SQ2 - the thinking mans Golf R
Discussion
well you might ask how on earth does someone on PH find themselves with what most would consider a completely un Pistonheads car? SUV i hear you say aghast? another VW group MQB platform golf in a frumpy frock. quite possibly.
I'll start with a bit of backstory as to how this came about, We're a 2 (well 2 and project) car family with Mrs GR currently having a rather practical and sensible Quashqai(Sp) on lease which other than one trip back to nissan in 3 years for a bit of water ingress has been supremely practical, reliable and provides horrificly dull but practical transportation for primarily Mrs GR with me reluctantly taking the keys as and when required. theres also an equally dull but somewhat more bells and whistles than the Nissan G31 5 series sitting alongside it in dull as ditch water 2.0 4 pot form which again is very dull but performs dog lugging duties and can stow all manner of Ikea wares as required.
This all started back in March having watched all the sensible money lease deals dry up and being faced with paying an eye watering amount on the monthlys as well as turning 40 this year the good lady decreed she wanted something "nice" (her words) so after many suggestions from me namely involving Bavarias finest and several mooches around various showrooms we went off to look at Minis after deciding she's 40, push the boat out and blow past our initial 30k budget and get something much niceer
Into Mini, Done deal 30 minutes in the showroom having been given some very nice coffee (Thankyou Mini Glasgow your hospitality is superb) Mrs GR is off out test driving an electric mini . back all smiles and bouncing curls like an over excited school girl a Mini Electric 3 which includes all the required features such as sparkly interior lighting and carplay (which seemed to be the main shopping criteria is duly ordered) for May Delivery.
Youd think story over job done and an easy life for me, Oh no not a chance. Over the next few months Mini kept pushing dates and cutting spec, first to go was the adaptive cruise, then the heated seats couldnt be included and the final straw call came when we were having a week away in Perthshire when they said No heated steering wheel now available and it might be September before you see the car. Enough was enough and the car hunt was back on. We were on holiday so plenty of time to trawl dealerships for a few days and look at various options.
First up was MIni in Stirling who had a lovely JCW countryman sitting in the showroom but couldnt sell it, as it was their demo car test drove their other Demo which Mrs GR fell in love with as "being a bit nippy" so back to the dealership and as lovely as they were could only offer us an 18 month old car for new car money. and could possibly have their demo in a couple of months. Back to the drawing board. Ok Over to BMW which is conveniently next door, lots of lovely stuff and despite me suggesting a nice 330d touring as the perfect car for her the X2 seemed to be flavour of the month, pricing obtained and a decision made to go look at a few other options before making a deal, Que Trips to Volvo to look at XC40s and 60s but no love then into VW who had a lovely T-Roc R sitting in the showroom (i did try to steer her towards the infinitely sensible Passat estate but she was having none of it, T-Roc R sitting in the show room, - yes that one is availble to buy Right away and despite the slight budget creep up to 40k we had a look, She sat in it for all of 30 seconds straight back out nope its cheap. lots of hard plastics and she just didnt feel it. back to the drawing board.
Next up having liked the T-Roc R a trip to Audi who happened to have a lovely 19 plate SQ2 in stock on their website, so off to Camerons in Perth, (lovely people if anyone is looking to buy an Audi btw Coffee is superb) keys literally chucked to us after a quick chat about the features and various odds and sods. an hour later back to the dealer all smiles (again this ones also quite nippy i like it) and ready to do a deal. Only sticking point is No reversing camera so lets negotiate.
Quick chat with the salesman who agreed to cover the cost of a retrofitted reversing camera then dropped the hammer, I just so happen to have a cancelled factory order arriving in a few weeks brand new car which has one already fitted. Mrs GR then bared her teeth ripped the salesmen to pieces and got imo an absolutely stonking deal on the new car even waiting till what imo was a very good deal was offered to play her Trump card of so can i get an NHS discount and a bootliner So Deal done, Tango red Black pack SQ2 signed ordered and budget most definitely blown. Colour and spec locked in as its already ordered but happy at that.
