02 February 2010

Rides

With my fabled Mini Cooper S continuing to cost me lots of money and the mileage climbing sky high, I started thinking about a different car.


This is a tough decision for me and one I make seldom - I have only chosen and bought 3 cars in the past and only one of those was what I really wanted at the time.


So I've spend some time scouring the magazines, reviews, price lists and so on and eventually came up with two cars which I test drove last week



Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0GT


I actually went and drove 2 of these, one was an auto and one a manual. The auto is a DSG box with manual change paddles


First car was the auto - drove around the outskirts of Oxford and felt a bit cheated by the route, but nevertheless I ended up less than impressed. I didn't feel involved in the driving experience. It made all the right noises and did mostly the right things but even using the manual shift still felt a little distant. Thinking about it afterwards, I decided it was the auto box - I just didn't like it - it always lagged behind what I wanted it to do. Not a great start


Second Roc was driven out in the country. I immediately felt the car was more alive and much more fun to drive. We did a bit of A road work and then lots of lanes and it was great fun. The engine pulls right from the low range to not far from redline and it's eager and responsive. Steering was good but not pin-sharp and overall it felt more eager but less positive and precise than the mini - But it's a bigger car. I really enjoyed this drive


Audi TT 2.0 Roadster


I don't want a roadster, but it gave me a good idea about the TT. Considering the shared heritage if the two cars, I was really surprised at just how different this car felt. It was sharp and nimble and fun and pretty damn quick. I immediately felt in complete control - like I knew how it would behave. There was no sense of anything other than precision in the steering and even when pushed around the lanes it did exactly as you'd expect - complete with a bit of understeer and rear slide at times.


The TT had buckets of grin factor, where the Roc was a bit of a brief smirk. I didn't have much doubt at the end about which one I prefered.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I suppose the Roc is just a squished Golf so a little boring, but I know what you mean about the Titty. Bags of fun, big grins and a doddle to drive fast.

I'm surprised you found the DSG "lagging behind" though. As I'm now driving a proper manual box, I really miss the speed of gear changes, especially downshifts.

Maybe it just takes a little time to get used to it - in either direction.

Have you thought about a Boxter, or maybe stretch to a Cayman (not the S) ?

aFj said...

I think you're probably right about the DSG. I'm not sure what I expected, but I just enjoyed the manuals more (and they're cheaper).

Don't want a ragtop, but did consider the Cayman (not the S) but in the end the cost of ownership just came out too high - maybe next time :-)

I do quite like the idea of 4WD, so might have to give the TTS a spin ... even more money!

Unknown said...

TTS - yea, v nice. But pricey (cos they're not that old yet).

You could consider the TT V6 quattro for 4wd - a bit older, and a nice sound (this is the one I drove at Silverstone).

Not as refined as the TFSI (like Herman and the TT and Roc you drove), but prob quite a bit cheaper now.

aFj said...

Yes, pricey indeed.
v6 is quite a bit cheaper to buy - am put off because of the mpg though ... but is worth a thought, definitely.
Originally started out with the idea of a V6 but really liked the 2 litre straight 4.
Tough choices, but in the meantime I'll just go and have to drive some other examples :-)