Golf R Observations and Questions

[weewilly]

I would wear it in first... seriously, there are like 3 stages up to 5000km that I've noticed an increase in power @ stock.

Now that I've got it done, I can tell where Stage 1 is fantastic and where it's no bloody use at all.. if I'd done it earlier, I suspect I would have ended up a bit frustrated.

so where did you feel the most improvement, having experienced the D lag. BTW I love S mode, feel the engineers @ VW got it right IMO

[weewilly]

Could very well be.

D' mode, changes gears to early for some people. S' mode hold gears for too long.

So it seems most people want D's gearing ratio but with more torque.. Insert APR/Bluefin/other brands tune I reckon this the way to go. More boost in the midrange, should be good if you dont like D.

APR have got a special on 1240.00 until Xmas. Thinking seriously, but am also learning that there are different tunes as Capercat has pointed out. Turbo is new to me, so should go slow.... trouble is want it now!!!! The wait for the Black was bad enough.

[SilvrFoxX]

APR have got a special on 1240.00 until Xmas. Thinking seriously, but am also learning that there are different tunes as Capercat has pointed out. Turbo is new to me, so should go slow.... trouble is want it now!!!! The wait for the Black was bad enough.

That should have taught you patience... take the advice of those that have gone before you..bed the car in properly

[weewilly]

That should have taught you patience... take the advice of those that have gone before you..bed the car in properly

damn you and your mate Pepe...
will be interesting to see if you wait, as i will.

[SilvrFoxX]

I will as I learnt a heap from owning the Subaru, bed the engine in properly and it will reward you in spades..

[weewilly]

SilverfoxX, what would you expect to happen over the next couple of months, lag wise? Its not going to get better as the engine breaks in. Also I'm aware that the R's delivered overseas are 200kw's so the engine must easily handle the upgrade. Hardings have done about 90 stage 1` re-maps on R's and many are taken from dealership to have done prior to customer delivery...
That said, I am going to take your advise and wait until the new year, but I will have it done. I don't know if its the Qld heat, but I'm finding the lag very pronounced and if I can rectify through a re-map, so be it.

so when are you expecting to take delivery? are you in the last stages of 'The Wait'?

[dave_r]

BTW I love S mode, feel the engineers @ VW got it right IMO

I'm with you WW. I take off in D and leave it until the car is warmed up so I'm not tempted to do any shennanigans. Then it goes into S and stays there. If I'm crusing in a 60-70-whatever zone, I just hit the cruise control button and it will use 5th/6th instead of idling high in 4th.

many are taken from dealership to have done prior to customer delivery...

I don't subscribe to the school of waiting for run in reasons, it would just need a bit more self restraint to not belt it until you had a few more kms.

I want to look into sway bar upgrades and retrofit satnav as well so I'll wait until the new year and do everything at the same time.

[SilvrFoxX]

SilverfoxX, what would you expect to happen over the next couple of months, lag wise? Its not going to get better as the engine breaks in. Also I'm aware that the R's delivered overseas are 200kw's so the engine must easily handle the upgrade. Hardings have done about 90 stage 1` re-maps on R's and many are taken from dealership to have done prior to customer delivery...
That said, I am going to take your advise and wait until the new year, but I will have it done. I don't know if its the Qld heat, but I'm finding the lag very pronounced and if I can rectify through a re-map, so be it.

so when are you expecting to take delivery? are you in the last stages of 'The Wait'?

Will,

How long have you had your weapon, a week..? the ECU is learning how you drive, it usually takes 3 tanks of fuel for it to get a bearing on what your driving style is and respond accordingly. I will take a wild guess and say the training you are providing is flat out all the time. If you had a v8 or a XRT6 the lag would be impercievable given the amount of torque. You have a 4 cyl that is waiting for that turbo to kick down so it is inevitable there will be delays.

The remap will give you both bottom and top end so the torque uplift will hide some of that lag but I would bet that it will still need to learn your driving style.

