VW Golf R

[RS Grant]

axel1990chp said:

RS Grant said:

Nope, there'll be no extreme tuning happening with mine.. yours is making impressive figures for a car running a manual box, assuming that you're not burning through standard clutches at a rate of knots?! Mine is currently c360bhp and 330lbft because I had the fear about getting stung for an uprated clutch soon after collecting it!!

...your torque figure gives me hope.


Cheers,
Grant

Haha, don't get your hopes up, this is the second clutch/flywheel, repaired without warranty, they deemed it my fault!
If this new one goes, HS have an uprated to 500lbs I believe!

Ouch, that's exactly the kind of expensive merry-go-round that I am trying to avoid!!

But if the worst did happen then I'd definitely be replacing standard for uprated and hoping that it was a fit and forget solution, that one rated to 500lbft sounds exactly like the kind of part required.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Well I've not done a great deal to the car over the past wee while, been researching Big Brake Kit for it.. don't fancy a VWR BBK going by the reviews I've seen and the Alcon kit is almost £3k, which is far more than I'm prepared to pay. Talking to a guy who builds brake kits about putting together a kit using AP Racing 6-pots and 362mm discs but as yet no further forward with that.

Anyway, the real reason for the update is that I've just returned from a few days at The Nurburgring... and I couldn't be happier with the car, never put a foot wrong and showed up some pretty serious machinery on track. This will have pictures/details of other cars that I was with as well than being exclusively about the R itself.

Here are the cars which went in our group:

IMG_7154 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Audi SQ5: ~320bhp
Audi S3: ~400bhp
Civic Type R Turbo: ~600bhp
Golf R (mine): ~360bhp
Mitsubishi Evo 5: ~450bhp
Golf R (running late for ferry/photo): ~390bhp

Been talking about going on a Ring trip for quite a while but work/other commitments have always managed to de-rail any trips previously, so this time when I knew it was actually happening, I couldn't have been more excited!!

After a night on the beers between Newcastle and Amsterdam, it was around 4hrs drive to our hotel at the bottom of the hill from where you start the Nordschleife... not mega enjoyable given our fuzzy heads and the heat, which never dropped below 28-29c through the day throughout our whole trip.

P1000989 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Could see the track from my bedroom window and balcony.

We arrived mid afternoon on Sunday and the track was already open, however, it was extremely busy given that the DTM Racing had been on.. but probably better that way than too quiet, because you had to keep an eye out for fast cars behind you/slow moving cars in front of you so wouldn't be pushing or anything.

Here is a picture I took when the cars were parked up together at our hotel:

IMG_7268 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Here are a couple of pictures of the R in action:

IMG_7230 by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_7233 by RS Grant, on Flickr

The obligatory Nurburgring photo:

IMG_7196 by RS Grant, on Flickr

At our hotel when we were leaving:

IMG_7269 by RS Grant, on Flickr


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 18:37

[RS Grant]

Final installment... just the picture of my lap time and a link to the GoPro footage that I've uploaded to YouTube.

I went over thinking that if Clarkson could get sub-10 minutes in a diesel Jag then even though I'd never been to The Ring before, I could do it in the Golf... well, I actually went sub-9 minutes in the car and was massively, massively impressed at how well it coped.

8min 33secs, with a couple bits of traffic and hold ups.

Here is the link to the video:

https://youtu.be/gYIgR9H86eg




Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 18:39

[RS Grant]

AGK said:

How fast did you get it on the autobahn?

Never got a clear run for any real length of time, but I saw just over 160 a couple of times.. think 162 was the maximum reached on this trip, although it would have pulled further given the chance.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

epom said:

Wheels are spot on for the car, I might have them a bit darker if I was ever in the position. Excellent choice though. What's your view on the 4 exhaust tips? Still can't believe there hasn't been something aftermarket with just two exits ala Audi RS models or the GTI.

Yeah I had initially wanted to do the Speedlines in a similar shade as my BBS' and have the silver/brushed metal bits on the car wrapped gloss black, but really liked them when they were test fitted to the car so they've remained silver.

