Your personal R pros and cons!

[samjw]

Hi all,

First post on this site, ordered the Scirocco R this morning for delivery in a few weeks (early March for the '16 plate).

I basically just wanted to start a thread where people who have the R, or have had the R, can post a few things they liked about the car and maybe a few they didn't like so much too!

Cheers all

[J12tse]

Surely this is a question you ask before ordering one?

[Boydie]

Front wheel drive only

Having come from a 370bhp Audi S3 and a 330bhp Audi S4 avant, putting the power down on a FWD hot hatch/coupe is quite frustrating.

If it wasn't for the looks of the Scirocco I would have gone for another S3 or Golf R.


Apart from that I love the car

[shrink]

I love:

-feels upmarket
-looks great
-well built
-fast
-good handling
-somewhat practical
-good feature count (.I like the adaptive chassis and dynaudio )

I don't love:

-front wheel drive only - Imho no excuse for it STILL to be fwd only given the golf R is now AWD
-still scary over pot holes with 19" wheels even with DCC
-ride height too high

[3t3p]

Likes:
Feel DANGEROUS driving it (in the good way)
Fast useable road car, A to B rapidly.
Gets just right amount of attention & fairly timeless design
Well judged exhaust and engine noise for daily living
Refined ride
Very practical, four proper adult seats and a boot 10 litres less than a golf
Holding residual values well
Mods, I haven't done anything aside from twintake which I can recommend. Can be tuned for more power but have seen first hand trouble getting this power down...

Dislikes:
Expensive to run petrol wise but not in category of 'that bad', not to me anyway
Expensive to tax
FWD
Potential target car for thieves, had parts stolen off mine
Steering too low geared but does drive well
6th gear too low geared (manual box)

Overall I LOVE my car, it really enhances my life and wouldn't be without it. I do not know what I could replace it with, perhaps a BMW M2/M4 down the line but will be keeping her another 2-3 yrs.

Congrats, what spec you go for?

[shrink]

I agree with the steering and gear ratios too. The steering I can live with the short gearing I can't. It's as if the whole gearbox is one gear out. You can easily take off in 2nd and 6th feels like 5th

[samjw]

Hi all,

Thanks for the quick replies, I had watched and read a million and one reviews which sold it to me, but nice to hear the thoughts of the actual owners of the car.

Very nice to hear you say it feels upmarket, I was worried the cabin was potentially a little dated (in terms of materials used). I've only ever had front wheel drive cars (that 370bhp S3 sounds like a machine and a half), drove a fiesta ST before this, so hopefully won't be too much of an issue there.

Gone very basic with the spec, most of the options I would ever pick like DCC and heated seats are already included which is really nice - and those 19' Cadiz look great imo!

[Jezze95]

Ive had my R 2 and a half months now! Absolute animal from anything ive had previous!
Pro's
Excellent overall quality
Animal to drive at any point(good way)
Great fuel economy(coming from GM full size sedans)
Blue dial clusters are excellent addition
Feels like a race car through the hills(twisties)
Super practical for a hot hatch
Draws endless questioning and attention!
DCC is excellent for when you wanna go for a hoon and then comfort is excellent for long distance
Will hold value well in Australia(my home) due to being quite rare.
Xenon Lights(Facelift) excellent in dark however lack good exposure in city due to clash with non LED street lights!

Cons
FWD only no AWD yet!
has quite alot of sway meaning limits are quickly pushed.
19's to big for a car like this(much prefer 18's for smoother handling ride)
Not a great road trip car for the snow limited to 3 seats with snowboards(refuse to fit roof racks)
AUS model is detuned it 188kw/330nm compared to germans which is shit

Dont regret for a second purchasing my R love it to bits and mates love it to however in its factory form it has to much power and suspension that is not up to the task of outhandling NA EG and EK civics in the hills unless its on straights!

[shrink]

Interesting comments Jezze. I'm also inclined to say that its got a little too much power. If its even slightly moist outside, or cold, 1st and 2nd are all but useless. Even 3rd can get a little unsettled if you open up the taps.

However having kicked the living daylights out of mine on some twisty roads, in normal DCC mode, I don't get the "sway" issue you mention. I felt it was planted, solid and cornered like an animal even at fairly high speeds. My passengers of the day (two separate sessions), who are both owners of quite significantly more impressive sports cars (e.g. Ferrari, Porsche) noted that it was quite an impressive handling machine.

Based on your comments though, I'm not sure the suspension itself is so much the issue, as perhaps the thickness and compliance of the standard ARB's. Perhaps upping those would help to keep the car planted without any loss in the flexibility and comfort.

[RoccoTom]

For me, there are plenty of pros with my new R, but just a couple of cons:

1. The three dials on the centre of the dash are utterly pointless (but I know this isn't just a feature of the R).
2. The speedo is ridiculously cluttered, making it difficult to read your speed precisely (as has been discussed on here previously).

