00:00 Hey guys, Chris here.
00:00 We're back at Queensland Raceway,
00:02 our Car Expert test track.
00:04 Today, we've got the Golf R Final Edition
00:07 in a pretty cool looking blue colour.
00:09 It's a seven speed DSG gearbox
00:11 and the two litre turbo engine
00:13 with 213 kilowatts and 380 Newton metres of torque.
00:17 Pretty excited to see how this goes.
00:18 Very similar to the S3 Audi we've already tested,
00:21 but first let's see how it performs
00:23 zero to 100 and then braking as well.
00:25 (car engine revving)
00:28 (car engine revving)
00:31 So I quite like the seating position and the wheel.
00:46 I feel like I've got in a pretty good position.
00:48 I probably would like to be angled
00:50 a little bit further back,
00:52 just a little bit further down and back in this car.
00:54 I feel like a little bit on top of it,
00:56 but the wheels are nice size,
00:59 visibility's good, no problems at all.
01:01 Paddles have a good little bit of texture
01:03 on the back as well,
01:04 so easy to figure out where they are.
01:06 Steering feels a little light,
01:09 but reasonably precise.
01:13 I maybe would like a quicker reaction to the steering
01:16 when I get into the corner, when I'm loaded.
01:18 I've had a bit of trouble in the past
01:20 with both the Audi and the Golf TCR
01:23 with catching the brake pedal with my foot.
01:26 So I'll keep an eye on that.
01:28 I just noticed with these cars, the Golf,
01:30 that it sits the throttle pedal quite a bit lower
01:33 than the brake pedal.
01:34 I've got to consciously lift the foot off.
01:36 So that's probably my biggest complaint with the interior.
01:40 Not normally a problem,
01:41 but just something that personally bothers me.
01:44 All right, so let's start to build up some speed.
01:47 It'll be interesting to see whether it can match the TCR
01:50 and the S3, which we've already tested.
01:53 Like I said, the steering's just lacking a bit of feedback,
01:56 but reasonably stable in the corners.
01:59 Ideally, I'd like a little bit more precision
02:02 from the front end.
02:03 Let's try these brakes out.
02:05 Not bad.
02:09 I'd be interested to see after a couple of laps
02:10 whether they're still holding in there.
02:12 Traction off the corner is awesome.
02:15 There's no issue there at all.
02:17 It could handle a heap more power and torque.
02:19 All right, so traction control's off.
02:20 Everything's in sports mode.
02:22 Let's see what sort of time this can do.
02:24 (engine revving)
02:27 (engine revving)
02:30 (engine revving)
02:32 (engine revving)
02:35 (engine revving)
02:38 (engine revving)
02:41 (engine revving)
02:43 (engine revving)
02:46 (engine revving)
02:55 (engine revving)
03:01 (engine revving)
03:08 (engine revving)
03:11 (engine revving)
03:22 (engine revving)
03:37 (engine revving)
03:39 So there you go.
03:41 We got a 1.017.1 out of it.
03:45 So 61.7 seconds.
03:48 Not bad, but just missing what it needed on the track.
03:51 It was just a little bit soft everywhere.
03:54 I had a bit of a moment in one of the laps into turn one
03:56 where I just over-committed
03:58 and didn't have the reaction I needed.
04:00 It's not that it's a bad car at all.
04:02 There's a lot of positives here.
04:04 It's fun to drive, easy to drive,
04:07 but as for an outright track performance,
04:09 it's on the softer side.
04:11 It's on the more comfortable side,
04:12 which is gonna be great on the road,
04:13 just not quite as edgy for track use.
04:17 As I said in the beginning,
04:18 the steering just misses that feeling of grip at the limit.
04:21 It's just a little bit light
04:24 and I'd want a little bit more feedback.
04:25 The brakes were pretty consistent,
04:27 but the pedal did get a little bit long
04:29 on the second lap of the run.
04:31 Still braked well,
04:33 but just didn't have the solid pedal feel.
04:35 The engine was excellent.
04:36 No problems at all there.
04:38 Nice and drivable, nice, smooth power band.
04:42 With this all-wheel drive system,
04:44 the four motion, it could absolutely handle more power
04:48 and the traction would stay, so that wasn't an issue.
04:51 It's more just getting the car into the corner,
04:54 just bouncing around
04:55 and just moving that little bit too much.
04:57 You just need a little bit more body control,
04:59 a little bit more rebound damping
05:00 and settle everything down
05:02 and then the lap time would go much faster for sure.
05:05 So there you go, guys.
05:06 Golf R Final Edition.
05:08 Love the color, but wasn't quite there lap time-wise.
05:11 Just missed out to the TCR and also the Audi S3,
05:15 but still a lot of fun.
05:16 The main issue is that it's a little bit too soft out there,
05:18 so I couldn't quite attack the corners
05:20 as hard as I wanted.
05:21 So my top three tips are, be careful in the entry.
05:23 It is a little bit softer than you'd like.
05:25 Great on the road, but on the track,
05:26 it just rolls over that little bit much.
05:28 But once you get the car rotated in the middle of the corner,
05:30 you can really smash the throttle down.
05:32 It's got that all-wheel drive system, the four motion,
05:34 which is working so well
05:36 and it's definitely not overpowered.
05:37 So if you get the car turned,
05:39 number two is get on the throttle hard
05:41 and use that four-wheel drive off the corner.
05:44 And the third thing is enjoy the launch control.
05:46 It's maybe one of the best launch control systems
05:49 I've ever used in a road car.
05:50 It's unbelievable.
05:51 So easy to use and every time I tried it, it was amazing.
05:55 Really enjoyed that.
05:56 Thanks again for watching, guys.
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06:03 And if you have any questions or feedback,
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06:07 Take care and I'll see you again next time.
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