balance in most situations.
I have not really seen the understeer mentioned in some reviews on track (as I have not been on track), but having driven the previous version of the current Honda Type R I think it has a similar front end to that, but lacks a bit of precision that the Honda has, but that did suffer from noticeable torque steer coming out of slow corners, the Golf doesn't. The Honda was a 9/10 I think the Golf is an 7/10 on the road when it comes to feedback. The steering actually surprised me (for a modern system) in that it does have some feel. The reviews I have read that suggest it doesn't are simply wrong and my reference for that is a 996 GT3 which would sense a blade of grass at 5mph and the age of the grass at 10mph.
Interestingly you need to get the car up in the rev range for it to deliver the full power but when there it really does shoot down the road. Not that I will of course have tested this, but a supercar shows its true legs over 100mph when you put your foot down. My former Merc GT R would destroy the car over 100mph obviously, butup to 60mph I suspect not a lot in it as the power difference is made up by the traction the Golf offers. In road conditions also the Golf would not be that far behind any supercar as the limits of adhesion are not that different and if you are finding them you should be on track really else you gonna die dead at some point.
I suspect the brakes would be a weak point. I have on a couple of occasions when using left foot braking (typically harder on brakes) that the pedal has begun to go a little softer (small change) which indicates on track they would get a touch too hot. The damping is stiff, no question, but not as stiff as many other cars I have driven. The reviews don't talk about how well it softens the top end of bumps and if all you are used to is soft cars then yes they feel stiff, but not super stiff. I think on British roads a softer damping would help, not sure how DSC provides that, but over bumps I have not yet found the car starting to wonder around, so damping seems sorted quite well.
Like most modern cars I find some of the 'systems' confusing and over involved. The car has emergency braked me 4 times parking it in the garage as it was sure I was about to hit a post or a wall. I wasn't and it took me far too long to work our how to turn that function off, buried deep in lots of there stuff of little to no use. I hate stop start, I hate lane control and such systems and have to turn them off each time I use the car, but that is modern laws not a VW issue. My former GT R would remember such settings so I didn't have to turn them off each time.
Seats are good, even for my chunky (read Alpha Tate like) body (some of that might be a lie) and feel comfy BUT they are too shot. Being used to buckets and German sports seats, it does disappoint me that the seats end half way under the top go the leg when I am used to seats sitting just behind the knee. Drivin position is good, nice and low so sitting in not on the car and steering wheel is decent. I have seen lots of common mention of the touch controls (reviewers are like sheep) but to me they are fine. Fiddly perhaps, on occasion you can catch them, but once used to them they are find. However I remain to be convinced that touchscreens add anything but missed button presses when driving and finger prints galore that need a constant clear down. Fine on a phone but give me buttons any day for main controls.
I think it is a cracking car, really really rapid and frankly all the car you need to go fast, but at the end of the day it's a Golf, looks like a Golf and is treated like a Golf and for me that is exactly what I like about it. If I want something shouty I will have something shouty. If I want something fun but discreet and usable anywhere the Golf R ticks that box as well as anything. I won't be tracking it as it's a lease but I will be taking it on a road trip or two until I get something special in due course. Just need my other half to start using it more as she still takes my 5 Series.....which is fine with me
First impression is how quick the thing is. I feel it to be as quick if not quicker than my E46 M3's back in the 2000's. The modern hot hatches are so much quicker than 80's and 90's hot hatches, even when they weight twice as much and as quick as early 2000's super saloons. No surprise with manufacturers endless chasing of BHP but it really is rapid little car when wound up.
Handling is fun, but I am yet to really give it beans cross a long selection of different roads, ideally in the company of good drivers in faster cars to really get its measure, but I suspect not much would get away from it on a twisty mountain pass. It puts the power down really well, you can feel the bias they have tried to create around being RWD rather than FWD, the 4WD system is quite nice and it does achieve a nice balance in most situations.
I have not really seen the understeer mentioned in some reviews on track (as I have not been on track), but having driven the previous version of the current Honda Type R I think it has a similar front end to that, but lacks a bit of precision that the Honda has, but that did suffer from noticeable torque steer coming out of slow corners, the Golf doesn't. The Honda was a 9/10 I think the Golf is an 7/10 on the road when it comes to feedback. The steering actually surprised me (for a modern system) in that it does have some feel. The reviews I have read that suggest it doesn't are simply wrong and my reference for that is a 996 GT3 which would sense a blade of grass at 5mph and the age of the grass at 10mph.