At this point we are several weeks down the line, The dealership absolutely fantastic with us keeping us updated and everything on track Until a few weeks back they posted on their blasted facebook page that they had another cancelled factory order, This time a White Vorsrpung SQ2. all i can do at this point is roll my eyes a quick chat about the difference in spec which imo is for the additional money is worth every penny, The Vorsprung adds full leather Pano roof and Matrix lighting and self parking along with a few other odds and sods. A quick call to our poor sales guy and order switched over. man maths strikes again and at this point we're well over our initial budget but hey the argument is it will be a shared car
The tango red one landed last week and from the pics on their facebook page would have been an absolutely fantastic looking little thing.
but the phone rang on Friday
guess whats arrived at the dealership?
literally just off the transporter and transport covers removed hopefully PDI done at the start of next week and take delivery mid week at some point.
for those not familiar with the SQ2 i'll let topgear explain as to why i feel the love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSBkFvQNtYE
it does all the go fast bits of a golf R other half prefers SUVs so thats covered and dare i say it, without the stigma attached to a Golf R/S3
will keep the thread updated as to how we get on with it and what its like day to day
I'll start with a bit of backstory as to how this came about, We're a 2 (well 2 and project) car family with Mrs GR currently having a rather practical and sensible Quashqai(Sp) on lease which other than one trip back to nissan in 3 years for a bit of water ingress has been supremely practical, reliable and provides horrificly dull but practical transportation for primarily Mrs GR with me reluctantly taking the keys as and when required. theres also an equally dull but somewhat more bells and whistles than the Nissan G31 5 series sitting alongside it in dull as ditch water 2.0 4 pot form which again is very dull but performs dog lugging duties and can stow all manner of Ikea wares as required.
This all started back in March having watched all the sensible money lease deals dry up and being faced with paying an eye watering amount on the monthlys as well as turning 40 this year the good lady decreed she wanted something "nice" (her words) so after many suggestions from me namely involving Bavarias finest and several mooches around various showrooms we went off to look at Minis after deciding she's 40, push the boat out and blow past our initial 30k budget and get something much niceer
Into Mini, Done deal 30 minutes in the showroom having been given some very nice coffee (Thankyou Mini Glasgow your hospitality is superb) Mrs GR is off out test driving an electric mini . back all smiles and bouncing curls like an over excited school girl a Mini Electric 3 which includes all the required features such as sparkly interior lighting and carplay (which seemed to be the main shopping criteria is duly ordered) for May Delivery.
Youd think story over job done and an easy life for me, Oh no not a chance. Over the next few months Mini kept pushing dates and cutting spec, first to go was the adaptive cruise, then the heated seats couldnt be included and the final straw call came when we were having a week away in Perthshire when they said No heated steering wheel now available and it might be September before you see the car. Enough was enough and the car hunt was back on. We were on holiday so plenty of time to trawl dealerships for a few days and look at various options.
First up was MIni in Stirling who had a lovely JCW countryman sitting in the showroom but couldnt sell it, as it was their demo car test drove their other Demo which Mrs GR fell in love with as "being a bit nippy" so back to the dealership and as lovely as they were could only offer us an 18 month old car for new car money. and could possibly have their demo in a couple of months. Back to the drawing board. Ok Over to BMW which is conveniently next door, lots of lovely stuff and despite me suggesting a nice 330d touring as the perfect car for her the X2 seemed to be flavour of the month, pricing obtained and a decision made to go look at a few other options before making a deal, Que Trips to Volvo to look at XC40s and 60s but no love then into VW who had a lovely T-Roc R sitting in the showroom (i did try to steer her towards the infinitely sensible Passat estate but she was having none of it, T-Roc R sitting in the show room, - yes that one is availble to buy Right away and despite the slight budget creep up to 40k we had a look, She sat in it for all of 30 seconds straight back out nope its cheap. lots of hard plastics and she just didnt feel it. back to the drawing board.
Next up having liked the T-Roc R a trip to Audi who happened to have a lovely 19 plate SQ2 in stock on their website, so off to Camerons in Perth, (lovely people if anyone is looking to buy an Audi btw Coffee is superb) keys literally chucked to us after a quick chat about the features and various odds and sods. an hour later back to the dealer all smiles (again this ones also quite nippy i like it) and ready to do a deal. Only sticking point is No reversing camera so lets negotiate.
Quick chat with the salesman who agreed to cover the cost of a retrofitted reversing camera then dropped the hammer, I just so happen to have a cancelled factory order arriving in a few weeks brand new car which has one already fitted. Mrs GR then bared her teeth ripped the salesmen to pieces and got imo an absolutely stonking deal on the new car even waiting till what imo was a very good deal was offered to play her Trump card of so can i get an NHS discount and a bootliner So Deal done, Tango red Black pack SQ2 signed ordered and budget most definitely blown. Colour and spec locked in as its already ordered but happy at that.
