[Tippytoes]

.......to downgrade to a Golf R!!!????

 

Have been looking for an alternative to my 8v ever since giving up on FL. Due to various personal circumstances; the 3 year warranty on the 8v expiring at the end of this year, and with 8.5k miles on the clock, there is potentially various problems/issues yet to appear over the next 8 - 20k.

 

So I want to get a newer car to hold on to for several years, therefore reliability is a requirement as well as suitable luggage space for 2 in a compact-ish car for touring. The Golf R was the last of the cars and the cheapest I had on my list (Jag F type R, AMG C63, Nissan GTR, Panamera, Alpha QF & TTRS). So I was very sceptical about the R because of the reduced power having lived with an RS3 for the last 6 years (8p then the 8v) and really love its party peice of 0-60 time.

 

Anyway, I had a test drive this morning in the FL Golf R (Mk 7.5) with the DSG gear box and I was very impressed - it was only urban driving with some dual carriageway thrown in around south London, but I was surprised at how similar the acceleration was to the RS3 as well as the slick auto gear change which just may be better than the Audi. The suspension was far superior to my 8v which has the mag ride and MSS springs (methinks there must be something wrong with my 8v on the suspension). Steering feel is the same if not slighly better than the 8v and I could not detect any undeersteer issue, though I was not able to fully test this, but my natural technigue of fast in and fast around roundabouts proved no problem in the R.

 

The cabin interior seemed to be on a par in quality with the 8v but with more tech and more storage holes. The sport seats are more comfortable with better side support and come with electric option for drivers side. Though I have lived with the RS3 interior for the last 6 years and really like it, I know I could comfortably live with the R interior. The optional upgrade to the info/entertainment/navigation system is far superior to the Audi one, the touch screen allows new navigation destination to be entered with a few clicks in no time, to say nothing about the numerous screen options for the drivers virtual screen and though the RS3 FL has something similar the Golf R ones has far more settings & permutations.

 

I had expected to add the titanium exhaust option (Google 'Akrapovic exhaust' on Youtube) to my configuration by way of compensation for the RS3 exhaust note which I love. However, the standard exhaust on the R though missing the downshift blips and coughs has a very pleasant burble and growl under acceleration - just enough and just loud enough to keep me happy and save me the £3k on the expensive titanium exhaust option.

 

After this morning's test drive I seriously think that I have found an alternative to the RS3 which will suit my requirements. And the good news is that with loaded up with £10-12k of options the R is more than £10k cheaper than I would have to spend on a RS3 FL similarly specced!

 

This amount of money 'saved' will buy a full wrap of protective film (Xpel) plus glass, wheel & protective coatings(£3k plus) as well as rectify two issues I have with the R - (a) replace the under specced standard brakes for something like Brembo or Tarox kits (front & rear at £3k plus), and ( if the reduced power of the R compared to RS3 is difficult to live with then a simple Revo Stage 1 remap will give comparable, if not better, performance than standard RS3 with very limited implication on reliability.

 

The only downside I am now faced with if I choose the R is the very limited colour choice, none of which I like. The Lapiz blue seems to be the favourite and the one that most review cars have but it isn't IMO a particularly nice or stunning blue. My default colour choice is the metallic Oryx white special, but only because I couldn't live with any of the other colours. This is almost a deal breaker for me but for all the other many plus points the R has. For some odd reason VW do not have a special colour options as does Audi so the six or so colours available for the R is all there is unless you entertain a respray job.

 

So this could be bye bye RS3 and hello R.

 

[T-800]

I had one for a while......

[Tippytoes]

I had one for a while......

 

The blue looks nicer in the photo than in the flesh. Is that the anthracite nappa leather seats? How did you find the R interms of power & handling? I wasn't able to test the R at higher speeds/revs so wondered how the power was compared to RS3?

[T-800]

The blue looks nicer in the photo than in the flesh. Is that the anthracite nappa leather seats? How did you find the R interms of power & handling? I wasn't able to test the R at higher speeds/revs so wondered how the power was compared to RS3?

