RE: VW Golf R: PH Fleet
Discussion
7 months in and just under 6k miles on the clock, I quite like the R. It's everything I expected it to be and more. I don't see many of them around, despite all the lease deals (mine wasn't a lease - I wanted a certain spec and a demo car arrived at the dealer the day before I turned up and snapped it up on the spot). It's tight as a drum, far quicker than it ought to be for general road work, looks great, sounds great and averages 28mpg - anyone expecting 40mpg should look at a GTI instead IMO.
Mafffew said:
No doubt this is a fantastic car, but it just doesn't appeal to me. It isn't bad looking, but it does look a bit boring.
+1Saw one of these in the wild last week, to the untutored eye it looked like a boggo boring Golf with awful wheels, only identifiable by the R badges. I think I understand why people like them but this whole front/4wd hot hatch thing seems lacking imagination and leaves me cold now, I must be getting old as I've joined the 'think what interesting used metal you could get for £35k' brigade.
Frimley111R said:
it just seems like a car that's better on paper/in the showroom than real life? Is it s PH car or is it lacking excitement and thrill that you may get from, say, a RenaultSport Megane for example?
It's a safe, boring car, which is what VW drivers demand. It's not crazy like a Focus RS, it's not exciting like an RS Megane and it will never knock your head, what it will do though, is go to the Asda twice a week and blend in with all the other safe, boring cars, it'll go on the school run and blend in with all of the other safe, boring cars, and when you want a little bit of safe, refined excitement, it'll accelerate you off the slip road as quick as a quick car should be but not too fast that you feel out of control and too excited. It's like the safe, boring woman that you can settle down with but will sometimes agree to be on top on your birthday rather than the Renault woman that's safe and boring but every other night will give you a safe word to use so you always feel comfortable that no matter how hard she whips you, you'll always have the safe word.Tuvra said:
£17k car? I'd suggest getting your self along to 2015, a basic Fiesta ST costs you that these days 
I actually like the mundane looks of it, its one of them cars you can park up anywhere and forget about it. You can also drive it places without having a Subaru Impreza nailed to your back bumper the whole time like the Focus RS
Slight exaggeration, a fully loaded ST3 cost 17k brand new but I know what you're saying I actually like the mundane looks of it, its one of them cars you can park up anywhere and forget about it. You can also drive it places without having a Subaru Impreza nailed to your back bumper the whole time like the Focus RS
Ruskins said:
I think I will stick with my understeer-y slightly mental GTA.
Quite right. I test drove all the PH favourites...the Golf, A45 and M135i, and bought a Giulietta QV instead. The others are very.....er......nice and competent. But nice and competent doesn't make you smile every day, or keep looking back at the car in a carpark. Each to their own. I would even disagree with the being impressed on a short test drive. I thought it was a bit dull. While the Golf R driver disappears up the road with perfect traction and more power, I'll be giggling like a school kid with my rampant torque steer and glorious, REAL, engine noise.... Edited by Ali_T on Thursday 2nd April 12:15
Regiment said:
It's a safe, boring car, which is what VW drivers demand. It's not crazy like a Focus RS, it's not exciting like an RS Megane and it will never knock your head, what it will do though, is go to the Asda twice a week and blend in with all the other safe, boring cars, it'll go on the school run and blend in with all of the other safe, boring cars, and when you want a little bit of safe, refined excitement, it'll accelerate you off the slip road as quick as a quick car should be but not too fast that you feel out of control and too excited. It's like the safe, boring woman that you can settle down with but will sometimes agree to be on top on your birthday rather than the Renault woman that's safe and boring but every other night will give you a safe word to use so you always feel comfortable that no matter how hard she whips you, you'll always have the safe word.