My NA Liberty took 50K to wear in properly, I noted at 5, 10, 15 and then 20K the car got looser and smoother in noticeable increments then it was progressive from that point. I also learnt how to drive at the top of the accelerator ( just seems to be a Jap car thing) as there is nothing to be gained from tromping it with so little torque. Not sure if the VW works that way but given that both the Subaru and the Golf are 2 litres and the torque band kicks in at 2500 it is a sure bet that the driving style is the same.

So in summary go get the upgrade but there is a good chance you may be dissapointed as there are other factors that play in how the car performs. My simple advice is free and for my 2 cents a good way to learn about your car and enjoy the experience of factory delivered car then appreciate the modification when it is eventually applied.

As for my wait time.. they said 1 March 2011, then September 2011 and now Late May 2011.. I will just wait till New Year for the confirmed date in the mean time I will just be green with envy you have yours for Christmas

[Corey_R]

I'm with you WW. I take off in D and leave it until the car is warmed up so I'm not tempted to do any shennanigans. Then it goes into S and stays there. If I'm crusing in a 60-70-whatever zone, I just hit the cruise control button and it will use 5th/6th instead of idling high in 4th.

Ooh, I'll have to try S in combo with cruise control and see what it's like! lol

I don't subscribe to the school of waiting for run in reasons, it would just need a bit more self restraint to not belt it until you had a few more kms.

Yeah - I'm the same. Remember how you told me to use LC leaving the dealership? Well, I didn't do that. But I did use LC on my first day of ownership - when the oil was up to 90 degrees!

How people wait several thousand Km's before doing so is BEYOND me....
*looks over at AdamD*

[dave_r]

Ooh, I'll have to try S in combo with cruise control and see what it's like! lol

Haha yeh I found that one by mistake. I was using the paddles to go into 5th but after a while it would go back to S4. The missus looks at me funny using cruise control in a 60 zone

Yeah - I'm the same. Remember how you told me to use LC leaving the dealership? Well, I didn't do that. But I did use LC on my first day of ownership - when the oil was up to 90 degrees!

LOL good work, I haven't got around to it yet. And now that I think about it....why not? Hmm lunch time, looks like I'm going for a drive

[Prodigy]

So far i'm sticking to the run in stage as indicated in the owners manual, however i am finding it more difficult each time i drive the thing. I've only used 'Sport' mode once and that was by accident..

[dave_r]

So far i'm sticking to the run in stage as indicated in the owners manual, however i am finding it more difficult each time i drive the thing. I've only used 'Sport' mode once and that was by accident..

Less washing and detailing, more thrashing*

* once warm

[Prodigy]

Less washing and detailing, more thrashing*

* once warm

You've just reminded me.....time to give the car a wash..

[dave_r]

You've just reminded me.....time to give the car a wash..

Need to find a happy balance between the both of us. Mine got a run with the gerni and thats about it hehe. Though it hasn't stopped raining for the past 2 weeks.

[AdamD]

[T]he ECU is learning how you drive, it usually takes 3 tanks of fuel for it to get a bearing on what your driving style is and respond accordingly.

I've had a discussion with Guy_H about this, and specifically how long it takes for the car to effectively manage a change of program on an APR flashed car with multiple programs. As the tune constitutes a series of base maps, and the car learns adaptions on top of these, I'd suggest that the "new car" learning versus the "new tune" learning are effectively the same. Guy et al - please feel free to correct me here.

The upshot of what he told me was this process takes a couple of hundred km or thereabouts to get a proper handle on things. I would be surprised if it'd take anything like three tanks of fuel, unless you drive like a nana and barely ever take it over 4k rpm.

How people wait several thousand Km's before doing so is BEYOND me....
*looks over at AdamD*

Why do I feel like I've just been pwned?

Rest assured, my car gets plenty of full-throttle action these days!

PS - welcome to the super mods club Corey_R!