The exhaust is ridiculous, one of the very few things that I don't like about the car. It's not sporty sounding and although I'm used to seeing the 4 tips now, I still don't think it's very acceptable... IF there comes a point where I bite the bullet and get an exhaust made for the R then it'll definitely have two large oval tailpipes like the Audi RS models have, no doubt about it.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Ok, this thread has been a wee bit neglected, although there’s not been much happening on the Golf front really. However it has just ticked over the 10,000 mile mark so I thought it might be nice to do a wee write up about the past (almost) 2 years and thousands of miles that I’ve enjoyed in the car. It’s a long post, it’s a wordy post, but if you’re interested in these cars or would like a more real-world review of them then I hope it’ll be useful for you.


Engine/Performance:

I’ve got no real issues with either of these things. As standard, the car performed well and impressed me on a level that I was not expecting a 300ps car to do. It felt brisk and responsive with only a little lag to be found lower down the rev range, but pulled willingly to the top of the revs. I know it’s probably complete overkill on a modern car produced with a generic 2.0T 4-pot, I know it probably got a full Italian tune up by the technician who did the PDI before I collected it; but regardless of that I always allow the oil to warm up to at least 85c before giving it any kind of meaningful boost and normal operating temperature of ~100c before I’d consider going over to the opposite side of the rev counter. This, as well as allowing it to sit for ~30secs after driving it, is just good practice in my opinion and could be argued that as a result, it’s not used any oil with me either pre/post interim oil change.

After doing a lot of reading on the VW R Owners Club and other places, I decided to fit a couple of small bits to the car and beef up the performance which I had become used to and less impressed by, as is the norm when you live with a car I suppose. In particular the mid-range performance seemed to take well to modifications, however, I’ve got a manual gearbox and as such the clutch is known to be a bit of a weak point after sustained hard work (even standard), so I had to be careful that I didn’t push things too far as I didn’t really fancy being stung for a replacement at VW and the aftermarket/uprated parts shelf was still rather sparse given that the car was still fairly new out at the time. The car made 362bhp and 331lb/ft with these modifications and even though that was a torque-limited map (should produce ~360lb/ft) the car was transformed but is still very smooth, just giving ‘more’ everywhere and a very impressive turn of pace.

Something which I thought might loosen up with age but hasn’t done so is the gearchange, it’s a great gearbox with short throw and a positive movement/engagement between gears 2-6. But the change from 1st to 2nd gear more when ‘pootling’ around can be a bit sticky/awkward, it’s more apparent when the car is cold and can result in a little bit of jerky progress until the car clears it’s throat and gets on with things. I’m not sure why it happens, but when the time comes to change the gearbox fluid, it may be worth sticking in an additive to aid smooth operation to see if it eliminates this.

I’ve got to bring up throttle response, which in my car is good. I’ve fitted a pedal box, which alters the throttle mapping slightly, but I’ve had to put it on the softest setting otherwise it was too sensitive. I wouldn’t miss it if I had to remove it. However, my sister has a completely standard DSG-equipped MK7 R and the throttle response in that is absolutely abysmal, to the point of being dangerous in my opinion. A typical scenario we all deal with regularly is driving up to a roundabout, you spot a gap and put your foot down slightly to move onto the roundabout but her DSG R takes a moment to think about it before giving you forward motion.. meaning that the gap you were aiming for has now gone and you’re free wheeling onto the roundabout, but now there is a car coming round to meet you. Great. So you can either stab the throttle and take off like your pubes are on fire, looking like a complete tit; or you can wait for the car to pick its skirt up and just meekly apologise to the person on the roundabout for your error, looking like a complete tit.

The sound of the engine is a bit of a funny one. From the outside, with ‘Race’ mode selected and the exhaust valves open the car is quite throaty and has a wee bit of a burble about it I’m told. I’d be wary about fitting an exhaust to the car because any of the aftermarket systems which I’ve heard, have sounded pretty poor (tinny and raspy) and in my opinion have really not suited the subtle nature of the R. The flipside of being in ‘Race’ mode is that the interior of the car gets what sounds like a blend of ‘6-cyl R32 rumble’ and ‘5-pot Audi Quattro warble’ piped in via a ‘Soundaktor’ gizmo designed to make the car sound far sportier than it actually does (or ever will!) outside. There are plenty of people who disable this ‘Soundaktor’, or turn the volume of it up/down via VAGCOM to suit their taste, however, I must say that even though it’s a bit of a gimmick in my opinion.. it’s something that I’ve never been annoyed by or felt the need to change. Sure; it’s not authentic which is bad, but it’s not as bad as the new RenaultSport Clio for example, which can change interior engine noise to a twin-turbo milk float or whatever the ridiculous options are.


