VW Golf R

[RS Grant]

The R returned to base yesterday when we went to pick up my sisters new Tiguan from the VW dealer in Perth, couldn't resist grabbing a picture of them together...



...and a couple more of the Tiguan. I was surprised/had forgotten what was included as standard with the SEL model and I think it looks absolutely brilliant too, well impressed with it.








Cheers,
Grant

[axel1990chp]

Went with the HS clutch bud, all in cost me about 1.5 of the queens from purchase to driving! Could of gone cheaper if I would of used my loaf and grabbed the sachs GTI clutch (Which is essentially the same as the R) but hindsight and all that!

Running the St1 - TT - VWR600 - DP right now, tempted by a trip to Leeds for a decent dyno once the weather gets a little better, mates just got a TTS and he wants to start tinkering so would be a double trip, I expect to see c~370-380bhp/>375lbs!

Be more responsive on VWROC if you send a DM my way!

Love the wheels btw!

[lewis87]

RS Grant said:

lewis87 said:

Car looks great on the speedlines, would I have seen this car parked up on Bank Street in Kirrie?

Yep, you would have seen it parked there occasionally. I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm up there, what do you drive?

Blue widetrack STI on black wheels

[RS Grant]

axel1990chp said:

Went with the HS clutch bud, all in cost me about 1.5 of the queens from purchase to driving! Could of gone cheaper if I would of used my loaf and grabbed the sachs GTI clutch (Which is essentially the same as the R) but hindsight and all that!

Running the St1 - TT - VWR600 - DP right now, tempted by a trip to Leeds for a decent dyno once the weather gets a little better, mates just got a TTS and he wants to start tinkering so would be a double trip, I expect to see c~370-380bhp/>375lbs!

Be more responsive on VWROC if you send a DM my way!

Love the wheels btw!

Decent spec list, must go well now you can really use the extra power/torque, I get jealous of the DSG lads who can use the full stage 1 torque without a care in the world! I'm about 40ft/lb light of where I could be in a DSG car, which would make a big difference. Although saying that, I had a wee run on the autobahn in 4th/5th gear against a friend in a Stage 1 mapped DSG car and actually pulled away from him slightly which we were both surprised about given his quicker gearchanges and extra oomph..

I'm doing a bit more reading about the next step from where I am now and it's all getting pretty pricey if I'm going to do it right; clutch replacement, downpipe, exhaust, intercooler, a proper map and some kind of brake kit which can keep up with it... many more of the queens required there!!

lewis87 said:

RS Grant said:

lewis87 said:

Car looks great on the speedlines, would I have seen this car parked up on Bank Street in Kirrie?

Yep, you would have seen it parked there occasionally. I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm up there, what do you drive?

Blue widetrack STI on black wheels

Happy days, I love a Scoob so shouldn't be hard to spot.. I've heard the familiar burble around the town a few times already.


Cheers,
Grant

[Max M4X WW]

RS Grant said:

The R returned to base yesterday when we went to pick up my sisters new Tiguan from the VW dealer in Perth, couldn't resist grabbing a picture of them together...



...and a couple more of the Tiguan. I was surprised/had forgotten what was included as standard with the SEL model and I think it looks absolutely brilliant too, well impressed with it.








Cheers,
Grant

Tiguan looks great, isnt much in it with the R-Line really unless you had them together. Needs the R-Line tailpipe trims though!

[RS Grant]

Max M4X WW said:

Tiguan looks great, isnt much in it with the R-Line really unless you had them together. Needs the R-Line tailpipe trims though!

Thanks Max, wasn't aware the Tiguan R-Line came with trims which could be retro-fitted to other models. Will have to look into that.

On the subject of tailpipes, I've been thinking about what I could do with the exhaust on my R should the time come when I bite the bullet and have an exhaust made for the car. As I've mentioned on a lot of occasions I'm not a fan of retaining the quad-exit system which is fitted as standard, so had thought that if it was possible then I'd remove the R-diffuser because single round tailpipes would look a bit lost in large exits which are made to house twin ovals each side. I thought I could replace it with a GTI-diffuser so I had smaller exits and could run two smaller tailpipes with a more snug fit, as per the standard GTI model.