Interestingly you need to get the car up in the rev range for it to deliver the full power but when there it really does shoot down the road. Not that I will of course have tested this, but a supercar shows its true legs over 100mph when you put your foot down. My former Merc GT R would destroy the car over 100mph obviously, butup to 60mph I suspect not a lot in it as the power difference is made up by the traction the Golf offers. In road conditions also the Golf would not be that far behind any supercar as the limits of adhesion are not that different and if you are finding them you should be on track really else you gonna die dead at some point.
I suspect the brakes would be a weak point. I have on a couple of occasions when using left foot braking (typically harder on brakes) that the pedal has begun to go a little softer (small change) which indicates on track they would get a touch too hot. The damping is stiff, no question, but not as stiff as many other cars I have driven. The reviews don't talk about how well it softens the top end of bumps and if all you are used to is soft cars then yes they feel stiff, but not super stiff. I think on British roads a softer damping would help, not sure how DSC provides that, but over bumps I have not yet found the car starting to wonder around, so damping seems sorted quite well.
Like most modern cars I find some of the 'systems' confusing and over involved. The car has emergency braked me 4 times parking it in the garage as it was sure I was about to hit a post or a wall. I wasn't and it took me far too long to work our how to turn that function off, buried deep in lots of there stuff of little to no use. I hate stop start, I hate lane control and such systems and have to turn them off each time I use the car, but that is modern laws not a VW issue. My former GT R would remember such settings so I didn't have to turn them off each time.
Seats are good, even for my chunky (read Alpha Tate like) body (some of that might be a lie) and feel comfy BUT they are too shot. Being used to buckets and German sports seats, it does disappoint me that the seats end half way under the top go the leg when I am used to seats sitting just behind the knee. Drivin position is good, nice and low so sitting in not on the car and steering wheel is decent. I have seen lots of common mention of the touch controls (reviewers are like sheep) but to me they are fine. Fiddly perhaps, on occasion you can catch them, but once used to them they are find. However I remain to be convinced that touchscreens add anything but missed button presses when driving and finger prints galore that need a constant clear down. Fine on a phone but give me buttons any day for main controls.
I think it is a cracking car, really really rapid and frankly all the car you need to go fast, but at the end of the day it's a Golf, looks like a Golf and is treated like a Golf and for me that is exactly what I like about it. If I want something shouty I will have something shouty. If I want something fun but discreet and usable anywhere the Golf R ticks that box as well as anything. I won't be tracking it as it's a lease but I will be taking it on a road trip or two until I get something special in due course. Just need my other half to start using it more as she still takes my 5 Series.....which is fine with me
Associate
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I'm pretty certain that the MK7.5 Golf R I had was the best car I've ever owned overall for these reasons.
My partner used to have a Golf back in the day when she lived in Connecticut, in the olden days and had a couple since and loved them all with fond memories. It made sense and of course if we are going down a Golf route my man maths meant I wanted the R one if the price was right. Went to local dealer to view a Black Edition in Black, "yea I like it" and a week later it was sorted, though sadly not via said dealer who couldn't get close as is often the case and in blue.
If I was speccing it I would have added a few bits like active dampers, probably a sun roof and heads up display, hifi (standard one is meh), but outside of that not much more and to do that would have added £200 a month plus to the price of the deal we got so obviously went the cheaper route. For £380 a month I think it represent good value and I only had to put £45K down
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Associate
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Mine had Dynaudio as an extra and nothing else, which was exactly what I wanted (except I would have loved to have DCC) - no keyless entry, no leather seats. Because it was a bit of a dog when I bought it and hadn’t really been looked after (1 owner who used it as his runabout, completely modified) I was never too precious about it. I honestly should have just kept it until it eventually died.My partner used to have a Golf back in the day when she lived in Connecticut, in the olden days and had a couple since and loved them all with fond memories. It made sense and of course if we are going down a Golf route my man maths meant I wanted the R one if the price was right. Went to local dealer to view a Black Edition in Black, "yea I like it" and a week later it was sorted, though sadly not via said dealer who couldn't get close as is often the case and in blue.