Interior:

At the risk of sounding like a bloody advert, it’s a Golf. Close the door and it thuds like a Golf. Sit behind the wheel and it feels like a Golf.

Ok there are certain ‘R-specific’ features in the car, like the blue ambient lighting on the doors/sill trims/gauge needles along with the ‘R-only’ upholstery. But apart from that, the dashboard finish is the same, the seat design is the same as a GTi/GTD (bit sad they don’t offer a Recaro wingback option like they did in the MK6R and MK7 Clubsport models?!) seats and all the switchgear is lifted straight from the generic Golf parts bin. This will not be enough for some people who want to spend that kind of money and feel like they’re sitting in something special, the small differences in an R do NOT make you feel like you’re in something special. It’s a very nice comfortable place to be and I’ve spent many hours behind the wheel in one sitting, feeling fresh and fine when I get out at the other end, but I’m sure that the same could be said if I’d got out of a Golf GTD.

Over the past two years the car has been loaded with dogs, friends, camping gear, etc and at no point have I ever thought; ‘wow, this car is so spacious’ I’m afraid. The loadspace is really pretty poor for what is still meant as an every day hatchback car, I assume it’s because they’ve fitted a rear diff for the 4WD system, but it’s robbed space from the boot and the result isn’t great and was a bit of a surprise to me.

The equipment levels even in a ‘base spec’ car like mine are very good and provides a lot of features you have to pay for with other manufacturers. In no particular order my highlights are; adaptive xenon lights, adaptive cruise control, touchscreen media (BT, USB, SD), feature-laden on board computer, hill hold assist (didn’t think I’d need/use/feel it.. but I do!) and park assist front and rear with distance display. Interior fit and finish is great, everything still works as it should and there are zero squeaks or rattles in the car (a reeeal pet hate of mine!) at all. The only time that I thought I heard a bit of a rattle was dipping into the ploughed tarmac of Karousel on The Ring, but think that was my GoPro mount rather than the car.


Ride/Handling:

This is an area which I was absolutely blown away by the R if I’m honest, worth saying that I got a car without the active Dynamic Chassis Control option and on the standard 18” wheels with Bridgestone tyres and despite regretting not going for the 19” Pretoria wheel option from a visual point of view, I cannot complain about the way the car drove on the standard wheels at all.

I live in East/North East Scotland and I’m lucky enough to have access to some amazing roads just a short drive from my house, they are phenomenally fun but also phenomenally bumpy/tight as well and really test the handling of any car. After I’d given the Golf a chance to bed in, I took it for a blast along one of my favourite stretches of road and couldn’t believe how well it coped. The R actually reminded me of my original Impreza UK Turbo which had the Prodrive Handling Pack, something designed specifically to cope with a British B-road. The R had enough suspension travel to soak up the lumps and bumps, but was still stiff enough so that it didn’t hit the bump stops or wallow around; it really provides you with a lot of confidence to stick it into the bends. Even when I switched to the 19” BBS wheels that I bought for the car, the ride quality never changed and the composure it showed on a twisty road was unaltered.

Despite the composure it showed on the road, when I took the car on a track day, the amount of body roll was a bit too much for me. So I did some more reading about suspension kits/springs/coilovers but again because the cars were still quite new, the depth of knowledge was quite light and it was a bit of a struggle to get some real world feedback from owners rather than sales guff from people selling the products. I’ve posted a wee bit about my suspension woes, going from KW V1 Coilovers to Koni Adjustable Shocks with H&R Springs which have been fantastic and I really love the way the car rides on both road and track now. However despite this being meant/sold as a MK7 R kit, it required removal of the front ARB to stop knocking on my car; so if I had my time over again, I’d probably fit a spring kit and be done with it rather than going through all the hassle and irritation again.. either that or spend considerably more money on an expensive fully adjustable coilover kit like the KW V3 or KW Clubsport kits.