It’s Atlantic Blue, better looking than Lapiz imo.

Yes Anthracite 2 tone leather seats.

44K build spec car had everything on it.

Superb car in every respect.... except one...... the engine is missing a cylinder and some noise (although a Res Delete pipe from BCS helps a ‘little’).

Handling was superb couldn’t fault it and off the line it was quick (especially with the JB4 ramped up to custom map 6)

Active info dash is good but not as good as Audi VC in my opinion.

If they ever decide to drop the 5 pot in it they’d have a cracker of a car.

The 4 pot is just a bit of a let down.

[Tippytoes]

It’s Atlantic Blue, better looking than Lapiz imo.

Yes Anthracite 2 tone leather seats.

44K build spec car had everything on it.

Superb car in every respect.... except one...... the engine is missing a cylinder and some noise (although a Res Delete pipe from BCS helps a ‘little’).

Handling was superb couldn’t fault it and off the line it was quick (especially with the JB4 ramped up to custom map 6)

Active info dash is good but not as good as Audi VC in my opinion.

If they ever decide to drop the 5 pot in it they’d have a cracker of a car.

The 4 pot is just a bit of a let down.

 

The atlantic blue looks lighter (and nicer) than the sample I saw. Looks like you also had the R performance brake pack judging by the spielberg wheels? Was yours the Mk 7 or facelift version? The upgrade option for active info on the FL R is I think impressive compared to the Audi one. I had a config upto £46k and that didn't include sun roof or brake performance pack but did include the titanium exhaust!

Hear what you are saying about the 4 pot, but then unless you go to a V6 or V8 everything else after the 5 pot is going to be disapointing.

[Tippytoes]

T8 - what is the JB4 ramped up to custom map 6?

[T-800]

The atlantic blue looks lighter (and nicer) than the sample I saw. Looks like you also had the R performance brake pack judging by the spielberg wheels? Was yours the Mk 7 or facelift version? The upgrade option for active info on the FL R is I think impressive compared to the Audi one. I had a config upto £46k and that didn't include sun roof or brake performance pack but did include the titanium exhaust!
Hear what you are saying about the 4 pot, but then unless you go to a V6 or V8 everything else after the 5 pot is going to be disapointing.

FL 7.5 and I didn’t see the point in paying 3k for the Akro exhaust.

[Comfortably Numb]

.......to downgrade to a Golf R!!!????

Have been looking for an alternative to my 8v ever since giving up on FL. Due to various personal circumstances; the 3 year warranty on the 8v expiring at the end of this year, and with 8.5k miles on the clock, there is potentially various problems/issues yet to appear over the next 8 - 20k.

So I want to get a newer car to hold on to for several years, therefore reliability is a requirement as well as suitable luggage space for 2 in a compact-ish car for touring. The Golf R was the last of the cars and the cheapest I had on my list (Jag F type R, AMG C63, Nissan GTR, Panamera, Alpha QF & TTRS). So I was very sceptical about the R because of the reduced power having lived with an RS3 for the last 6 years (8p then the 8v) and really love its party peice of 0-60 time.

Anyway, I had a test drive this morning in the FL Golf R (Mk 7.5) with the DSG gear box and I was very impressed - it was only urban driving with some dual carriageway thrown in around south London, but I was surprised at how similar the acceleration was to the RS3 as well as the slick auto gear change which just may be better than the Audi. The suspension was far superior to my 8v which has the mag ride and MSS springs (methinks there must be something wrong with my 8v on the suspension). Steering feel is the same if not slighly better than the 8v and I could not detect any undeersteer issue, though I was not able to fully test this, but my natural technigue of fast in and fast around roundabouts proved no problem in the R.

The cabin interior seemed to be on a par in quality with the 8v but with more tech and more storage holes. The sport seats are more comfortable with better side support and come with electric option for drivers side. Though I have lived with the RS3 interior for the last 6 years and really like it, I know I could comfortably live with the R interior. The optional upgrade to the info/entertainment/navigation system is far superior to the Audi one, the touch screen allows new navigation destination to be entered with a few clicks in no time, to say nothing about the numerous screen options for the drivers virtual screen and though the RS3 FL has something similar the Golf R ones has far more settings & permutations.

