UK test drive write up

Well... I'm just back from my first Golf R experience, and I'm grinning from ear to ear!

My dealer wasn't one of those who was presented with an 'introductory volume' car, but their sister company 110 miles away was. When I spoke to my salesman originally 2-3 weeks ago he'd never heard of the introductory builds and didn't believe they were actually UK cars. After checking his Dialog system he realised there were about 20 of them. A few days later he called me to tell me his sister dealership had recieved one. When I told him I was going to drive down to test it, he told me to hold off and he'd see what he could do. Today its here - tomorrow its gone!!

Unfortunately I have work between 8.30 - 5pm... and my dealer is about 45 minutes away - so a lunch time trip was out of the question. It had to be at 5.30. The dealer is open until 7pm. I left work a little bit early, dropped my fiancee off at her parents house, and picked up her dad. I thought taking a 'grown up' with me would give me more chance of getting out without the salesman - and her dad loves driving like an idiot! He has an Merc ML63 AMG and loves to put his foot down.

We arrived at the dealer at about 5.35. Its been snowing round here for the last few days, but thankfully none has fallen since last night. The main roads are clear, but some of the smaller roads are still a bit dubious. Theres also a major 'pot hole' situation going on just now.

We struggled to find a space in the car park - the customer parking bays were full. We ended up in the service spaces. As we turned round the corner of the building, there is was facing us head on. Stunning looking in Rising Blue with 3 doors, and from what I could see had 19's on it.

I got out of the car and went straight over to it. I looked in the window... leather, DSG and an RCD510 - and definately 19's. Good! Its pretty much my spec - but missing a few bits including ACC. Never mind.
Whilst looking round, the doors clicked open! I looked over my shoulder, but there was no sign of the salesman. The lights came on - the xenons were super bright. The rear LED's looked amazing. After 30 seconds it locked itself! We decided to head inside.

My salesman came over with the keys and a couple of bits of paper. One was the spec of the car - exactly as I said above. The other was an insurance document which I had to sign. He handed me the keys and said he was unlikely to be there when I get back as he had some stuff to do - but to give the keys to the other guy and he'd call me tomorrow to see how I got on. Result!! I asked if he'd had a shot. Not really - he only had time for a few minutes in it - but he'll have a proper shot tomorrow before it goes back. I asked about fuel as every demo car I've ever driven had the red light on. He replied with 'It's got half a tank, so you'll be fine. Enjoy yourself, and be careful as its slippy out there - and I want a shot tomorrow!'.

In I get... my future father in law in the passanger seat. I put the key in and start it up. The needles dance back and forth. I smile and my passenger asks what happened. I turn the engine off and start it again. He smiles too! The startup noise was better than expected - although I don't really know what to expect given all the 'lack of V6' nonsense talk. I pop it into D and crawl out of the icey car park.

Within seconds we're stuck at the lights. I turn right and head onto a dual carrigeway (40mph). I give it a bit of gas and it drops a gear and WHOOOSH! The acceleration is unbelievable... although given that I'm driving a 1.4 Daihatsu Terios at the moment may have something to do with it! As its a little before 6pm the traffic is pretty heavy, so I tootle along at 40ish. The DSG box seems determined to go into 6th very quickly.

We turn off onto a smaller road. Its a bit icey, and the road surface is falling apart. I have a few shots of flooring it and slowing down - when the gear changes at full throttle you get a very nice popping type noise. The roads are too dangerous to be going fast.

We head onto the real dual carrigeway, but its still really busy, so we turn off onto a quite new road that is smooth and clear. Into S mode goes the gear shifter. I tried a couple of 0-70 style runs. The accelleration feels amazing and the DSG box is so smooth. The traction is great, and the popping noise is very addictive... especially when slowing down when it downshifts. I tried the paddles - which gives me a better start. I'm pretty sure it always starts in second, so it takes a few milliseconds to engage first to REALLY take off.

Off to an industrial estate now. Traffic seems to have died down. We find a bit of road thats VERY icey. I stopped on it and floored it! The ESP light flashed a lot, but the car took off slowly, but in a straight line without fighting. I circled and went back to the same spot again. I held the ESP button - but it still has the ESP light on the dash and doesn't go off completely (or so I thought). I floored it again... the car was everywhere and ended up with me doing some quick steering to save hitting a kerb. Back on with the ESP!

I decided to swap seats. I was surprised at how smooth the car felt with no ACC and 19" wheels. As a passenger I sat holding on while he had fun with the accellerator! We went to another industrial area where some new companies were - with new roads. I got out and took a few photos under their lights - but as you can see below, my phone camera isn't great in the dark. The rear shot shows off the LED's well though.

I got out of the car whilst he raced up and down between 2 roundabouts to hear the outside noise - it was amazing - especially the popping. He was getting a bit braver with the feel of the car and planted it off the roundabout. I could hear the wheels spinning and then the 4wd took over and all I could hear was the engine. He's used to driving a 6.3 litre AMG tuned Merc - and even he was impressed with the engine sound. He said he'd be driving it in S all the time just to hear the popping noise when it downshifted!

I got back in the drivers seat and played about a bit more. I was curious about engine braking with DSG - which seemed to work pretty well (or better than I expected). It made the popping even better! Unfortunately due to the conditions of the roads we never really got a chance to try cornering at speed. I remember test driving the S3 with him, and he was trying to get it to spin out at 60mph (crazy man!). Thankfully he was a bit better behaved tonight.

It was now 6.50, and the dealer shut at 7 - so it was time to head back. We started the drive with just over half of a tank of petrol, and finished with it 2 notches down! It drank alot of fuel, but then I suppose thats because the majority of the driving was done at full throttle. Who'd want to buy a demonstrator?! 850 miles on the clock and having its pants thrashed off. Well someone must buy them, because this ones apparently already been sold!!

So - in summary...

Good Points:
Amazingly fast.
Great traction (with ESP on!)
Surprisingly smooth on a pot holed road on 19's with no ACC.
DSG increadibly smooth changeovers.
Looked stunning - but very discreet.

Bad Points:
DSG seems very eager to jump into 6th
DSG seems to start in second gear... unless you floor it in S.
Boot was a bit smaller than I expected - although if boot space was important I'd have bought an estate!

I'm thrilled I've got one on order - its just a shame I've still not seen my silver / black wheel combo at all. I can say that rising blue on 19's look stunning though. I'm very happy with my spec too - the leather looks great and the 19's really set the car off. I'm glad I've picked DSG, despite its bad points.

My salesman is going to call tomorrow to see how I got on... so I'll ask him if my build week is still 09 when he calls. I hope so as I'm now desperate to get my own car!!

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JimmyT said:

what are the factory tires on the optional 19" wheels???

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