My New Car

[12,000 RPM]

#HerraFrush

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

THOSE LOOK DAMN GOOD!!!!!

[68_427]

They look good.  The offset/width change is noticeable for sure.  Much better.

[CALL_911]

Those look great

[Cookie Monster]

Those definitely look much, much better than stock. Nice

[Lebowski]

I don't normally like aftermarket wheels but those do look good.

[68_427]

Guy on VWV TCL is selling his.

[SJ_GTI]

Tempting but I will go new if I do make the switch. After all the hemming and hawing the main drawback is I don't think I want a car that big again.

But dat V8 doe...

[SJ_GTI]

Crossed the 5,000 mile mark on my car this weekend:



10 months in and I have mixed feelings about the car. As an overall package its great: Small, AWD, fun, 4-door, 6MT, good power, refined, a lot of features/tech, and I even like the way it looks. But over time I am not getting better with the clutch. I think the combination of the abrupt clutch engagement and the turbo lag is just too finicky for me. The only way I seem to be able to drive it smoothly is to keep it out of boost as much as possible (<2500 RPMs) which of course is not fun.

Not sure what the long term plan is with this car. I am not going to be selling it or trading it in any time soon...there just aren't any cars out there that have the right mix of attributes that I would like. The simplest solution would be to trade it in for a DSG model but I am not at the point where I think I could live with an automatic day to day. When I had loaners before (usually Audi A3's and A4's) the automatics were fine for what they were but I am too used to rowing my own gears. The other possibility would be finding another fun/practical car with a (reasonably powerful) naturally aspirated engine and a 6MT...but those are unicorns at this point and are usually lacking in other areas (no AWD, too big, etc...).

[Galaxy]

The M240i coupé has a 6 speed manual dies it not?

[SJ_GTI]

The M240i coupé has a 6 speed manual dies it not?

I'm not really shopping at this point. When I was test driving the only 2-series (and 3-series) they had on the lots were automatics. The 2-series had other issues though. Overall it feels like a cheaper car despite being more expensive, its 2-door only, and with the turbo-4 it felt slower and less sporty than the S3 I drove back to back with it. If I got a manual I'd have to get RWD instead of AWD (doable, but not ideal).  I can spend more money and get the turbo-6 with RWD to fix the speed issue (and possibly the sportiness) but at that point I'd probably just get a Camaro (or Mustang) instead anyway.

The Golf is fine for me for now. I mean I am probably going to be around 6k miles per year...so its not like I am spending that much time in it anyway.

[12,000 RPM]

That is kind of a bummer. I wouldn't rule out an auto though. There are brief moments where I kind of want a stick, but for the most part I don't miss it.

[GoCougs]

The trick I've found is very fast shifting - not giving the engine a chance to spin down.

But in general, turbos are better off with a DSG or hi-po slushie, and the more the boost (and ~150 hp/L is a good deal of boost) the better the match.

[GoCougs]

Check this Golf R DSG POV drive. Watched this a number of times. That DSG is something else. Also, for MY2018, the Golf R is getting an upgraded 7 sp DSG which is even more responsive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioa_O5aaEnw

[BimmerM3]

Check this Golf R DSG POV drive. Watched this a number of times. That DSG is something else. Also, for MY2018, the Golf R is getting an upgraded 7 sp DSG which is even more responsive.

I'm guessing that's the same 7 speed as the A4? If so, indeed, it's a remarkable transmission. If only the steering wasn't terrible on that car.

[MX793]

Are some of the shifting issues due to rev hang?  Seems all newer cars (past 10 years at least) suffer from some small amount of rev hang and turbos seem to be worse than NA (it's done for emissions, BTW).

[Cookie Monster]

Can you try flashing the ecu with a different tune from APR or anything? Shifting was a lot easier after getting my ECUtek tune since the gas pedal didn't have a weird tip in delay.

[GoCougs]

I'm guessing that's the same 7 speed as the A4? If so, indeed, it's a remarkable transmission. If only the steering wasn't terrible on that car.

I'm guessing not - longitudinal vs. transverse motor.

[AutobahnSHO]

Can you try flashing the ecu with a different tune from APR or anything? Shifting was a lot easier after getting my ECUtek tune since the gas pedal didn't have a weird tip in delay.