As far as being 4WD goes, this car isn’t like the 4WD cars which I’ve owned before (Imprezas, GT4s, etc) which have permanent 4WD. The MK7 R has the most up to date Haldex system which as I understand it is still more of a reactive system which will sense slip at the front and engage the rear wheels to provide 4WD to help out until the front regains grip again; rather than an active system where the rear wheels are engaged and providing 4WD assistance at all times. This assistance from the rear is something which I’ve only EVER felt happening on the recent snow/ice that we’ve had, up until that point, there have been no broadside drifts out of junctions or 4-wheel slides on roundabouts to report.. you can adjust the car on the throttle, bringing the rear into play a little, but I think you’d have to be going very hard (with a considerable amount of space to play with) and be very harsh with steering/throttle inputs to get it to slide around like a more traditional 4WD car would… however while I don’t want to drive like a hooligan on the road, I’d like it to play back a little bit more when I’m in the mood; especially when on track.


Looks/Design:

I like it, which isn’t surprising since it’s sitting on my driveway I suppose. But I like that it looks just like a regular Golf to 90-95% of the population, I can leave it in town and not worry that its spoiler is going to get ripped off or some jealous scrote is going to run a key along the side of it. Ok, those are still risks with any car, but it’s less of a risk on a car which blends in so well. After all it’s only those ‘in the know’ who will be able to identify the small details which are ‘R-specific’ on the exterior, like the calipers/R-badges/wheels and ‘that’ exhaust… I can’t really ignore the exhaust any longer can I?? Well for the record, I don’t like it. I think it’s ridiculous that a VW Golf has 4 tailpipes, completely unnecessary and I’m not entirely sure why they moved away from the twin exit of the current GTi or previous R model which looks a LOT better to me. In fact, if I were ever to change the exhaust and get a custom system made (with acceptable noise levels/tone) then I’d ditch the four tailpipes and have two decent sized oval tailpipes, along the lines of the design seen on Audi RS models.
One of my regrets when I got the car was not ordering the 19” Pretoria wheels, the 18” wheels aren’t offensive and I think the Tornado Red actually pulls them off better than most other colours, but they’re nowhere near as attractive as the upgraded alloys are in my opinion and if I was ordering another R then the 19” wheels would be the first box I’d tick.


Running Costs:

The car is or isn’t as expensive to run as you would like it to be really, when driving on track I’ve seen the MPG down to 11-12mpg average but on the road I can also achieve 36-38mpg average without driving like I’m an 80-yr old in a daydream or on a Top Gear Economy Challenge. Not that I think the figures would be any different if I didn’t but I only ever use Shell V-Power in my cars out of choice, premium fuel was obviously required after I tuned the car to its current level anyway.
In addition to the mileage covered on the road, the car has done 4 track days at Knockhill and a trip to The Nurburgring in Germany where I did 5 laps in the car at fairly brisk pace (8:33 best BTG). I typically run the car with the TC/ESC completely turned off on the road and without fail on track, but the speed at which it has chewed through the rear brake pads has been astonishing. I was under the impression that turning the electronic aids off would stop the car interfering and braking wheels of its own accord when the car was being thrown around, however it needed rear pads replacing within 9k miles and the amount of brake dust on my REAR wheels after being on track is high, probably more so than the fronts, so I can only assume (since I don’t feel it happening) that the car still interferes and introduces braking when pushing very hard. While the rear pads have been changed, the front pads are going to require changing within the next 2-3k probably, so I’ll have got 12-13k miles from them, which given the use the car has had, I think is absolutely fine.
I’ve done two oil changes myself, again due to the use the car gets, but it is due for its first scheduled service at VW in the coming month or so, although I’m running a slightly better quality of oil than they will use, so I’ll supply that for them to use instead of the OEM oil.


Summary:

I’m very well known for changing my cars at regular intervals, sometimes because I don’t gel with them and others because I just want to try something new. Well I’m in the unfamiliar situation where I can’t really think of another car which I could replace the Golf with which would give me such a great combination of performance, practicality, equipment and sensible running costs for the same kind of money. Sure there are a couple of wee downsides with it, but they’re very minor and I’m being quite picky when I mention them.

I’ve rambled on a LOT more than I had planned to do, I hope it’s been a decent enough read for you and informative enough for those who were hoping to gain something from it.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Thanks for all the positive comments, I didn't intend it being quite such a long read when I started but I'm glad it's been appreciated.

sleepera6 said:

That's a fantastic looking car! I don't think I have seen a Golf R in Tornado Red, let alone modified with 3dr. The Speedlines really suit it.

Two questions, both genuine:

- what are you going to do peformance wise? Are you going to go for a big power build at any time?