Here are the two models:

golf r config by RS Grant, on Flickr
golf gti config by RS Grant, on Flickr

...as you can see there are subtle differences in the bumpers themselves which would prevent the fitting of a GTI diffuser on an R bumper, so back to the drawing board... and I did some very crude mock ups of what my original idea of going for Audi RS-style oval backboxes would look like but didn't like the look so I also explored what an aftermarket diffuser with completely different exhaust set up would look like:

IMG_0960 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Since I'm going for a handmade exhaust on my car, having the exhaust fabricated probably wont be an issue given there is ample space behind the bumper. The aftermarket option is actually quite appealing to me just now; I liked the R32/MK6R centre exhausts and I think even on a 7R, this is likely to look less Max Power than the twin-oval backbox alternative.

This isn't happening imminently but I'm still not sure which option I will choose when the time does come. I'd be grateful to hear your opinions on the above or if there are any other options which you think would be suitable.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 19:05

[alec.e]

I vote for the R32 style, the RS ovals are too big. Although, I am in the minority of not minding the stock quads.

[DuncB7]

RS Grant said:

Completely random I know, but I remember a Dunc from NE Scotland being on the Impreza Owners Club who owned an Impreza Catalunya that he either bought or sold to a guy called Chris Groves. You wouldn't happen to be the same person?

Funny you should say that. That is not me, but I do know him from the Impreza forum days. Not sure where he is now, maybe he lurks on here!

[RS Grant]

alec.e said:

I vote for the R32 style, the RS ovals are too big. Although, I am in the minority of not minding the stock quads.

Yeah I think if it's possible then the R32/MK6R option will be the direction that I'll go when the time comes. I think that if for whatever reason (cost, space, etc) that can't happen then I'd be forced to stick with the quad tailpipe layout because I'm really not sure the RS-style ovals will look acceptable on the car.

DuncB7 said:

Funny you should say that. That is not me, but I do know him from the Impreza forum days. Not sure where he is now, maybe he lurks on here!

So there's more than one Dunc in NE Scotland who is an ex-Impreza owner... who'd have thunk it?!
Yeah he could well lurk on here, I've lost touch with a lot of lads from SIDC/AberdeenScoobies who I used to talk to.. it'd be interesting to see what everyone is driving these days and if anybody has stuck with Subaru.


Cheers,
Grant

[Podie]

The Speedlines really suit the car

[Max M4X WW]

RS Grant said:

Max M4X WW said:

Tiguan looks great, isnt much in it with the R-Line really unless you had them together. Needs the R-Line tailpipe trims though!

Thanks Max, wasn't aware the Tiguan R-Line came with trims which could be retro-fitted to other models. Will have to look into that.

I could be wrong, but I assume the exhaust is the same and they add the tips. I think I saw an R-Line on AutoTrader without tips too.

[RS Grant]

Podie said:

The Speedlines really suit the car

Thanks Podie.

Max M4X WW said:

RS Grant said:

Max M4X WW said:

Tiguan looks great, isnt much in it with the R-Line really unless you had them together. Needs the R-Line tailpipe trims though!

Thanks Max, wasn't aware the Tiguan R-Line came with trims which could be retro-fitted to other models. Will have to look into that.

I could be wrong, but I assume the exhaust is the same and they add the tips. I think I saw an R-Line on AutoTrader without tips too.

I will investigate if they are available to buy from VW Parts and if so, how much of a financial fisting they come with.. but they do make a nice subtle difference.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

One of my friends just picked up a Nissan 350z and said that another friend was taking a few pictures of it last night, so I fired into town for a nosey at it and to hear what it sounded like too since it's got a full Buddyclub exhaust system on it... and it sounds gooood.

The Golf was looking pretty clean, so ended up taking a couple of photos of that too so thought I'd share them here:

38A5C169-408F-48C4-B3E4-5A2CA3847345 by RS Grant, on Flickr
0A3873F2-9E56-4BE9-BB0C-5E546F28BD62 by RS Grant, on Flickr
99B03C02-3B73-43D9-9948-24C363D0F7E8 by RS Grant, on Flickr




Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 19:07

[Alfa Pete]

Thats a lovely looking R you have there, the mods are very tasteful and looks great in Tornado red. I like the centre exit exhausts, not so keen on the ovals.