If I was speccing it I would have added a few bits like active dampers, probably a sun roof and heads up display, hifi (standard one is meh), but outside of that not much more and to do that would have added £200 a month plus to the price of the deal we got so obviously went the cheaper route. For £380 a month I think it represent good value and I only had to put £45K down
I had the 7.5 R estate, loved it. Great mix of performance and practicality
Still got my Golf R Mk7 from new and thats coming up to 9 years old now. There isnt much else out there that I would change it for without spending a lot more money. Im thinking like RS3 , but is it really worth about £45K-50K cost to change. My R is starting to show its age with the tech and all, but it hasnt really cost me anything major apart from the regular servicing and petrol of course. The Mk 8.5 Black Edition could be a contender but it's a pretty similar car to what I have already but newer with the tech. I'll keep it another year and see what is available next year.
I loved my mk7, was a great do it all car.
Arguably should've kept it over swapping for an RS3, but the lack of character in the R was it's downfall as it was very clinical with it all with no emotion to it (does that make sense??).
The RS3 is a heavier drive, but you get that engine and noise, the R never made me grin as much as the RS3 does.
I had the Golf from new for just over 2 years, and have had the RS3 (2016 model, best model for nice noises
) for just over 6 now and still don't know what I'd change it for that doesn't cost the earth.
Arguably should've kept it over swapping for an RS3, but the lack of character in the R was it's downfall as it was very clinical with it all with no emotion to it (does that make sense??).
The RS3 is a heavier drive, but you get that engine and noise, the R never made me grin as much as the RS3 does.
I had the Golf from new for just over 2 years, and have had the RS3 (2016 model, best model for nice noises
) for just over 6 now and still don't know what I'd change it for that doesn't cost the earth.
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Totally agree with it being clinical, however I feel mine has character especially when pushing on and can get it in all sorts of shapes. I havent remapped mine, although tempted many times, nor have I got a res delete or messed around with the exhaust. Yes it sounds a bit rubbish and quiet compared to say a V6. I have changed the brakes to the Clubsport S ones pretty much as the 1st upgrade and got some better racing line shifters and a few other subtle non performance mods. I have test driven the pre facelift 8Y RS3, but it didnt make me want to pursue it.I loved my mk7, was a great do it all car.
Arguably should've kept it over swapping for an RS3, but the lack of character in the R was it's downfall as it was very clinical with it all with no emotion to it (does that make sense??).
The RS3 is a heavier drive, but you get that engine and noise, the R never made me grin as much as the RS3 does.
I had the Golf from new for just over 2 years, and have had the RS3 (2016 model, best model for nice noises
Soldato
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My partner used to have a Golf back in the day when she lived in Connecticut, in the olden days and had a couple since and loved them all with fond memories. It made sense and of course if we are going down a Golf route my man maths meant I wanted the R one if the price was right. Went to local dealer to view a Black Edition in Black, "yea I like it" and a week later it was sorted, though sadly not via said dealer who couldn't get close as is often the case and in blue.
If I was speccing it I would have added a few bits like active dampers, probably a sun roof and heads up display, hifi (standard one is meh), but outside of that not much more and to do that would have added £200 a month plus to the price of the deal we got so obviously went the cheaper route. For £380 a month I think it represent good value and I only had to put £45K down
Dynamic chassis control is very good, makes the car a combination of great fun to throw about but also very comfortable. I've got a heads up display in mine, I didn't think I'd use it all that much as Waze through CarPlay doesn't show up there but having the speed there is fantastic.
I was in two minds about the pan roof. I had a sunroof on my previous car but found that I was driving 90% of the time with it covered so didn't bother getting one on the Golf. So far, I'm happy with that decision.
Harmon Kardon isn't at all good but I'm told it's an improvement on the standard audio. At some point I'm going to get the audio system upgraded, it's quite a disappointment.
I think the difference between newer Golf/RS3 isn’t as much as the earlier models which makes the reason to change less compelling.
Newer RS3s like all cars sound a lot more muted nowadays, still brutally fast though.
Wife has a T-Roc R so still kind of have a Golf R . Drives nicely, but like the Golf no character to it and doesn’t make nice noises.
DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control) its pretty much a must have option on the Golf or any semi decent car in my opinion. Im glad that I specced it, or I would have gotten annoyed with the ride quality on our rubbish roads pretty early on if I hadn't. Just sticking it on Comfort mode makes it a lot mote bearable. I bet the Mk8 and Mk8.5 with even more adjustment option, makes it even more dialled in to what you want rather than the 3 options on the older DCC system.