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TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, Chris here. We're back at Queensland Raceway, our car expert test track. Today,
00:05we've got the Golf R Final Edition in a pretty cool looking blue colour. It's a 7-speed DSG
00:11gearbox and the 2.0-litre turbo engine with 213kW and 380Nm of torque. Pretty excited to see how
00:18this goes, very similar to the S3 Audi we've already tested, but first let's see how it
00:22performs 0-100kmh and then braking as well.
00:44So I quite like the seating position and the wheel, I feel like I've got in a pretty good
00:48position. I probably would like to be angled a little bit further back, just a little bit
00:53further down and back in this car, I feel like I'm a little bit on top of it,
00:56but the wheels are a nice size, visibility is good, no problems at all. Paddles have a good
01:02little bit of texture on the back as well, so easy to figure out where they are. Steering
01:08feels a little light, but reasonably precise. I maybe would like a quicker reaction to the
01:15steering when I get into the corner when I'm loaded. I've had a bit of trouble in the past
01:20with both the Audi and the Golf TCR with catching the brake pedal with my foot,
01:26so I'll keep an eye on that. I just noticed with these cars, the Golf, that it sits the
01:31throttle pedal quite a bit lower than the brake pedal and I've got to consciously lift the foot
01:36off, so that's probably my biggest complaint with the interior. Not normally a problem,
01:42but just something that personally bothers me. All right, so let's start to build up some speed.
01:47It'll be interesting to see whether it can match the TCR and the S3 which we've already tested.
01:53Like I said, the steering's just lacking a bit of feedback, but
01:57reasonably stable in the corners. Ideally, I'd like a little bit more precision from the front end.
02:04Let's try these brakes out.
02:06Not bad. I'd be interested to see after a couple of laps whether they're still holding in there.
02:11Traction off the corner is awesome. There's no issue there at all. They could handle a heap
02:15more power and torque. All right, so traction control's off, everything's in sports mode.
02:20Let's see what sort of time this can do.
03:36So, there you go. We got a 1.01.71 out of it, so 61.7 seconds. Not bad, but just missing what it
03:50needed on the track. It was just a little bit soft everywhere. I had a bit of a moment in one
03:55of the laps into turn one where I just overcommitted and didn't have the reaction I needed.
04:01It's not that it's a bad car at all. There's a lot of positives here. It's fun to drive,
04:05easy to drive, but as for an outright track performance, it's on the softer side. It's
04:11on the more comfortable side, which is going to be great on the road, just not quite as
04:15edgy for track use. As I said in the beginning, the steering just misses that feeling of grip
04:21at the limit. It's just a little bit light and I'd want a little bit more feedback. The brakes
04:26were pretty consistent, but the pedal did get a little bit long on the second lap of the run.
04:32Still braked well, but just didn't have the solid pedal feel. The engine was excellent,
04:37no problems at all there. Nice and drivable, nice smooth power band. With this all-wheel drive
04:44system, the four motion, it could absolutely handle more power and the traction would stay,
04:50so that wasn't an issue. It's more just getting the car into the corner, just bouncing around and
04:55just moving that little bit too much. You just need a little bit more body control, a little bit
04:59more rebound damping and settle everything down, and then the lap time would go much faster for
05:05sure. So there you go guys, Golf R Final Edition. Love the colour, but wasn't quite there lap time
05:11wise. Just missed out to the TCR and also the Audi S3, but still a lot of fun. The main issue
05:17is that it's a little bit too soft out there, so I couldn't quite attack the corners as hard as I
05:20wanted. So my top three tips are, be careful in the entry. It is a little bit softer than you'd
05:25like, great on the road, but on the track it just rolls over that little bit much. But once you get
05:29the car rotated in the middle of the corner, you can really smash the throttle down. It's got that
05:33all-wheel drive system, the four motion, which is working so well and it's definitely not overpowered.
05:38So if you get the car turned, number two is get on the throttle hard and use that four-wheel drive
05:43off the corner. And the third thing is enjoy the launch control. It's maybe one of the best launch
05:48control systems I've ever used in a road car. It's unbelievable, so easy to use and every time I
05:53tried it, it was amazing. I really enjoyed that. Thanks again for watching guys. If you found the video
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06:03new video. And if you have any questions or feedback, go ahead and leave them in the comment
06:07section below. Take care and I'll see you again next time.