Holy crap, how fast are you driving around town?

 

Contrary to popular belief, there is plenty of opportunity to have responsible fun on the street. The time, place, and traffic conditions are all a factor.

 

I guess I never really thought about the necessity of AWD in those situations. LOL

 

In between a 460whp X with turbo upgrade, I had a mk7 '17 Golf R DSG. All 2017s have the adaptive suspension and navi. I owned it about a year and a half. During that time, I was custom tuned Stage 2: Wagner IC, Cobb GESI DP, 93 and E30 switchable tunes, 034 Camber+ plates, Eibach springs, Uni turbo inlet, and some minor other crap I don't remember. I do miss the instant power and the quickness with minimal mods. What I don't miss was the crappy harsh ride (springs and camber tops), mechanical maladies, and the fact it pushed like a dump truck and handled like poo compared to the Evo and the CTR. Tuned, it was a quick sleeper that was comfortable, and a nice commuter. But there were no sporty or handling aspirations about it. It's like the safety police at VW won, and forced the engineers the suck the driving fun right out of it.

Full disclosure, my wife still has a mk7 GTI SE with the limited slip, and it's stock. It's 170 lbs lighter than my Golf R was, and the CTR is 300 lbs lighter than the Golf R. If I'm just putting around in heavy traffic, I prefer to take the MQB, because it's nice inside, and offers mindless driving to the point that I don't have to think.

 

Its a fun around town car. You're right, the MK7 will push badly if you really are going for it . Those cars ride ok for what they are but adding lowering springs is going make things ride worse. I recently went from Eibach back to stock springs and it rides better. Previous owner installed them

I do appreciate your review though. Its nice to have different cars, each one is going to have pro's/cons. I personally like the contrast between the Golf R and the Evo 9.

 

Time and a place for everything. I run everything I own hard after the oil is warmed up. I enjoy cars/motorcycles/heavy equipment.

You only live once, have as much fun as possible along the way.

 

Agreed! I was just poking fun.

 

There is one idiotic thing about this car that I am finally getting fixed today, and I didn't realize I could sort it out before now.

The climate controls are click and turn only. If you want more precise control, it's super annoying, because you have to go into this super slow touch screen, and it takes away Carplay, Waze, everything for a few seconds while you're waiting for it to work. Toggling A/C on and off requires you pull up the screen as well, also annoying.

The workaround I've found is to install a controller from a lower end model: A Civic LX. I'll lose dual zone, but who cares about left/right temperature differences in a small hatchback, anyway? What I will get it a single contained unit with it's own display and everything I need to control it like a normal car. It was $50 on Ebay, and should be here today.

 

this is one of the most annoying things the most annoying thing that car manufacturer's cannot refuse figure out... nobody wants hvac and other commonly accessed controls buried in your stupid touch screen

 

Man, I got it yesterday. Took literally less than two minutes to install, and I LOVE it.

 

Will this work on a civic Si? I assume so... could you provide a link to what you bought?

 

It won't work on a Civic Si, because you probably have heated seats and/or heated side mirrors. If you have neither, let me know.

 

Ah, dang. Yea, those are standard. I'd really like a volume knob and buttons for the hvac. oh well.

 

Absolutely agree about the CTR.

 

Added a few things to the Type R.

Intercooler- I've always liked Perrin since Evo days. They're a name I know and trust for results and quality. Their Intercooler research and development thread sold me. So I picked up their IC on a great Black Friday deal, and couldn't be happier with it. Pretty easy install. Sustains power by keeping post turbo inlet temps in check, and looks great.

Tuning- I grabbed a JB4, but after looking at it, I knew it wasn't the system for me. The main reason for that was that even though Burger has excellent customer service and it's likely an undetectable solution, there wasn't enough end user adjustability for tuning for me. They were gracious and easy to work with, and allowed me to do a return.
Once Hondata did the instant jailbreak, I jumped on that. With the seamless traction control, Hondata was EXACTLY what I was looking for. Hands down the best modification so far.

Exhaust- There was a vendor around Christmas that had a smoking deal on the Perrin resonated exhaust, so I grabbed one of those as well. It has a front pipe, center resonator, and a helmholtz resonator off the main muffler. It's a full 3" system, and isn't too loud.

It looks like the only thing left to do would be a downpipe, as intake gains are dubious at best. But I don't really want to go catless, and doing the work for it to be high flow catted doesn't seem really worth it either. Right now, the car makes good power and doesn't stink, so I think this is the best place to stop for now.

I don't want to do suspension. I have some places where I need the stock ground clearance to enter, and I don't want to hasten wear on the shocks with somthing that will slam the car like Swifts. I think the Spoon springs look nice, but I would like to keep a linear spring like stock, as I'm not a fan of the feel inconsistencies of progressive springs as you increase cornering. I also don't want to hinder the great factory ride.

Since the fueling system is cost prohibitive to modify, the engine doesn't rev very deeply, and the turbo is small, I've run out of ideas to modify further.

It's a great, reliable daily driver, and I have no oil leaks or gear grinds of any kind. I treat it nicely most of the time, and am averaging close to 27mpg, even post tune.