(Please don't get offended at this question)
- Do you ever worry about the car security wise? Just asking, since all the spate of R thefts recently. I am actually looking to purchase one outright, like you did. However, I am buying used, and a lot of cars are "Cat D" which I am assuming is "stolen recovered"? And the infamous double Toerag/Golf R theft thread on here has scared me off a little bit, so I am considering a GTI instead..

What's the peformance like compred to your previous cars (TT RS etc..)

Again, nice car! Watching with interest.

Thanks mate, red is still the poor relation compared to the Blue/White from what I've seen. I'm happier that way though, wee bit more exclusivity is never a bad thing.

Regarding the power level, it's a tough one really. The car is very driveable the way it is, very smooth and as I say it's just as it was when it was standard but there's just 'more' of it. So I'd have to be very careful that I didn't push things too far and create a car which was less flexible or less driveable, so things like big power 500+bhp builds are unlikely to happen on this thread.

If I was to go to the next level with the car it'd be getting an intercooler, free-flowing downpipe and a custom map; the problem with doing this is that I would put money on the clutch deciding that it's work is done and giving up on me once it's got over 400lbft going through it. Which means that I'd require an uprated clutch for 000's or 0000's of pounds, that isn't the end of the world financially but from the brief scan of the available options there doesn't seem to be much real-world feedback on exactly how these clutches feel and operate, I've seen some people mention a paddle clutch and my only experience of those is back in my RS Turbo days and I did not like the on/off nature of them one little bit. I'd need to do a lot more reading before I bit that particular bullet because like I found when researching parts before, the majority of feedback I've seen is from parts sellers feeding people the info they want to hear.

Security is always a worry when you've got a nice car, the R is no different. I've got a few pros on my side;

- My location, the crime rate is low and even the closest city isn't bad by modern standards.
- It's 3dr, so isn't as practical as 5dr/Estate cars for bad lads to keep their shooters and bags of cash.
- The car spends a fair amount of time in storage, so out of sight/out of mind.

...despite those pros, I believe that if someone wants your car then they'll find a way to get your car. So the keys are never hidden in the house because I'd rather be fast asleep and undisturbed should any dodgy characters let themselves in to get the keys and survive the dogs licking them to death.

Performance is strong, very strong actually. The TTRS was a bit of an anomaly as well, fairly certain it had been mapped before we bought it as it made 374bhp and 415lbft when on a dyno with me but it pulled from almost idle and continued pulling very hard right into three figures, I saw 174mph in that car before I had to lift. As yet the maximum I've seen in the Golf is 164mph before I had to lift, but it was still pulling at that speed so there's not likely a great deal in it. I am yet to give it a run against the F80 M3 (a big downside with living in Scotland is aligning free time with good weather! ), but I've a sneaking suspicion that the BMW won't have it all it's own way until speeds start to get more serious. Certainly to drive, the Golf feels more punchy than the M3 does, so will be interesting to see the result of a side by side pull and some in-gear tests too... I could be completely wrong in my suspicions, haha, but I'll update the thread once that happens anyway.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

AGK said:

Good write up Grant.

Did you get round to using the DS2500?

Not got round to using them yet, the standard pads are still holding on amazingly?! I'll likely give the DS2500's a whirl once I finally kill off the originals though.

Hows the Clio coming along? You planning any KH days in near future?

KarlS said:

RS Grant said:

After doing a lot of reading on the VW R Owners Club and other places, I decided to fit a couple of small bits to the car and beef up the performance which I had become used to and less impressed by, as is the norm when you live with a car I suppose. In particular the mid-range performance seemed to take well to modifications, however, I’ve got a manual gearbox and as such the clutch is known to be a bit of a weak point after sustained hard work (even standard), so I had to be careful that I didn’t push things too far as I didn’t really fancy being stung for a replacement at VW and the aftermarket/uprated parts shelf was still rather sparse given that the car was still fairly new out at the time. The car made 362bhp and 331lb/ft with these modifications and even though that was a torque-limited map (should produce ~360lb/ft) the car was transformed but is still very smooth, just giving ‘more’ everywhere and a very impressive turn of pace.

I have a manual Golf R myself and enjoyed reading your update

What map did you go for? and does it affect warranty?