I had expected to add the titanium exhaust option (Google 'Akrapovic exhaust' on Youtube) to my configuration by way of compensation for the RS3 exhaust note which I love. However, the standard exhaust on the R though missing the downshift blips and coughs has a very pleasant burble and growl under acceleration - just enough and just loud enough to keep me happy and save me the £3k on the expensive titanium exhaust option.

After this morning's test drive I seriously think that I have found an alternative to the RS3 which will suit my requirements. And the good news is that with loaded up with £10-12k of options the R is more than £10k cheaper than I would have to spend on a RS3 FL similarly specced!

This amount of money 'saved' will buy a full wrap of protective film (Xpel) plus glass, wheel & protective coatings(£3k plus) as well as rectify two issues I have with the R - (a) replace the under specced standard brakes for something like Brembo or Tarox kits (front & rear at £3k plus), and ( if the reduced power of the R compared to RS3 is difficult to live with then a simple Revo Stage 1 remap will give comparable, if not better, performance than standard RS3 with very limited implication on reliability.

The only downside I am now faced with if I choose the R is the very limited colour choice, none of which I like. The Lapiz blue seems to be the favourite and the one that most review cars have but it isn't IMO a particularly nice or stunning blue. My default colour choice is the metallic Oryx white special, but only because I couldn't live with any of the other colours. This is almost a deal breaker for me but for all the other many plus points the R has. For some odd reason VW do not have a special colour options as does Audi so the six or so colours available for the R is all there is unless you entertain a respray job.

So this could be bye bye RS3 and hello R.

I think you've answered your own question there mate.

[terminator x]

FL is not different enough imho if you already own the PFL. Surely every day would be full of regret though with a GR, nasty engine imho vs the RS3. Why do you think the RS3 will have problems post 3 years + yours is barely run in ffs

TX.

Sent from my BBB100-2 using Tapatalk

[StuRS3]

I test drove a FL Golf R before putting the deposit on the RS, enough said ( personally speaking ) I'm buying the RS. If your looking for performance why get something which is slower then have to remap to make it quicker? Surely you would buy a car which is quick enough as standard from factory?

Just my 2p worth

Stu

[dbm]

with 8.5k miles on the clock, there is potentially various problems/issues yet to appear over the next 8 - 20k.

What are you thinking of here? Mine has done over 22k miles so far without missing a beat.

[Tippytoes]

Maybe I'm being too pessimistic thinking that things will go wrong from reading some of the posts on this forum and the thought of having to put up with Audi to put things right is a daunting one. One thing though is that I've never been satisfied with the suspension - from day one it had to have rear top mounts replaced due to knocking noise and the ride quality on anything but smooth surfaces has been harsh and unforgiving. Even replacing the springs with the MSS ones hasn't improved things much and the recalibration of mag ride ( double checked by Audi) has not improved matters. Maybe I have something not right on my car which requires investigation, but by who, certainly no faith in Audi to do this? One of the first things that impressed me on the GR is how much better the suspension was than my 8v.

Moving forward for the next few years it is not necessarily outright performance that I'm after, I'm just aware that having driven RS3 for 6 years that anything less will be disappointing & may be difficult to live with. Which is what I was expecting from the GR but was surprised from my limited test drive at how close the performance appeared to be to the RS3. The remap thing for GR was me convincing myself that if I did end up missing the RS3 outright performance then there was a simple, cost effective and safe solution.

To be honest, on the test drive I did not notice the 4 pot noise as had it in race mode most of the time and the exhaust note dominated over any engine noise to the cabin. I think I will need another test drive which is a bit longer and involves more 70 mph dual carriageway type stuff.

Bottom line - I went on test drive expecting to be disappointed but came away surprised at how good the R is to the point that this could suit me and my requirements, particularly on reliability and running costs for the next 5 years or so.