Totally agree with the above. I've had one for 5 months now, and every month I miss my RenaultSport Clio 200 more. For sure, it's fast and will do everything you might think you want it to do — as PH says, everything you'd want on the test drive — but it simply has no soul. It's an intellectual car — it's perfect as an idea, perfect on paper, but the reality of driving it leaves me cold. It's the kind of car made for people to boast about in the pub rather than enjoy out on real twisty roads. It can get up to a dizzying lick, but somehow makes going very fast seem unenjoyable.I guess it's the car for everyman. It will do EVERYTHING, but you just wish it had one, unique, defining attribute, some party trick, that it could pull off simply to entertain you. It feels like the product of computers and logic, not made by humans and intuition. I guess it's just a Golf.
georgeq said:
I am having one hell of a time trying to decide between a used M135i, a Golf R and a Golf GTI PP.
The Golf R has AWD and additional power, but the GTI has the same torque, the miracle diff and its significantly cheaper with the same interior. I think the GTI looks better too. Looking forward to read a comparison of the R vs Leon Cupra (roughly the same as the GTI PP I believe?) in the future.
And the M135i... well, it's a junior supercar, what more can I say.
PS: You could get a E92 M3 for that money!!!
Why a used M135? you can get a new facelift one for 25k....The Golf R has AWD and additional power, but the GTI has the same torque, the miracle diff and its significantly cheaper with the same interior. I think the GTI looks better too. Looking forward to read a comparison of the R vs Leon Cupra (roughly the same as the GTI PP I believe?) in the future.
And the M135i... well, it's a junior supercar, what more can I say.
PS: You could get a E92 M3 for that money!!!
tim milne said:
Regiment said:
It's a safe, boring car, which is what VW drivers demand. It's not crazy like a Focus RS, it's not exciting like an RS Megane and it will never knock your head, what it will do though, is go to the Asda twice a week and blend in with all the other safe, boring cars, it'll go on the school run and blend in with all of the other safe, boring cars, and when you want a little bit of safe, refined excitement, it'll accelerate you off the slip road as quick as a quick car should be but not too fast that you feel out of control and too excited. It's like the safe, boring woman that you can settle down with but will sometimes agree to be on top on your birthday rather than the Renault woman that's safe and boring but every other night will give you a safe word to use so you always feel comfortable that no matter how hard she whips you, you'll always have the safe word.
Totally agree with the above. I've had one for 5 months now, and every month I miss my RenaultSport Clio 200 more. For sure, it's fast and will do everything you might think you want it to do — as PH says, everything you'd want on the test drive — but it simply has no soul. It's an intellectual car — it's perfect as an idea, perfect on paper, but the reality of driving it leaves me cold. It's the kind of car made for people to boast about in the pub rather than enjoy out on real twisty roads. It can get up to a dizzying lick, but somehow makes going very fast seem unenjoyable.I guess it's the car for everyman. It will do EVERYTHING, but you just wish it had one, unique, defining attribute, some party trick, that it could pull off simply to entertain you. It feels like the product of computers and logic, not made by humans and intuition. I guess it's just a Golf.
The Audi was a better car in virtually every aspect, much faster, much more comfortable, much much much much more reliable (
) but polished to the point where it just felt lifeless. I imagine the Golf R, GTI, S3 are similar. And then when I take the cost to change into account it stops making sense altogether. What I personally do like is the classless anonymity that these cars give you, just like the Mini does to a degree.
I never got a ticket in that car (knock on wood) and often drive like a bit of a lunatic because the car just asks for it. I drove my early 911S 9 kmh above the speed limit in a 50 km/h zone and promptly got ticketed for it. That wouldn't have happened in a metalic grey Golf, Mini, 1 series or what have you.
tim milne said:
Regiment said:
It's a safe, boring car, which is what VW drivers demand. It's not crazy like a Focus RS, it's not exciting like an RS Megane and it will never knock your head, what it will do though, is go to the Asda twice a week and blend in with all the other safe, boring cars, it'll go on the school run and blend in with all of the other safe, boring cars, and when you want a little bit of safe, refined excitement, it'll accelerate you off the slip road as quick as a quick car should be but not too fast that you feel out of control and too excited. It's like the safe, boring woman that you can settle down with but will sometimes agree to be on top on your birthday rather than the Renault woman that's safe and boring but every other night will give you a safe word to use so you always feel comfortable that no matter how hard she whips you, you'll always have the safe word.