[epom]

Go the centre exhausts... much nicer

[YogurtCannon]

Lovely car mate, nice colour too 👍


Also,


Ovals 👀

[RS Grant]

It's been a while since I updated this thread (and my others!) but after a long year where I've had some big issues to deal with, I now subscribe to the 'life's too short' way of thinking more than ever.. so here are a few more recent pictures of the Golf, including the carbon fibre mirror covers which I bought for it:

Untitled by rsgrant, on Flickr
Untitled by rsgrant, on Flickr
1312D917-0655-4732-82DB-94CFDAE24884 by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_9971 by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by rsgrant, on Flickr
Untitled by rsgrant, on Flickr

After thinking seriously about what I do and don't like about the Golf and what is and isn't possible for me to change, I added up what I'd like to do to the Golf to take it to the next stage:

Remap
Intercooler
Different Intake
Hybrid Turbo (might as well since I was travelling hundreds of miles for the map & it'd give peace of mind!)
Custom Exhaust with Decat Downpipe
Rear Diffuser to suit above
Uprated Clutch and Flywheel
Big Brake Kit
ARB Upgrade

...I ended up with a big figure at the end of that list and while I would end up with a ~450bhp rocket that handled and stopped well, it was a LOT of money to lay out on modifications and every MK7 R that I've heard with an aftermarket exhaust sounds poor and doesn't suit the subtle nature of the car IMO. So I could potentially end up with a car I'm not totally happy with, which I don't expect after spending thousands of pounds on upgrading it.

So after realising that the sound of a car is one of the things which I really value in a car (looking back at my history of cars, there's a lot of character in the noises that the ones I have fondest memories of made) along with the fact that I like RWD because it adds an extra dimension to the driving experience that you can't get with FWD and most 4WD cars... it kind of meant that my days with the Golf had become numbered, which was a sad realisation!

B7 RS4, TTRS (I was very close to leaving a deposit on a Plus!) and C63 AMG were all ruled out as potential replacements for various reasons; to be honest I didn't feel like I really had many options left apart from an E9* M3 with a manual gearbox... and so the start of a semi serious/part time search for an LCI M3 with a nice specification and manual gearbox in either Coupe or Saloon flavour began.

Fast forward about few months, I drove a white E92 LCI which ticked most of my boxes but I was left a little cold by it after looking through the history and finding that it didn't add up to exactly how it had been advertised to me in the pre-visit communication and then not finding anything else that took my fancy for the next wee while... I was even seriously considering a TTRS Plus but eventually realised that jumping into that might be the wrong thing to do and continued on my search for an M3. So fast forward some more and I turned up a 2010 M3 Competition Pack in quite a rare colour combination with a decent spec, low miles/owners, full BMW service history and the all important manual gearbox.

E92 M3 Competition Pack by rsgrant, on Flickr

A test drive, some negotiation, a lot of hard thinking and a cup of tea later saw a deposit left on it... I'm really going to miss the Golf, it is a fantastic car and has surprised me on so many levels; and this might very well turn out to be the wrong decision but as I said at the top of the post 'life's too short' to hold off and procrastinate over 'what ifs' so I've taken the plunge and will see what happens, you can follow that journey on the thread I've just made:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

So long old friend...

Untitled by rsgrant, on Flickr

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 19:11

[MikeGoodwin]

Bit too low for my taste, I love the M3, still even now I think the e92 is a beautiful car.

[chrismc1977]

The R looked lovely- & swift no doubt.

As an owner of a mk7 GTD as well as my Integra I’m always struck by how remote the driving experience is in the Golf however

Electric PAS & a DBW throttle do not make for a fun or terribly engaging experience.

Bit of a pity as it is nice looking & goes well enough....I can only imagine the R is similar. Feedback through the steering wheel is minimal & you rely on blind faith with front end grip as the steering doesn’t communicate any feel

Perhaps I’m spoilt by the ITR but the Golf just doesn’t have that crucial something. Sadly I think it’s a criticism that can be levelled at most ‘modern’ VAG products...

Edited by chrismc1977 on Friday 13th October 17:54

[RS Grant]

It did sit quite low, probably a little lower than I expected, but being a fixed height solution and absolutely sick of looking at suspension articles/adverts/reviews for a Golf R at the time then there was no way it was getting changed for a third time!!

Re: the drive, the car was extremely fast point to point with fantastic grip and actually the harder you drove then the better the car felt. Communication wasn't bad if I'm honest and the front end was really sharp on the R, steering was very direct and I thought it felt like it had less than normal turns from lock-to-lock which probably had something to do with that.