Glad you enjoyed the update Karl, have you done anything to your Golf just now? I've got a JB1 Box fitted to mine, it's essentially a tuning box although it's a bit more than your average tuning box. Produces some good figures and keeps the car driving as per standard, just makes it a bit more muscular. If ultimate performance is your goal then it's not quite as good as a custom map, however, you would then run the risk of warranty issues should something go wrong and they discovered your car had been remapped; which the JB1 box wouldn't do as it can be removed very easily, leaving no trace for the dealership.

http://www.burgertuning.com/volkswagen_vw.html

That's the link to the company who make the JB1 box for the R. They have recently released a JB4 box (what BMW guys have raved about for years!) for the R which opens up a LOT of new options and features, you can also upgrade a JB1 box to JB4 spec which is something which I'm seriously considering at the moment.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 18th January 18:22

[RS Grant]

axel1990chp said:

Grant,

If you're debating the clutch upgrade but want to feel it out, you're more than welcome to try mine, based in North East Yorkshire if that's of help. Best description I can give you is - stiff, but not too stiff, tonnes of feel, more responsive and smoother change. It also got rid of that god forsaken "delay" between giving you your full beans when shifting up

Definitely get the Wagner and the TT intake man!

Sounds good, that'd be very helpful! There is a chance that I'll be driving down to visit friends in Bedford in the next couple of months so if that happens then a small stop off in NE Yorks shouldn't be a problem. So I'll fire you a PM closer to the time.

What is the spec of your R now then? What clutch did you go for in the end and if you don't mind me asking, how much did it sting you?

I've got the TT intake pipe fitted, I could see the logic behind getting rid of the restrictive plastic intake elbow and decided that it was worth the expense so swapped out the Forge pipe. The Wagner IC would be the one I'd go for going by what I've read and results I've seen so far.

DuncB7 said:

Thanks for taking the time to compose such a detailed review of your R. Stumbled upon this rather fortunately.

Potentially in the market to buy one in the not so distant future and coming from similar part of the UK, it's great to hear positive feedback on usage around the roads of NE Scotland. Particularly given that I'd also select one without DCC if choice allows.

Also having been an Impreza owner in years gone by, I enjoyed the similarities your drew between them. I still find myself dribbling over Impreza's however a Golf might be a more suitable all around vehicle for me and the family.

Glad you've found the thread and it's been of use Dunc... 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?

I looked into the new Impreza STi but if I'm honest, while I could probably accept and live with the fact the interior quality wasn't up with the German stuff; I was a bit disappointed by the fact they're still using the 500+ year a tax, soft and uneconomical 2.5 engine in the UK cars.

That said, I'm absolutely certain that an Impreza would play back far more than the R does given it's 4WD set up and adjustable centre diff.. so it's really a trade off and deciding what is more important. Another area I think the Subaru would beat the VW is the boot space, which if you're buying as a family car, may be something you investigate and think seriously about.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

KarlS said:

My Golf is completely standard. I have it on a 3 year personal lease, and it's only about 8 months old so I'm only just getting to that point now where i'm thinking about a little more power, but, with concerns about the warranty. I have read that the clutch on the manuals is worse than the DSG's so that worries me a bit too.

Regarding the JB!, funny enough my research had directed me towards that as being the best of the tuning box type maps, although a friend of a friend has a DTUK box for sale soon which is going cheap (any experience of those?).

Yep the manual clutches are a known weak point unfortunately, which makes it extra important that you don't push things too far on the tuning front unless you're ready to lay down some cash on an uprated clutch.. something that nobody on a lease and very few people in a new car want to do!

The DTUK box was the first one out there from memory, so they sold a LOT of them and they do produce decent enough figures when dyno tested. The reason I went for the JB1 box over the DTUK box was the fact that the JB1 has an extra connection which plugs into the fuel system as well, where as the DTUK box relies on the standard set up to notice an anomaly and compensate for it. We're talking fractions, of fractions of a second here, but I didn't want to run any risk that the car was runing lean or anything. There have been posts with more technical explanations and data about this on the VWROC forum, but that's the bare bones of it and in addition to the JB1 having a pre-loaded ('manual clutch friendly' map on it) is the reason I decided to stay away from the DTUK tuning box.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Mij91 said:

I too have really enjoyed reading through the thread and thank you for giving such concise detail throughout your ownership.

