A Bunch Of Merged "My New Car / Order" Threads

[madison]

It's so hard to find a manual to test drive

I ordered my car mid July and have to wait till mid nov and who knows if it will come the day the said..

[ox518]

just quickly update, picked up my car this morning. love it!! Still trying to understand all the function on the car.....

will upload pics when I go back to Canberra.

[MaccaTSI]

Congrats!! Hope you enjoyed the drive home!

[logger]

Lucky you. I get mine in a couple of days.Cant Wait.

[Lima]

...2. Im living at Canberra now and the car is actually in Sydney, which means I have to drive it back in the next day. I know it is not very good for a new car under 1K mileage on a highway. So, my question is, what kind of issues I should pay attention. Such as keep it below 100km/h? Or keep it below 2500rpm?...

We bought our old Mk4 GTI in Sydney all those years ago. Driving it home was half the fun. As noted, don't use cruise control, or, if you do, just make sure you vary the speed/gears/engine revs so that it's not cruising at the same speed all the time.

Maybe take a detour off the Federal Highway as well. If you have the time take the coast road through Nowra and up the Clyde. You don't have to push it, but working the engine over (without hitting redline) is no bad thing.

I picked up my new car last Saturday and spent Sunday driving around Cotter/Tidbinbilla. Racked up 270-odd kilometres and gave the car a thorough workout. The thrashings on the same roads can't come soon enough, haha.

As a closing comment, and YMMV, I don't think running in new car engines is the science it once was. For example, you could probably drive it like you stole it from day one and not do too much damage (so long as you give the engine time to warm up first, of course!).

Enjoy!

[pologti18t]

As a closing comment, and YMMV, I don't think running in new car engines is the science it once was. For example, you could probably drive it like you stole it from day one and not do too much damage (so long as you give the engine time to warm up first, of course!).

Enjoy!

There is one opinion that the best run-in procedure for a new car IS to thrash it. This should only be done once the car is warmed up.

The two worse things you can do during this initial phase is to idle for too long (never idle a car to warm it up) and drive in peak hour traffic.

I have used this method for running in my Astra SRI and the current Polo. In fact the run in procedure for the Polo consisted of a 800km run up the Oxley highway Car now runs very well and has very little oil usage between service and no gearbox issues.

[Lima]

Makes sense to me.

And the warming up part is interesting too. The oil temp on the S3 can be checked relatively easily through the DIS on the dash. When fully warm, the temp will be somewhere around 90°, although it gets a bit higher if you're pushing a bit harder.

I live 13km from work and these past few days have had temps below freezing overnight. By the time I finish my 15-20 minute commute to work the oil temp is struggling to make 80°.

Will be interesting to see how that compares in the warmer months.

[kevin118]

sillygogo - I was interested in your original post, which I missed first time round. I have test driven the golf with the sports pack and have not tried it without - with handling in mind.

I thought the sports pack car drove really well, but I thought the extra $1700 (give or take) for the pack was a lot.

I don't know how much the tyres affect the ride versus the sports suspension. I also have no idea what it would cost to upgrade just the wheels to 17".

The sports pack seems very popular - alot of the (few) golf 6's I see around have it.

Have you grown to like your normal suspension car?

[aristocrat]

I think if they were able to fit a VW adaptive control in your car, it would be very expensive as an after fitment. Have you thought about just changing the suspension over to a Bilstein PSS9 or something like that? Sometimes just a firmer damper/shock absorber will just absorb that rebound so you get better road holding. I personally find Bilsteins the best compromise - not too harsh, but Konis tend to be too hard in my opinion. Good luck.

[logger]

...what kind of issues I should pay attention. Such as keep it below 100km/h? Or keep it below 2500rpm?
...

Don't use cruise control and vary the revs -

Running my car in at the moment and I read your suggestion not to use cruise control. Whilst in principle it makes sense, if you have the DSG you can readily vary the RPM with cruise control engaged at a constant speed. I would have thought using the Tiptronic mode to regularly change between 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th gears (and for instance doubling the RPM at a constant speed) would be as beneficial if not better than simply driving in freeway traffic at 100kph +/-5 with cruise control off. So to my way of thinking constant RPM is the no no. As long as you vary the revs - using the CRZ control is OK. Any way just a thought.

[sillygogo]

Kevin118: True 1700 seems high, however, it think with some negotiation, i would be around 1200-1400 .. the suspension would be firmer and more control(i think), the foggys or driving lights would be great, got a quote for $400 for an after market installation. And ofcourse bigger rims, but that also means more expense when time to replace the rubber.

