Volkswagen Driver Training

[Leagle]

Despite all my work commitments, turned up today and glad I did (I think it was the last session for 2010). Great instruction, great group. Fantastic day.

Thanks to VW and all the organisers. The hot lap in the R was definitely an eye opener - I have been in more exotic super cars that felt slower! It felt like a proper racing car!

Theres no doubt that VW is going places... look out the Big Euro 3!

[Cam]

I was lucky to be included in the Advanced Course at yesterday's 10am session.
I don't turn 21 till November but they let me in anyway (thank you VW!)


Wow what a day. Can't describe how much fun I had! And the hot lap in the R....far out....what a machine.
Even more so though, I now have a new found respect for racing drivers. Just when I thought the car was at its limits....the race driver pushed it 10 times harder. 195km/h on the straight and sliding around just about every corner making those bridgestone re050a's work hard!

The skidpan was just so much fun, it really opened my eyes up to how they can handle in the wet and just how stable and safe they are. I drove the Tiguan, Jetta TFSI and Passat CC. Out of all of them........I loved the Tiguan the most. Such a great car, felt really good to drive.

On the track I drove the GTD. Its a nice car, but would have been better in manual. I found the dsg even in sport mode lacking that 'oomph' that I could have gotten out of dropping back a gear in manual. Even using the paddles I still found myself getting caught out of gear a little

Here are some pics from yesterday























Larger pics are available here
VW Advanced Driver Training - Eastern Creek 16th September 2010 - camerooney's Photos

[Cam]

Some more:

[Cam]

And the rest

[Cam]

Some video

[team_v]

Glad to hear you had a good time and enjoyed the Tig Cam.
Bang for your buck it's a great vehicle, Golf R power and AWD system for sub 40k is a decent bargain.

I really hope VW take note of how quickly this one booked out and how much everyone enjoyed it to run more.
Even if they only do 1 a year to show off the new models it would do wonders for them.
I would prefer 2 a year though

[REXman]

Glad to hear you had a good time and enjoyed the Tig Cam.
Bang for your buck it's a great vehicle, Golf R power and AWD system for sub 40k is a decent bargain.

I really hope VW take note of how quickly this one booked out and how much everyone enjoyed it to run more.
Even if they only do 1 a year to show off the new models it would do wonders for them.
I would prefer 2 a year though

Im sure its a bargain, but GOLF R power? Not quite.. Maybe its got the same Haldex gen 2 AWD system.. not sure about that even.
But its a different motor. Close to a GTI motor, but definitely does not have the Golf R motor. Get it right!

And whats the Tiguan weigh? 1660KG with less power than a GTI. Great little car, great bargain, but dont compare the car to a GTI, let alone to an R for quickness.

Its like comparing the Forester GT to an STI.

[Cam]

Cheers team v.
It was a great day. I still love my MKV GTI (stage 1 bluefin) but it was great to get a feel of the cars. I've been wanting to drive one for awhile but I feel a bit awkward going into a dealership asking to drive one with no intention of buying.

The car I really wanted to drive on the day was the GTD. Just to compare it to our MKV GT Sport 2.0 TDI. Its nice, but I wouldn't trade the MKV in on the MKVI GTD. Its got nice power and the engine torque is great but prefer the looks of the GT Sport.

I agree, they need to host more of them!
I wish other car manufacturers would hold similar things.

[team_v]

Im sure its a bargain, but GOLF R power? Not quite.. Maybe its got the same Haldex gen 2 AWD system.. not sure about that even.
But its a different motor. Close to a GTI motor, but definitely does not have the Golf R motor. Get it right!

And whats the Tiguan weigh? 1660KG with less power than a GTI. Great little car, great bargain, but dont compare the car to a GTI, let alone to an R for quickness.

Its like comparing the Forester GT to an STI.

Golf R power = Tiguan petrol engine + Stage 1 remap from apr in a package for under 40k on the road.
It shares the same Haldex Gen 4 4Mo system as the Golf R and the R36.

Tiguan Kerb Weight: 1610kg
Golf R Ker Weight: 1521kg
Less than 100kg difference.

Again you have to jump on the tiguan hate bandwagon just because someone says it is a cheap and quick car in comparison to the competition.

[Corey_R]

Please leave the Tiguan vs R discussion alone

[Buller_Scott]

Its like comparing the Forester GT to an STI.

the latter of which would still be slower, WHEN TUNED, than a tuned mk6 gti. gotta love motor magazine.

btw, do you own the R yet? or are you still car shopping between that, the M3, and the impreza turbo?

[Buller_Scott]

I'd love to but not only am I too young (19), I'll be driving up from Sydney that day..

dude, you've been 19 since i joined this forum in the first half of 2008!!!

[REXman]

Please leave the Tiguan vs R discussion alone

Ok.


You know I'm cold sweating for a rebuttal.

[REXman]

the latter of which would still be slower, WHEN TUNED, than a tuned mk6 gti. gotta love motor magazine.

btw, do you own the R yet? or are you still car shopping between that, the M3, and the impreza turbo?

The M3 is a no go due to $4K a year running costs (+fuel ofcourse).p, compared with $1500 for the R.

It's the impreza and R now but I think I'm going to stick with the R after sitting in the base STI which is the one I could afford. I don't want to spend more than 60ish on a car now. And the sti base does not come with sat nav or anything. You have to get the sti R for that =70k. And it looks like my my09 wrx inside. Not really worth it for me I reckon

Half the fun is that cause I have been following the R now for so long it would be akward buying something else.

[htran]

2012 Tiguan

Before doing the VW driver training I had never considered buying a VW (which really wasn't driver training, more like VW promo day) .

Having owned 3 Subaru Libertys I needed a SUV (because I was teaching scuba on the weekend, and the Liberty's boot was too small), a Forrester was a logic choice, but going from a Liberty to a Forrester the interior looked cheap. As it was going to be a company car for 2 years I decided to give a Santa Fe R (2.2lt diesel 145KW ~440nm torque).

I was pretty happy with the Santa Fe's powerful engine, giving me similar acceleration to the Liberty, but with a huge amount of extra space. I drove Perth - Adelaide Perth over Xmas and it was pretty good, getting 1000km per tank, plenty of accelerating for overtaking.

What I hated about the Santa Fe was the lack of refinement in road handling. I can't even believe they claim All Wheel Drive. The AWD system was as slow as a CRV, and while spin was common accelerating from corners. In other words the Santa Fe had power and space, but handled like crap.

Last year I was invited to the VW driver training, and I was impressed with the Golf GTI, it was raining and they challenged us to get the car off the road. I tried but it just didn't happen.

I also took the opportunity to try the Tiguan on the cone weaves etc. Even though I was pushing it hard, I only hit the last cone after coming out of the last one a bit too wide. I was impressed, as the Santa Fe would have had no chance.

And while VW markets this as a driver training day, it was a really good marketing exercise resulting in me signing an order for a 2012 MY 147 TSI Tiguan last week. Hoping for delivery in December.

I guess the event was successful.