Are you still running no front anti roll bar? The car looks to lean a lot in the pictures at the ring, although i appreciate you don't have a full track orientated setup. It is interesting that you draw the comparison to the AWD Imprezas and i am assuming GT4 being Celicas (If so, do you have any pictures?). After watching your video it did appear that the car behaves very much like a FWD car and it is interesting to hear that, my 306 actually benefited with a stiffer rear ARB and disconnected front ARB. Very pointy and precise, whereas the Celica must be coerced and balanced in to corners or will understeer dramatically. Especially under power.

Also, if you were to want to put the front ARB back on, drop links are surprisingly simple to construct yourself if you were needing to make them slightly longer.

Yep the car is still running no front ARB and will likely continue to do so because I'm buggered if I'm away to start messing with more suspension kits for the car... three different setups within a few months was enough to sicken me!

Suspension-wise, if I was to go 'all-in' on the car then I'd have a fully adjustable coilover kit with camber adjustment and a stiffer rear ARB with a re-fitted front ARB. However as I said, I've sickened myself with suspension on this car so for the time being all I'd consider would be some kind of camber adjustment and possibly a stiffer rear ARB in an attempt to make the rear a little more lively for me. But I should say the car handles amazingly well as it is and I'm a bit unsure if I should fiddle too much with it.

I was Celica GT4s that I've had previously, I've owned two.. one of which I liked so much that I owned it twice!

1994 White WRC:

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

1997 Storm Grey:

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

1994 White WRC (Part 2):

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I found them to be a bit soft on a proper back road, touched the bump stops a few times on an Impreza Owners Club run in the Highlands in my White WRC model! Fitted a set of Tein Springs and a Whiteline Rear ARB to my Grey car though and it was much better than the standard set up, handled well even on track.

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr




Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 18:49

[RS Grant]

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?

KarlS said:

RS Grant said:

Yep the manual clutches are a known weak point unfortunately, which makes it extra important that you don't push things too far on the tuning front unless you're ready to lay down some cash on an uprated clutch.. something that nobody on a lease and very few people in a new car want to do!

The DTUK box was the first one out there from memory, so they sold a LOT of them and they do produce decent enough figures when dyno tested. The reason I went for the JB1 box over the DTUK box was the fact that the JB1 has an extra connection which plugs into the fuel system as well, where as the DTUK box relies on the standard set up to notice an anomaly and compensate for it. We're talking fractions, of fractions of a second here, but I didn't want to run any risk that the car was runing lean or anything. There have been posts with more technical explanations and data about this on the VWROC forum, but that's the bare bones of it and in addition to the JB1 having a pre-loaded ('manual clutch friendly' map on it) is the reason I decided to stay away from the DTUK tuning box.


Cheers,
Grant

I'm thinking maybe I'll leave it alone a little longer. I've done a bit more research this morning and the clutch thing has me worrying. There are reports from people that haven't even tuned their cars having clutch problems as low as 6k miles in. Why did they put a GTI clutch in a car with so much more power, crazy!

Anyway good luck with your car, mine is Lapiz (predictably) but I really do like the red ones - especially 3 door

Cheers,
Karl

Yep, I assume it was a cost cutting exercise.. unsure whether the manual versions of the Audi S3 or Leon Cupra 290/300 use the same part, but I'd assume they do and the owners are having the same worries as Golf R owners. I can understand not over engineering a part to handle 40-50% more power than standard but like you say even the odd standard car has struggled, which isn't great and not very VW-ish in my experience.

Thanks Karl, I love the Lapiz.. specially when it's taken care of well and the sun is out, it's a stunning colour. If I'd ordered another R (which I had considered) then I was going with Lapiz Blue, although I did consider Limestone Grey as a more subtle left-field option.

RS Grant said:

1994 White WRC:

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Haha, unfortunately not. That was taken quite a few years ago, it was quite a head turner when it had the graphics on it! I was a huge Sega Rally fan when I was a wee boy so when I got the chance to drive a 'real' one I couldn't resist.

Sadly looking at MOT and Tax history on the car would suggest it's either been stripped (it had a big turbo, fully forged engine etc) and gone to the scrapyard in the sky or is lying in a driveway/barn somewhere. No MOT or Tax since the end of 2012 and I suppose it could be a track car, but I'm quite a regular visitor to Knockhill and I've not seen/heard of it being up there.


Cheers,
Grant

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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.