She’s a ten footer, for sure.
All critical maintenance is updates (cooling, Vanos, intake). Also has new coilovers and clutch. But it has 174k on the clock and the paint definitely shows it’s age.

It’s endearing to drive, and slow by modern standards, so I’m not in a hurry to get anywhere in it.

And man. My first car was a heap, too. Which is why I’ve tried to make sure my kids cars are better.

 

Agreed. Mine got a 2012 civic. So nice and perfect for his first.
I did teach him to drive in the Evo, though.

 

I was reading the build thread to get the latest update on the FL5, kind of shocked to see you back in a MK8 R. But congrats on an MK8 R. I sat in one and it feels like a good place to be.

Don't drive by any Acura dealers. The Integra Type S might sway you.

 

It definitely won’t. I prefer the CTR to the Type S.

What’s not in that thread is that real estate is deathly slow right now with interest rates. I got a great high offer for the FL5 to go back to the VW, and made money on the deal. So I happily jumped.

 

Will you be tuning/modding the Golf R or leaving it stock?

 

It is about as quick stock as a healthy tuned Type R from a roll.

Until the boot loader for the TCU is cracked, there’s no way I would tune the ECU. You need to increase clamping pressure on the clutches, and I wouldn’t risk damaging anything until that’s done. There is no estimated time on when that will be completed, unfortunately.

 

I wanted to update everyone in the continuing story of my automotive flip flopping and waffling. The 23 Golf R didn't last long for me at all.

As a realtor, I have to go around all the time to places I don't know. Knowing how to get there and be on time is essential, obviously. My prior Mk8 2022 Golf R did not have this issue. The factory navigation could not accurately pinpoint my location in the 2023. It thought I was anywhere from 50 feet to ten miles away, in the middle of the local river, etc. My HUD would change speed limit notifications every few seconds as if I was flying overhead, lol. To add insult to injury, secondary navigation apps from my phone like Waze and Apple Maps inherited the car's location, and did the same stuff. There was nothing I could do to get location back quickly except stop the car, get out, and view from my (now disconnected from the car's antenna) phone. One time, I was fortunate to have a passenger to navigate me to our destination. Also, CarPlay would temporarily disconnect when I would attempt to respond to texts. So I couldn't respond to them with speaking. Again, realtor problems. I just needed to be able to dictate simple instructions through Siri.

I took it in to the dealership, and they showed me a bulletin from VW that said this is a CarPlay issue. This is partly correct. The solution was to disable wireless CarPlay in this car. A bit disappointing, but it rectified the text response problems, and sometimes stopped the Waze and Apple Maps location issues, as the phone wouldn't immediately handoff to the car's antenna if I initiated navigation before getting in the car. Apparently Android Auto doesn't use this antenna handoff, so they have no issues with Waze or Google Maps.

But make no mistake, this isn't directly an Apple issue. Because with no phone in the car whatsoever, the location was still wrong a good 1/3rd of the time. It became maddening, unable to predict, VW blaming Apple, Apple blaming VW, and having no CarPlay or head unit controlled music because I needed my navigation to work was a PITA.

There were options for remedy that wouldn't be as good of a cost or trade value vs. an equitable trade in, so away she went!

Here's a pic of the replacement car I picked up about a month ago. Not surprisingly, another FL5.

Swapping cars has always been kind of a fun negotiating thing for me. I don't do loans on cars. I'll farm areas, increasing my radius, calling around to dealerships to get the best trade possible. In the end, sometimes they give me a small check, and sometimes I give them a small check. Obviously going from a 23 to a 24, this was one of the latter.

 

Back to comparing these two cars, do you want a handling focused hot hatch, or do you want a straight line focused one with more features at the risk of some glitches? It's as simple as that.

Both are still really great cars, and I would not have traded the VW if I didn't need reliable navigation. FWIW, that problem I had wasn't super common. More common is an issue where the steering wheel needs to be replaced and causes incessant warnings. The job isn't hard for the dealership to complete, but the part is on backorder right now for about 4-6 months. There is an aftermarket workaround to remedy it. They still haven't cracked the TCU.

Boost Blue was the right color choice for the Honda. Since my job is talking to people, the car does that part of the work when I take it places. So many people love to chat about the color, even if they aren't car enthusiasts. After a short, happy conversation, I make sure to let every one of them know what I do for a living, haha!

 

I keep seeing more and more nice looking 11th gens. Might grab one for development use in a couple years

 

The boost blue looks really nice, even in picture form. Glad to see you back in a Honda!

 

Azenis RT660 255/40/18x9.5+45
Stock suspension.

Pretty happy with these tall sidewall tires! Azenis run wide, so they’re about the same width as the stockers. Loving the 200TW. Grip for days.

 

@Noize
On the stock suspension it doesn't look bad.

Do you plan on getting Honda accessories?

 

Thank you! No Honda accessories planned.

 

Maybe Mugen wing??