Scirocco Central

Well I went to Motorworld on Iffley Road, Oxford this morning for a go in their black DSG roc (also leather and sunroof but that's it) which now has 700 miles on the clock.

A deeply impressive piece of kit.

I had a 17 mile route out to Newnham Courtney, round the roundabout there and back to Oxford, then up to the A34, up one junction to Botley and then back to the dealership. A reasonable mix of ring/main road tootling and a couple of goes at some decent acceleration. 20-25mins.

I've never driven an automatic before but the DSG is a very impressive piece of kit. I drove it mostly just in D with a couple of goes on the paddles and one shift into S out of one roundabout to see how long it holds a gear. It doesn't half shift. My Puma isn't a slow car by any means but prod the throttle, it drops a couple of gears instantly and whoosh! Where the Puma is more lightweight buzzy, revvy acceleration, this is just a surge of power. You just gain momentum without much fuss. The box changes are pretty seamless and come with a nice exhaust 'pop'.

Handles nicely too. A little less go-karty than the puma but it's also about 3-400Kg heavier and has 9 years more crash protection in it. He did a couple of changes between the different suspension settings. Comfort is definitely more wallowy but nicely smooth for motorway work. Sport did seem a little sharper and firmer but it's not easy to tell on a test drive. It was the first one I've been on for 9 years so I was concentrating more on just driving.

Speaking of which, the driving position was very comfortable. Good visibility out the front although the nose is totally out of sight. The front of the car basically finished at the base of the windscreen. Not so great out the back but similarly letterboxy to the puma so not a big deal for me. Excellent dials. Great mirrors too. Nice little indicator bit in the corner so you know you've got them on. Very cosetting but not cramped or claustrophobic.

At the end he gave me a quick run through the touch screen stereo. That's all the screen really does on the base version apart from a couple of setting options. He hadn't tried an ipod (something I would definitely use). The sunroof didn't rob me of any headroom but it's not really something I would spec I don't think.

So there we are.

I didn't put a deposit down because I want to wait for April/May delivery so I'm just keeping tabs on other peoples orders/deliveries so I can choose the right time in the sliding window to get in. The dealer said 16 weeks but says this years allocation have all gone so now it's '09 deliveries and reckons the 16 weeks will go up to 24 pretty quickly. I also need to finalise my spec. He reckoned the winter pack wasn't worth it, but the speaker upgrade and xenons were. I just need to decide exactly how much I want to spend and on what.

I'll be ordering soon though

you tempted by the dsg?

Yes. It was very clever.
Obviously hard to properly judge in only 20 minutes but it makes for very relaxed driving and then when you like you can use the paddles for a bit more fun. Very smooth too and you get instant power when you want it. A couple of times I just prodded the throttle and it instantly drops a couple of gears and you're off. It's one less thing to think about if you're going for an overtaking move.

Big Kev, did you notice the nice little pop from the exhaust when you changed using the paddles?

Certainly did. It also does it on the standard auto mode. I could burn a lot of fuel just listening to that

big kev, is there a reason you are waiting for a april may order other than finances.

Not really.

I'd quite like an 09 car so it doesn't look 'old' quite so quickly, but it's mainly finance. I have a wedge of money in an ISA account and it would be daft to miss out on the interest on that on April 5th as it'll probably cover the delivery costs and the parking sensors! And in the next 8 months I can save more so I have to borrow less.

As long as I get it before the Puma needs an MOT next september I'll be happy.

i saw the demo you drove big kev and still in one piece, it was hidden away by the used cars, quality of service did not disappoint with salesman not venturing off his seat despite two of us clambering over it, i thought the black looked very good, the front especailly menacing and sunroof is very discreet

Yeah they haven't exactly got it on show have they. I don't think I came close to pranging it Probably one of the calmest test drives he's had!

The guy I've been talking to has his desk in the front corner by the porch bit (probably where it was parked). It does look good in black when it's actually 'out' but I still prefer the blue.

The Kidlington manual in rising blue is out on their forecourt too.