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Hi everyone I thought I’d share a few thoughts after two days and 250 km’s in the GTS. I’m mentally exhausted from the stop sale, and didn’t really realize it until I got the car LOL. Was it worth the wait? It sure was.
Engine:
I dont’ know what to say - it is 95% the reason I bought this car and it is everything I hoped it would be, even under 4000 rpm. I have never heard induction sound before - it is addictive and I really love it. I drove with the windows down as much as I could. It does make a hell of a racket LOL, with clicks, clacks, and tickedy tacks.
Performance and Handling:
Well not much to report so far, but suffice to say this is next level from the Golf R in every way. I am glad I got to drive a GT4 a few weeks ago, and I can tell that the suspension is not in that league, but it really is a wonderful road car. To me it feels very powerful, and I was impressed with the torque between 3000 and 4000 rpm.
Seating and Controls:
The sport seats are the best seats I’ve ever had in a car. There a touch narrow in my shoulders, but otherwise perfect. I’m 6’-2” and can get comfortable in a position where I see all the gauges and the top of the tac (a common problem in other cars I’ve sat in). Typical german controls, everything in the right spot and the buttons and controls all have a nice weight and “click” to them. Finding intuitively the controls in the front of the shifter will take some time. The speedometer is a waste of screen space, I think I looked at it once so far.
Transmission:
Flawless other than I find it a bit hard getting over to reverse, but that’ll come I’m sure. It feels tight getting over there. The gates are notchy in a nice way and for me the throw feels short. The shifter is nice and high too, there’s never the feeling of reaching “down” to grab it.
Bose:
Meh. I need to play with it more but it is underwhelming which is fine, but really the car should come with this level of stereo and it shouldn’t be an option to get to this level. That said, I didn’t drive with it on much at all.
Exhaust:
It has a lot more “burbles” and “ruffles” than I thought it would which was a pleasant surprise. I can appreciate the criticisms of the valve control settings, but on the other hand they do seem to combat the drone. I really couldn’t get it to make any bad resonances at all between 2000 and 2500 rpm. I also have never owned a car when you can actually hear the exhaust!, so for me right now I’m enjoying it and like the rumble of valves open. I will probably try a Soul or Cargraphic rear section at some point, but right now I’m 99% sure I won’t take of the stock over axle pipes. All this is subject to change! I should be seeing Westcoast’s sypder in a few weeks so I’ll get to hear his setup, and I know a guy with a JCR rear section (everything else is stock) and I know a guy running Soul over axle pipes with everything else stock.
Options I Chose:
Bose, PDLS +, aluminium trim, yellow chrono - that’s it! $3800 in options and I think I spent my money wisely. I might do yellow seat belts if I had a do over. I’m very happy with the colour and wheel choice, and the de-badging. No one knows what a Cayman is either LOL, “is that the SUV?” is the common question when I say the name with friends and family. I think the car looks amazing, that the SPASM stance is just right.
Delivery Experience:
After I got through paying (and the hard sell on all the things that “99% of customers buy”) it was pretty good. It is somewhat spoiled because of the stop sale and the fact I’d seen it before. They missed shipping adhesive right near the driver’s side door and the interior wasn’t very clean but overall it looked good. This morning on cold start I got a coolant warning, followed almost immediately by a coolant warning - stop driving. So that wasn’t pleasant, and it took a 1L of fluid to get it back up, but thankfully that cleared the warning. I will be mentioning this to the service department.
I waited 19 additional weeks for the car, but came away with $5600 more in my pocket, an 8 year warranty with unlimited mileage and $1500 to spend on a Porsche event. I would not want to repeat the experience, but I am glad I stuck with the car. Thanks to all your help Rennlist!, and I hope to meet a few of you soon.
Oh, and I forgot to add that I’m going to drive the **** out of this thing!
We’ll, I’m through the break in. It took me about a month with some long drives mixed in.
They honeymoon continues! I took it up to 6000 rpm today. Wow, it is a different machine up there.
I will probably mount the winter set in a few weeks. I think the exhaust has changed a bit as well in the last few weeks, which makes me glad I’m giving that setup a proper run before contemplating a rear section change.
