Car is undergoing its PDI but I was thrown the keys to go and fill it up myself with their fuel card, so of course I drove to local Shell to put Vpower in, first takeaways from a sedate 10 mile round trip:
Dash layout - superior and better view out, gives impression of more glass in the car, positive.
Seating Position - Much lower, now I feel like I am sat in the car, not on top of it, still quite high but that is the case of all hot hatches, but a big improvement, think its 25mm lower.
Ride quality - They must have changed the dampers, the ride has better compliance even though it is a touch firmer, the dampening gives better ride quality.
ECO/NORM/SPORT - Drove in ECO due to lack of fuel, horrible mega light steering, sport after fuelling up sorts that, but still why these modes Toyota.....
Gearbox - Feels more solid, more precise, original was good but this feels right on par with a Porsche 997 short shifter, feels more solid, but less notchy.
IMT - Hated rev match on gen1 car, the gen2 seems to have improved it a lot.
Pulling off - Gen1 struggled to pull of especially in 2nd gear, lack of torque, gen2 seems happy to pull away in 2nd from sub 5mph rolling speeds.
That is my quick take away from a short drive to get fuel, did not push the car just drove it gently through the gears as the tyres were all at 40psi, I collect next week. I also made a video of us unpeeling all the sticky plastics from the car.
In short as expected its the original car with lots of little improvements to make an already great car even better. Think of it as like a 997.1 to a 997.2 Porsche, engine updates, suspension tweaks, styling tweaks, updated infotainment etc. Still don't think it is worth 45k but you are definitely getting more for your money.
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