At this point we are several weeks down the line, The dealership absolutely fantastic with us keeping us updated and everything on track Until a few weeks back they posted on their blasted facebook page that they had another cancelled factory order, This time a White Vorsrpung SQ2. all i can do at this point is roll my eyes a quick chat about the difference in spec which imo is for the additional money is worth every penny, The Vorsprung adds full leather Pano roof and Matrix lighting and self parking along with a few other odds and sods. A quick call to our poor sales guy and order switched over. man maths strikes again and at this point we're well over our initial budget but hey the argument is it will be a shared car
The tango red one landed last week and from the pics on their facebook page would have been an absolutely fantastic looking little thing.
but the phone rang on Friday
guess whats arrived at the dealership?
literally just off the transporter and transport covers removed hopefully PDI done at the start of next week and take delivery mid week at some point.
for those not familiar with the SQ2 i'll let topgear explain as to why i feel the love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSBkFvQNtYE
it does all the go fast bits of a golf R other half prefers SUVs so thats covered and dare i say it, without the stigma attached to a Golf R/S3
will keep the thread updated as to how we get on with it and what its like day to day
I've got a similar situation - I bought my wife one a couple of years ago. I made the order (via Drive the Deal) pre-pandemic, delivery was impacted as the pandemic hit but it arrived eventually.
It's just recently gone for its first service and aside from a paint defect that is going to need a new bonnet (covered under warranty) it's been fine - she's only done less than 4000 miles though.
I've driven it a few times, it's not really my cup of tea but it seems fine - it doesn't feel as quick as the figures suggest but that could be down to the gearbox which is so slow to react (probably exacerbated by my refusal to use the mode that pipes fake engine noise into the cabin).
It's just recently gone for its first service and aside from a paint defect that is going to need a new bonnet (covered under warranty) it's been fine - she's only done less than 4000 miles though.
I've driven it a few times, it's not really my cup of tea but it seems fine - it doesn't feel as quick as the figures suggest but that could be down to the gearbox which is so slow to react (probably exacerbated by my refusal to use the mode that pipes fake engine noise into the cabin).
Mr Tidy said:
I think I'd call it the "Man Who's Smart enough to keep his OH Happy" alternative to a Golf R!
I wouldn't want anyone I knew seeing me in one of those.
happy wife happy life, couldnt care less what anyone else thinks about what i drive. i'm sure it will be great fun to drive and a complete opposite of my 5 series diesel so a bit of variety on the drive. I wouldn't want anyone I knew seeing me in one of those.
Theres also a long lingering Omega MV6 which may or may not one day surface from its slumber and be allowed out to play. but that said a cheeky Revo Performance pack would see the SQ2 over 400 bhp and nudging 600nm of torque i can imagine that being hilarious fun
Glasgowrob said:
Mr Tidy said:
I think I'd call it the "Man Who's Smart enough to keep his OH Happy" alternative to a Golf R!
I wouldn't want anyone I knew seeing me in one of those.
happy wife happy life, couldnt care less what anyone else thinks about what i drive. i'm sure it will be great fun to drive and a complete opposite of my 5 series diesel so a bit of variety on the drive. I wouldn't want anyone I knew seeing me in one of those.
Theres also a long lingering Omega MV6 which may or may not one day surface from its slumber and be allowed out to play. but that said a cheeky Revo Performance pack would see the SQ2 over 400 bhp and nudging 600nm of torque i can imagine that being hilarious fun
Good luck reviving the Omega.
The SQ2 with a remap may well get over 400bhp, but I can't see it being fun.
I'd ignore the naysayers. Not my cup of tea personally, but I can totally see the appeal vs Golf R/S3 (particularly current gen!) and in Vorsprung spec will be a rare thing indeed. Better than the T-Roc R which I agree has a really poor cabin.
Also, please remap to 400hp. I do think that will be fun
Also, please remap to 400hp. I do think that will be fun
Silvanus said:
How is it not a PH car? Because a bunch of folk on hear moan about SUVs all the time even when half the cars they go on about are crossovers?
<nasal voice>But the centre of gravity is too high! And I have more boot space in my Kia estate</nasal voice>I like these. As others have said, they’re a stealthy and more comfortable riding alternative to an S3 or Golf R.
Keen to see how you get on with it OP.
Kuwahara said:
Glad you had a good experience at Cameron’s ,I live 20 mins from Perth and they have always had a great reputation…??
Could not be any nicer absolutely lovely people do deal with and they also have a great taste in cars
They have this sitting in their showroom, its lovely
I’d have thought a slightly quirky car is very Piston Heads.
Aren’t these actually more VW Polo/ Fiesta/ Puma/ Kona size whereas the Q3 is Golf/A3 size.
I actually think they S version looks really nice. With its smaller footprint I bet it’s a good laugh to drive as well.
As long as you like it who cares what anyone thinks.
Aren’t these actually more VW Polo/ Fiesta/ Puma/ Kona size whereas the Q3 is Golf/A3 size.
I actually think they S version looks really nice. With its smaller footprint I bet it’s a good laugh to drive as well.
As long as you like it who cares what anyone thinks.
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