Amazing car. I feel fortunate to to have it.
Cleaned! End of Highway 101 Hips Wasp Ferry shot, cQuatz Pro coating Garage lighting. Puppy came at the same time 😂
congrats! Finally! What a journey for you, I cant believe you went through it. Its a great car and the more you drive it the more you'll love i. Just wait until you've done a few hundred clicks and then the occasional pull up to 5-6k will send shivers up your spine the first time!!!
As for the Bose, there are settings to create the surround sound and HD sound etc. Its not as easy to find but they are there and it makes a huge difference. .
Congrats, beautiful car! I recently picked up my gts4.0 and once I switched my Spotify to the “very high” audio quality setting (default Auto setting is horrible), the sound quality and clarity vastly improved for the Bose. This setting improved the sound quality for my Audi as well.
A huge congrats, and thanks for the great writeup of first impressions!
That looks TERRIFIC in Yellow with the Silver Wheels, well done! You see a lot of GT4s in Yellow, not as much so with the GTS 4.0's. It looks sporty and "loud" visually, while also still being very classy.
Reverse tip - just give it a good solid "slap" on the right side of the shifter.
I have the Bose stereo too, but after six months of ownership and 8,000+ miles, I have yet to use it. I tried it once for 15 seconds, and was annoyed that it was competing with the engine and exhaust noise. If it wasn't for the Apple CarPlay Nav and Messaging, I would do a PCM delete.
I look forward to hearing what you decide on the Exhaust. I have been running the Soul OAPs and Valve Controller for 5 months, that has been great. Just switched to the JCR Silenced Valved Exhaust last week to try something different, with the Stock OAPs and a VC, and the Sound Symposer delete. (Writeup coming soon.) Next week I am going to put the Soul OAPs back in and see how that combination works with the JCR Exhaust.
Frankly I'd say, for exhaust noise - do a valve controller first. Easy to install, the least "intrusive", the cheapest (short of unplugging the vac lines), and seemed to make a pretty big difference on my Spyder (for sound.)
As for the coolant error... yeah, worth mentioning to the dealer. But I can tell you from experience these motors are a b**ch to bleed air from the cooling system. I wouldn't really hold it against them.
.....Just switched to the JCR Silenced Valved Exhaust last week to try something different, with the Stock OAPs and a VC, and the Sound Symposer delete.......
Do you have a video of this setup ? I'd love to hear it. Thx.
@UncleDude Great delivery post and initial report, always interesting to hear how new owners to the marque talk about their first impressions, there is so much to take in during those first few drives it can make your head spin! Your feedback and feelings about the car and the wait will help those still waiting and confirm that it is worth it... both from the time perspective and some cash/bonus incentives, I know that they were paid for in patience but as you said they sweeten the deal immensely.
The weather is still good and will be for while, with a little free time and the options to explore you should be well on your way thorough break-in and then on to hearing that new engine at high RPM, the sound is amazing above 4000 RPM even with the stock exhaust! These 4.0l cars are incredible, powerful and capable, slipping into this level of ride will spoil you for almost everything else out there, congrats on sticking it out and bringing home a beauty!
Looking forward to getting over, fingers' crossed for some of the famous September sunshine...
Transmission:
Flawless other than I find it a bit hard getting over to reverse, but that’ll come I’m sure. It feels tight getting over there. The gates are notchy in a nice way and for me the throw feels short. The shifter is nice and high too, there’s never the feeling of reaching “down” to grab it.
Congrats on the ride!
One of the first things my SM told me during delivery was to slap the shifter over for reverse, and he was bang on. Don’t baby it and simply smack it over through the safety spring.
Congrats on the ride!
One of the first things my SM told me during delivery was to slap the shifter over for reverse, and he was bang on. Don’t baby it and simply smack it over through the safety spring.
Another way is simply to be more deliberate with the action, by this I mean you don't just push to the left while moving the shift lever forward..
I find the way that works best for me is to start from neutral then use a 1-2 motion, strong push to left, then push the lever forward into reverse, this way I feel the reverse gate spring give way before pushing forward. YMMV
08-29-2021, 11:24 PM
GTS 4.0 Delivery Weekend
