"Riley" - 2012 Volkswagen Golf R

[Rex Luther]

You know, between this only having three pedals stateside and you guys being the only ones who can get an manual m5, I starting to re-assess some old stereotypes right now.
Please tell me you're all shot gun wielding tubster's still!!!

(fantastic car btw. Well done)

[narf]

You know, between this only having three pedals stateside and you guys being the only ones who can get an manual m5, I starting to re-assess some old stereotypes right now.

The old stereotype is still alive and kicking. In fact, the prevalence of autoboxes is what increases demand for manual enthusiast-targeted cars. It makes them more special.

[jsausley]

You know, between this only having three pedals stateside and you guys being the only ones who can get an manual m5, I starting to re-assess some old stereotypes right now.
Please tell me you're all shot gun wielding tubster's still!!!

(fantastic car btw. Well done)

Haha, thanks. Can't we have both shotguns and 6-speed turbo-powered hot hatches?

Anyway, most cars here are still automatic of course, but that's mostly because most people here either can't drive manual or don't care to bother ("it's so annoying in traffic" is what I normally hear). Even still there is a pretty good segment of true car enthusiasts. Just gotta look harder to find them sometimes.

[tigger]

I came here prepared to be disappointed by DSG but I am very happy that they are offering the new .:R is offered with three pedals

This. The car sounds like an absolute blast to drive, nice buy jsausley.

[jsausley]

This. The car sounds like an absolute blast to drive, nice buy jsausley.

Thanks! It is a fantastic little thing. It's so great to drive that it is tough to get out of it when you arrive where you're going.

[jsausley]

I think this should be the new proof pic requirement for cars with Bluetooth compatibility. (sorry for the crappy quality, I may have been driving when this was taken)

[jsausley]

Same thing happened to me when I serviced my car at the Volvo specialist last week. I know my coolant was right in the middle, but they changed my coolant cap because of a crack (I saw it...it wasn't really a crack) and filled the damn reservoir a good inch over the MAX level. I asked them about it and they claimed that they did it when the engine was warm, so when I leave it sitting overnight the level will drop down.

Bullshit. I've been messing with these cars for 3 years now and I know that the coolant level doesn't change much on cold and hot engine. So as I predicted, the next morning the coolant level was still way above MAX. I had to siphon some out.

I fixed that issue, thanks for pointing it out. I'm sure I would have noticed it eventually, but you expedited the issue for me.

Manual clearly states "nicht überfüllen!" Not sure how any dealer, who is supposed to know all of this, could screw that up so badly.

Anyway - car is up to 380 miles now and it's been the best 380 miles ever. Loving this thing!

[jsausley]

Got my personalized plate today:



Taking the car to Black Forest Industries tomorrow for Stage 1+ tune!

[_HighVoltage_]

I'm curious how much is Stage 1 for VW's?

[Perc]

I think this should be the new proof pic requirement for cars with Bluetooth compatibility. (sorry for the crappy quality, I may have been driving when this was taken)

I went as far as to put a mp3 tagged "Perc" on my phone but I never got around to taking a new proof pic. I installed a proper car kit now that sadly doesn't display tags like my old fm transmitter did.

[jsausley]

I'm curious how much is Stage 1 for VW's?

I'm going APR which is $499 for all upgrades. The Golf R ECU doesn't allow program switching (it's a disk space issue) so you have to take it back to an APR dealer if you want to switch programs. However, the $499 covers all of their programs, so if I ever decided to do Stage 2+ or Stage 3 it wouldn't be an additional charge. (Note: Some dealers do charge a nominal fee for program switching however, as it technically involves some amount of labor.)

Semi-related: here are APR's dyno results:

[GaryC]

Wow, that's a big boost! Good job!

[Tcdoe]

Sweet ride, congrats! Good choice on the APR software too. I was surprised that it's a manual. Here in Finland you can only get it with a DSG (same with my Polo). Funny how you Americans seem to get all the tasty manual options nowadays, like the E60 M5 for instance.

[LeVeL]

The .:R makes 239whp stock? That's more than an STi...

[jsausley]

Sweet ride, congrats! Good choice on the APR software too. I was surprised that it's a manual. Here in Finland you can only get it with a DSG (same with my Polo). Funny how you Americans seem to get all the tasty manual options nowadays, like the E60 M5 for instance.

Thanks! In Europe the R comes with some toys that we don't get, though. LED taillights, adjustable suspension, fully defeatable traction control (ours only has an "on" and "slightly off" setting) and rain-sensing wipers. VW claimed it was to keep the price down, which may be true, because I hear that a fully configured European model is nearly $50,000 whereas ours are more than $10,000 less than that.

The .:R makes 239whp stock? That's more than an STi...

On this particular dyno, yes. Revo measured one at 227 WHP. Dynos tend to vary somewhat depending on many things - type of dyno, atmospheric conditions, etc. The US-spec R is rated at 256 HP by VW (270 HP ROW) but every dyno we've done in the US has been higher than that number, so it looks like VW was underestimating their car a little like Nissan did with the GT-R.

Regardless, a simple tune and intake puts this thing near 300 WHP which is extremely impressive in such a small, light AWD package.

[Tcdoe]

Thanks! In Europe the R comes with some toys that we don't get, though. LED taillights, adjustable suspension, fully defeatable traction control (ours only has an "on" and "slightly off" setting) and rain-sensing wipers. VW claimed it was to keep the price down, which may be true, because I hear that a fully configured European model is nearly $50,000 whereas ours are more than $10,000 less than that.

I can only turn off traction control in the Polo, but not the ESP. I just checked what a fully specced R is in Finland, $86k. In Germany it's only around $65k and they get it with a manual transmission too.

[jsausley]

!!!

$86,000, wow. Obviously a lot of that is lost in currency conversion but still... That's about 60-65,000 euros right?

[devil500]

I wonder how it fares against the STI and EVO on the track.

[jsausley]

I wonder how it fares against the STI and EVO on the track.

Honestly, the EVO will dominate it, but that car is in a completely different class. Here's how it does against the STI and some other cars on VIR's Grand West course, which is a very high speed track - two long straights.

VIR Grand West Course (Car & Driver Lightning Laps)

65 3:10.6 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION SE LL2 2/11
70 3:11.7 BMW Z4 M COUPE LL2 8/07
71 3:12.0 NISSAN NISMO 370Z LL2 2/10
77 3:13.5 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX MR LL1 11/06
80 3:13.8 SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI SEDAN LL2 2/11
81 3:13.8 BMW 335is LL2 2/12
82 3:14.0 LEXUS IS F LL2 11/08
83 3:14.0 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R LL2 2/12
84 3:14.6 AUDI S5 LL2 11/08
86 3:15.0 HONDA S2000 CR LL2 11/08
89 3:16.2 MAZDASPEED 3 LL1 2/10
92 3:16.6 SUBARU IMPREZA WRX HATCHBACK LL1 2/10
93 3:16.6 LOTUS ELISE SC LL2 11/08
94 3:16.7 MAZDA RX-8 R3 LL2 2/11
95 3:17.1 MINI COOPER JOHN COOPER WORKS LL1 2/10
100 3:19.0 MAZDA RX-8 LL1 11/06
101 3:19.0 SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI HATCHBACK LL2 11/08
102 3:19.3 VOLKSWAGEN GTI MkVI LL2 2/10

[Tcdoe]

!!!

$86,000, wow. Obviously a lot of that is lost in currency conversion but still... That's about 60-65,000 euros right?

Yes, 66k€. Our cars are quite heavily taxed.

Any plans for further stages? APR Australia did a really mean Golf R.