Totally agree with the above. I've had one for 5 months now, and every month I miss my RenaultSport Clio 200 more. For sure, it's fast and will do everything you might think you want it to do — as PH says, everything you'd want on the test drive — but it simply has no soul. It's an intellectual car — it's perfect as an idea, perfect on paper, but the reality of driving it leaves me cold. It's the kind of car made for people to boast about in the pub rather than enjoy out on real twisty roads. It can get up to a dizzying lick, but somehow makes going very fast seem unenjoyable.I guess it's the car for everyman. It will do EVERYTHING, but you just wish it had one, unique, defining attribute, some party trick, that it could pull off simply to entertain you. It feels like the product of computers and logic, not made by humans and intuition. I guess it's just a Golf.
To be fair, that is precisely why so many people buy them, because they are indeed consummate all rounders. No one has ever suggested a Golf is an Exige through the corners or an M5 in a straight line. It's only the well seasoned VAG haters that try and make them out to be more than they are, just so they can bash them down again.
It's also amusing how a rival car's flaws suddenly become 'drama', 'fun' and 'soul' when it comes to making a comparison to a 'safe and boring' Golf
SuperchargedVR6 said:
VW's new ad campaign right there!
To be fair, that is precisely why so many people buy them, because they are indeed consummate all rounders. No one has ever suggested a Golf is an Exige through the corners or an M5 in a straight line. It's only the well seasoned VAG haters that try and make them out to be more than they are, just so they can bash them down again.
It's also amusing how a rival car's flaws suddenly become 'drama', 'fun' and 'soul' when it comes to making a comparison to a 'safe and boring' Golf
Couldn't agree more, well said. Arguably Porsche have been doing this in their own discipline for years and it hasn't hurt them either. To be fair, that is precisely why so many people buy them, because they are indeed consummate all rounders. No one has ever suggested a Golf is an Exige through the corners or an M5 in a straight line. It's only the well seasoned VAG haters that try and make them out to be more than they are, just so they can bash them down again.
It's also amusing how a rival car's flaws suddenly become 'drama', 'fun' and 'soul' when it comes to making a comparison to a 'safe and boring' Golf
As you said, they've never claimed it's one thing when it's clearly the other. They were clear about what they designing and what the target market would be and they nailed it.
marcgti6 said:
Nice cars but what is it with VAG and awful wheels? Those standard fit 18s are really bad.
So you pay extra for an upgrade, of course! Same with the lousy standard seat trim, the centre sections of which feel like they're made from recycled school trousers, but you can always pay £2k extra for leather....ash reynolds said:
The mk7 R is going to be the new 'darling' of tuners, a remap puts it at approx. 370hp, great engine too. Looking forward to buying a used one :-)
Are they not popping turbo's and filling the engine with swarf with standard boost along with s3's so my vw techie m8 tells me Edited by ash reynolds on Thursday 2nd April 15:09
Or is just the odd couple of hundred doing it ?
Is it boring? Its a 4 cylinder single turbo with '4wd'. I think that tells you everything you need to know right there.
I like mine. Lack of real noise is a small issue for me, but I quite like the synthetic sound track.
Perfect daily, but for weekend thrills maybe look elsewhere. I imagine if you tuned it to circa 400bhp which should be easily done then it may become another animal (junior Nissan GTR anyone?)
I like mine. Lack of real noise is a small issue for me, but I quite like the synthetic sound track.
Perfect daily, but for weekend thrills maybe look elsewhere. I imagine if you tuned it to circa 400bhp which should be easily done then it may become another animal (junior Nissan GTR anyone?)
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