[Jezze95]

Interesting comments Jezze. I'm also inclined to say that its got a little too much power. If its even slightly moist outside, or cold, 1st and 2nd are all but useless. Even 3rd can get a little unsettled if you open up the taps.

However having kicked the living daylights out of mine on some twisty roads, in normal DCC mode, I don't get the "sway" issue you mention. I felt it was planted, solid and cornered like an animal even at fairly high speeds. My passengers of the day (two separate sessions), who are both owners of quite significantly more impressive sports cars (e.g. Ferrari, Porsche) noted that it was quite an impressive handling machine.

Based on your comments though, I'm not sure the suspension itself is so much the issue, as perhaps the thickness and compliance of the standard ARB's. Perhaps upping those would help to keep the car planted without any loss in the flexibility and comfort.

Id agree with the moisture when its wet its quite a scary machine to drive but then again this is my first FWD. Thinking about it now id say alot of the sway would have to do with under steer so il get my mate to look into the alignment again and see what we can come up with!
If you dont mind me asking what are ARB's? Never heard that term unless your referring to sway bars?

I will agree with RoccoTom the center pod gauges are useless when your boosting along the only one i have time to see is the oil temp and thats before i start driving!

[shrink]

yep ARB = Anti Roll Bar (their more common UK name). Same thing as Sway Bar

With regards understeer, when I was first learning how to get the most from the car, I treated it like every other FWD car I'd ever driven, which was to get off the power into the bend, and then back on it once out, not using any power mid bend, as FWD just doesn't tend to be adjustable the way a RWD car can be.

However I actually found with the roc, that it responded fairly well to some throttle mid corner, and the XDS system (although not perfect) seemed to do a good job of tightening the corner and pulling the car around. Just lifting off before the bend resulted in fairly natural understeer.

Even more fun, was applying a little trail braking, and the roc will quite happily let the rear end come round a little, and the second you're off the brake and back on the power it straightens right up and off it goes.

Its actually quite a playful car once you get the measure of it. Just got to have confidence.

[Jezze95]

yep ARB = Anti Roll Bar (their more common UK name). Same thing as Sway Bar

With regards understeer, when I was first learning how to get the most from the car, I treated it like every other FWD car I'd ever driven, which was to get off the power into the bend, and then back on it once out, not using any power mid bend, as FWD just doesn't tend to be adjustable the way a RWD car can be.

However I actually found with the roc, that it responded fairly well to some throttle mid corner, and the XDS system (although not perfect) seemed to do a good job of tightening the corner and pulling the car around. Just lifting off before the bend resulted in fairly natural understeer.

Even more fun, was applying a little trail braking, and the roc will quite happily let the rear end come round a little, and the second you're off the brake and back on the power it straightens right up and off it goes.

Its actually quite a playful car once you get the measure of it. Just got to have confidence.

Cheers Shrink!
Might give that a go next time I head out into the local hills! as the car is very playful on open country roads power down and she moves its just when it requires super technical stuff! think i just have to open up and feel it more like i used to do with my Utes that had a much bigger wheel base!

[abs_roc]

yep ARB = Anti Roll Bar (their more common UK name). Same thing as Sway Bar

With regards understeer, when I was first learning how to get the most from the car, I treated it like every other FWD car I'd ever driven, which was to get off the power into the bend, and then back on it once out, not using any power mid bend, as FWD just doesn't tend to be adjustable the way a RWD car can be.

However I actually found with the roc, that it responded fairly well to some throttle mid corner, and the XDS system (although not perfect) seemed to do a good job of tightening the corner and pulling the car around. Just lifting off before the bend resulted in fairly natural understeer.

Even more fun, was applying a little trail braking, and the roc will quite happily let the rear end come round a little, and the second you're off the brake and back on the power it straightens right up and off it goes.

Its actually quite a playful car once you get the measure of it. Just got to have confidence.

Hi mate what do you mean by trail braking?

[Cuprabob]

Trail braking is when you brake after entering the corner to slightly change the weight distribution of the car.

[shrink]

yep, the roc definitely likes being picked up by the scruff of the neck and handled roughly. It just requires a bit of retraining of the brain.

The XDS system (in spite of all the bad rap it gets) is pretty good, and if you get used to applying power in a bend, rather than peeling it off, the system will actually push you round a bend that you simply wouldn't have thought was possible otherwise. Doesn't take much throttle, but a mild application of throttle in 2nd or 3rd round some sharper bends, forces the outside wheel to dig in and push you round. It does so pretty well.

if you have space to play, you can use trail braking instead, lift off throttle, apply some brake, let the back end pop out for a second and then mash the throttle again and the car will haul itself out the bend.

Its a remarkably adjustable and playful car, you just have to bear with it.

IMHO it still needs a quicker steering rack though!