+1   Or heavier flywheel or different clutch?

[12,000 RPM]

Nothing like spending money to re-engineer bad design

A tune may help things though.

[veeman]

The Golf is fine for me for now. I mean I am probably going to be around 6k miles per year...so its not like I am spending that much time in it anyway.

I don't know man but this statement seems to really sum up your feelings on the car.  You've had the car for a decent amount of time and you're not enjoying it.  Maybe take the financial hit, and just get rid of it. 

My manual VW Beetle diesel wasn't perfect for me and neither is my current manual Subaru Crosstrek but I always look forward to rowing the gears.  I sold my 2006 Toyota RAV4 which had a V6 after A few years with 37,000 miles because I hated driving it.  It was too damn bumpy a ride, acceleration from a standstill was very jarring (car could not accelerate smoothly), and I hated the light green color.  All of that was cured with the Buick Enclave I had gotten to replace it as the family hauler.  I took a financial hit on dumping the RAV4 so early but even in hindsight, I never regretted dumping it.  The car just sucked for me.

[SJ_GTI]

Yeah I have look at mods to change it...but at the end of the day I am not going to bother with it. For me I think the big turbo is actually more the issue than the clutch. I think the shifter itself is fine as is. The issue I find is that I can either shift fast/hard or smooth, not both. I felt like the S4 (and cars before it) I could do both. The S4 had a supercharger (which I didn't appreciate until it was gone) and the GTI and A4 1.8T I had both had turbos that spooled up almost immediately off idle.

A lot of people are OK with big turbo's. I think most reviews actually give the Golf a lot of credit for how quickly the Golf R spools up (compared to its main competitors). I think my issues with it are just personal preference. I think Gougs is right that it is less of an issue with a good DSG/DCT transmission or even a good traditional auto.

Also based on your responses I think I may have oversold the negatives.  Its a fun car and the overall package is great. Its not perfect and for now I don't see an obvious better solution so I am just going to leave things the way they are for now.

[FoMoJo]

Should'a got the Focus RS .

[MX793]

Should'a got the Focus RS .

They ride horribly stiff even with the suspension in "soft".

[FoMoJo]

They ride horribly stiff even with the suspension in "soft".

Sounds about right for a hot hatch.

[SJ_GTI]

As an aside, there was an aside about launch without throttle in a different thread. I tried it on the Golf and got a surprise...as you release the clutch the car itself applies throttle. When I tried it my car was idling @ ~800 RPMs but as I began releasing the clutch it jumped to ~1100 rpms and stayed there as I went through the motion of releasing the clutch. Not surprisingly engaging 1st gear with no throttle is roughly the same as engaging first gear with normal throttle (I probably hover between 1000-1200 rpms when starting out in normal driving).

I am about 99.9% my previous cars didn't do this (only car I am not 100% certain on is the S4...that car could easily get going without applying throttle but I always assumed it was because it had a larger engine...maybe it was also applying throttle for me and I just didn't notice...?). Anyone else's car do this? I guess it makes sense in this era of computer controlled car inputs.

[CaminoRacer]

Boo!

[FoMoJo]

As an aside, there was an aside about launch without throttle in a different thread. I tried it on the Golf and got a surprise...as you release the clutch the car itself applies throttle. When I tried it my car was idling @ ~800 RPMs but as I began releasing the clutch it jumped to ~1100 rpms and stayed there as I went through the motion of releasing the clutch. Not surprisingly engaging 1st gear with no throttle is roughly the same as engaging first gear with normal throttle (I probably hover between 1000-1200 rpms when starting out in normal driving).

I am about 99.9% my previous cars didn't do this (only car I am not 100% certain on is the S4...that car could easily get going without applying throttle but I always assumed it was because it had a larger engine...maybe it was also applying throttle for me and I just didn't notice...?). Anyone else's car do this? I guess it makes sense in this era of computer controlled car inputs.

Could be just an anti-stall feature.

[MX793]

Seems most newer MT cars will go into fast idle if you ease out the clutch to prevent stalling, provided you do it slowly.  I think my old 240SX may have even done that.

[68_427]

JB1

undetectable during inspection and good for another 50hp on 91