[MacD]

If warranty or potential issues are why you want to change then is mapping a good idea on a new car? There goes your warranty right there

My biggest issue with the Golf R is the amount of them around, more than GTI's so if you're buying you'll take a hit on depreciation too I guess.

I'm sure it'd be a good compromise overall

[Tippytoes]

Noted about invalidating warranty with remap, but this would be a final fall back scenario if couldn't live with performance drop. I agree depreciation rate on the R is a big factor for concern as well as how common Golfs are, R or no R, which at first glance looks like any other Golf. There is no doubt that the RS3 wins in the appearance and exclusivity ratings and always seems to command a certain respect. These are all things to think about over the next few weeks - the plan would be to have delivery for 1st Sep requiring an order by end of March so I have time to consider if to take this backward step - it would be easier if the R was to be the 2nd car but that defeats the economy drive going forward.

[T-800]

If warranty or potential issues are why you want to change then is mapping a good idea on a new car? There goes your warranty right there

My biggest issue with the Golf R is the amount of them around, more than GTI's so if you're buying you'll take a hit on depreciation too I guess.

I'm sure it'd be a good compromise overall

There are lots of PFL cars around yes.

The 7.5 FL not so at the moment.... until they start leasing it away for silly money.

When I had mine Rick@unicorn motor developments asked me if he could plug in and read the DSG box firmware because he hadn’t seen one at his place yet.

They make good figures when mapped too.

However if you’ve already got an 8V RS3 then you need to think seriously I suppose about what you are about to do, for me it wasn’t a bother as I’d always wanted to have a Golf R to see what all the fuss was about, glad I did though it’s a very capable car and would keep an RS3 honest through the twisty roads no doubt.

You could make an argument for making the 8V better though with a simple stage 1 and some handling upgrades it’ll be a different car.

Edited by T-800, 14 January 2018 - 08:24 AM.

[dbm]

Maybe I'm being too pessimistic thinking that things will go wrong from reading some of the posts on this forum and the thought of having to put up with Audi to put things right is a daunting one. One thing though is that I've never been satisfied with the suspension - from day one it had to have rear top mounts replaced due to knocking noise and the ride quality on anything but smooth surfaces has been harsh and unforgiving.

Sounds like you might have a bit of a Friday-car, which is always a pain. The MR suspension on mine is fine. I would have thought trading would cost, but maybe not if you have finance set up to deliver the same monthly costs - invest that money in the car you have instead? Unless you buy a pre-specced car where you can test drive the specific car you will end up there will never be a guarantee that it will be as you like.

The Golf R is a fab car, no doubt.

[Tippytoes]

I don't use finance schemes - bought the 8v for cash as will for next car and that was part of problem when considering the RS3 FL, the difference between either trade in/private sale and price of FL with decent options was approaching 20k which was just too much for the difference especially as no chance of haggling price with Audi dealer. Things may be different now as the RS3 FL may not be shifting as fast as expected & with overall new car sales down......is there a chance that Audi dealers be a bit more accommodating on price? The VW dealer I had test drive with for the R seemed receptive to the suggestion about 'agreeing the price'.

 

T-8 makes a good point about Stage 1 for 8v and perhaps checking out & correcting the suspension - the only mods to date apart from the MSS springs is tthe H&R ARB and front Alcon discs with Ferodo pads

[terminator x]

What are you thinking of here? Mine has done over 22k miles so far without missing a beat.

40k on mine, no issues at all other than headlight needed replacing. Mounts, brakes etc all well known but not big deals.

TX.

Sent from my BBB100-2 using Tapatalk

[Tippytoes]

dbm & tx - most reassuring

[Real Thing]

I've just gone backwards and done similar (Have owned PFL RS3) the Golf will never tick as many boxes as the RS3 but my decision was purely based on needing 3 Doors although you can't get electric Drivers seat in the 3 Door so mine does have RS3 8V Electric Seats in which imo aren't as Comfy as the Std R ones. Still got my 8P so don't miss the 5 Pot yet but when that goes will Probably replaced the Golf with a TTRS.

Edited by Real Thing, 14 January 2018 - 01:45 PM.