I think the tyres will change the ride. I the past with the Celica, it has Yokohama tyres. It felt soft and not a grippy. However, it felt great, firm and more control when i replace them with Falken tyres.

In terms of living with it, well yes and no. Its great of everyday driving. It only bugs me on the highway with bumpy road where we just bobbing along.

Strange thing is that when I put the DSG into S mode, the cars feel tighter and firmer. I could be i forgot about the feel and enjoying the engine sound and the acceleration.

aristocrat: ACC would be nice, you are right, anything fitted will cost me a arm and a leg maybe 2. VW said that there are no suspension upgrade available at the dealer. I would love to change the suspense with an aftermarket system. Could you point me to the right direction>? thanks.


Overall, I am starting to like the car, however, little bugs start to come out.
1. Ticking noise at Bpillar. Started from 0K, Back twice : not resolve.
2. Wind noise from driver's side door. Started from 0K Seal replaced: resolved
3. Sunvisor vibration noise. 500k, replaced, resolved
4. Brake pedal vibration noise: 0k, tighten, not resolved.
5. Squell noise on gear change: 2500k, checked, not resolved.
6. small oil stain near fuse box: 3000k, to be inspected.

Hmm. hopes nothing more problems come up.

[mtj007]

Running my car in at the moment and I read your suggestion not to use cruise control. Whilst in principle it makes sense, if you have the DSG you can readily vary the RPM with cruise control engaged at a constant speed. I would have thought using the Tiptronic mode to regularly change between 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th gears (and for instance doubling the RPM at a constant speed) would be as beneficial if not better than simply driving in freeway traffic at 100kph +/-5 with cruise control off. So to my way of thinking constant RPM is the no no. As long as you vary the revs - using the CRZ control is OK. Any way just a thought.

You're right, it's just that when you are using your foot to maintain speed you can't keep it perfectly still so the revs are always changing. Using cruise control the revs are still constant in each gear - probably doesn't really make much of a difference to be honest as long as you keep changing gear frequently.

The manual says to avoid cruise control for the first however many kms but that's probably aimed at the normal mum and dad drivers who turn the car on, whack it in Drive, drive at the speed limit with normal acceleration from day 1.

Don't think I mentioned this in my first post - when I was researching how to run in my car I read somewhere that is also a good idea to use engine braking to help prevent glazing of the bores. (Traffic allowing) I would use tiptronic a lot and bump it down through the gears without using the brakes up to a red light/stop sign/whatever... I still do this today or drop it into S so it blips the throttle and engine brakes as I'm braking.

[aristocrat]

sillygogo: if you are unhappy about the ride being too soft as in not getting enough road feedback, changing the rim to 17 inch or even another tyre but sticking with the 16 inch would improve things, but as mentioned before, the cost of 17 inch rubber would be slightly dearer but not much. I recall in my XC Barina, just putting on Dunlop's Formula FM901 (superceded now) on the same 15 inch rim firms everything up and the tyre flex on cornering is minimal and steering feels much more direct. As you go to more performance tyres, the sidewall of those tyres tend to be stiffer and hence you'll get more road feel, but at a compromise of harsher ride.

If its the "wallowy" suspension that's bugging you, you might have to try initially with changing the shock absorbers like I mentioned before. The Bilsteins are great, but they ain't cheap. If this doesn't satisfactorily iron out your concern, then go stiffer springs. I think you'll find that just changing the dampers would suffice, if you're not going to push the car as in a race track.

[aristocrat]

Its based on the build date. So its a 2008 car for trade in valuation.

You'll find that the motor dealers play it to their advantage. My MY09 .:R32 was built in June 08, complianced in Australia in May 09, dealer delivery documents as well as state registration authorities call it 2009 VW R32. I think if its been complianced in 2009 and the updated features is actually 2009, you can call it a 2009, especially if your rego says its a 2009.

When it comes time for you to trade your vehicle in, dealers will crunch you being a 2008 model since that's when it was built. Bear in mind, a lot of manufacturers start manufacturing the specifications for the next year sometime as early as June.

My $0.02 worth

[kevin118]

sillygogo: So, apart from: the ticking noise at Bpillar, Wind noise from driver's side door, Sunvisor vibration noise, Brake pedal vibration noise, Squell noise on gear change, and the small oil stain near fuse box ... would you say it was well built??

I thought the Golf 6 were made in Germany. Are the Germans losing it?

ps
the sports pack is officially 2K, I was already factoring in a bit of a discount!