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Good choice OP. I have noticed many other sports car owners purchase GTI's or Golf R's.
I bought a Golf R and drive it as a winter-daily. I just can’t drive an automatic transmission, so my options were Wrangler, STI, or Golf R for 4doors/AWD. It is fun, has a stick, seats 5, (yes I put three kids in the back). It does not have a ton of room in the hatch, so I put a large cargo-box on top. It is my de facto SUV. If someone made a larger sedan or wagon in manual with more room I would buy it, but nobody does, so I ended up with the Golf R.
Pros - Sleeper, stick, 288hp, relatively lightweight, 4 doors, awd, handles great, small for storage in garage, nice interior, fun, fun, fun.
Cons - A little small for someone who has three kids. W/O the cargo-box, I could not use the car with my family.
Mods - Lightweight winter wheels, Remus exhaust, clutch stop, spacer for gas pedal for better heel/toe, tint, roof rack.
Summary - If you are a manual die-hard like me, you make compromises to row your own gears. AWD/manual is a rare combo, I wish it were a little larger for family use.
Last edited by seis-speed; 01-31-2020 at 05:21 PM.
I'm a two time mark 7 owner, GTI and R. Loved both but had to ditch both based on the violent bottoming out of the stock suspensions. I guess I drive on bad roads. The stock cars slam the bump stops so hard. A few times so violently they shut down the virtual cockpit display. To combat this I think the cars need a firmer spring/suspension, joined with lighter smaller wheels and more tire sidewall. I was running 17's on the R and still having problems on the stock suspension. Otherwise they are such great cars.
I'm a two time mark 7 owner, GTI and R. Loved both but had to ditch both based on the violent bottoming out of the stock suspensions. I guess I drive on bad roads. The stock cars slam the bump stops so hard. A few times so violently they shut down the virtual cockpit display. To combat this I think the cars need a firmer spring/suspension, joined with lighter smaller wheels and more tire sidewall. I was running 17's on the R and still having problems on the stock suspension. Otherwise they are such great cars.
As much as I dislike the suspension and handling of my Golf R (the 911 kind of spoiled me), I can't say I've ever hit the bump stops and we have some horrible roads in Alberta. My daily commute in the winter consists of avoiding potholes.
I'm willing to bet the NYC and surrounding areas could have some of the worst roads in the industrialized world, but outside of that I even experienced on highway grade transitions. You don't notice it much at slower speed, but anytime there is good energy they would bang hard. It's pretty well documented across generations. I bent my factory 19 inch wheel In the first 23 hours of having my 7.5 R. My VAG tuner has seen cracked windshields from it. The amount of physical space doesn't seem to be fully compatible with the spring rate they run to get the handling where they want it. I'm sure it's correctable, I just never corrected it.
Yes, 991.2’s are cool... but I’m very excited to pick up and be back in a Golf! I learned to drive in a Mk1, and the family had a Mk2. Now 35 years later I found a Mk7.5 2019 VW Rabbit Edition MT... in Urano Gray. Just spent this afternoon teaching my wife to drive the Rabbit. If she passes, she can graduate to the T!
As for the kids, I have a little one who is just getting started. The middle kid was the one who started us down this path exclaiming “I want to drive stick!”. I have two daughters and a wife to teach. Wish me luck. Currently putting a slush fund aside for the eventual new clutch! Hahaha.
01-31-2020, 04:47 PM
