Thanks, Noize, for posting this! I'm in the same situation...46 years old, and my left knee has had it with the 5-speed.

I've also settled in on a Golf R (in Lapiz Blue as well ), but they are HARD to find! I guess I'll have to wait for the 2018s...

I HATE the idea of letting go of my Evo, but everything that you said makes me confident that this is the new car for me when that happens!

 

nooooo I'm never letting go of a manual car at least

 

I feel the same! But the medial compartment of my left knee is essentially bone-on-bone, so traffic has gone from an annoyance, to an intolerable physical torture...

 

I used to be all for manuals all the time, but having owned a MCT car I gotta say, they're pretty sweet for daily driving duty.

 

I hear you

I daily an automatic, manual for my weekend toys. until my legs start bothering me I guess. dailying an automatic beater helps though.

 

Why do I get the feeling that you moderators and admins are getting too old? I mean, i'm only 26 so I wouldn't understand, but dang haha!

 

Would enjoy seeing more pics of the car in/out if you get a chance to take any!

 

I wouldn't mind a Golf R for a daily. I've been trying to convince the wife that she likes them. But she doesn't like the hatch look.

 

Audi S3 then.

 

It's about $8k more. And she does like that. Just trying to convince her to spend less on the same car that just looks different. And I prefer the hatch...lol

 

My wife thought she hated hatches too. All I had to do was her drive one. All the new tech, comfort, quality... sold. Easy as pie.

 

I like how the related thread, " New Wife mobile" is directly underneath this thread.

 

Congratulations with the golf

I almost bought one myself But I'm glad I bought the evo x

 

I remember the line about Buicks being sold only by prescription. But I wouldn't want to throw clients around in the back seat of an Evo.

Being seventy plus I've had a fair sampling of what its like to be getting old. Sometimes, first thing in the morning everything hurts. Still, driving the Evo, road touring as I do, I drive all day.

Yesterday, we went outstate and stumbled onto the Silver Plate at Arnold, Nebraska. I knew something was up when I saw a Viper and an Audi sports car both with numbers on the doors parked behind by cousin's house. Downtown, in this little village (pop. 1000), it was car show on steroids because main street is the pits for the racing. Lots of new Vettes, hot Mustangs and Audis, there was even a McLaren. Here's the old man admiring a split window coupe.



And here's a turbo setup in the back of a bug:

 

I'm almost three months in now. Bought 7/27.

Until the Accessport is ready, I went ahead and tuned the car with Unitronic Stage 1+ and TCU stage 1. The engine tuning nets 57hp over stock on their engine dyno.

I chose Unitronic for several reasons: I can flash back and forth at home in my garage with their proprietary cable, they don't go crazy with boost and midrange torque like other tuners, boost peaks at a sane 23psi, and they don't charge extra upgrade fees when you go with a higher state of tune.

With the DSG, the car is really quick on the street with the tune, but you can feel the power drop off badly on warm days with repeated pulls due to heat soak. The culprit is the factory sandwiched intercooler, which is buried between the radiator and the AC condenser. I ordered up a Wagner Racing replacement factory location intercooler through Jon at 5150 Racing, who I've known from here on Evom for years. That is supposed to arrive next week, so I am hopeful it will be great. Most DSG cars with only a tune are very low 12s@111mph.

It's so great as a quick and fun commuter and sleeper. It just looks like a slow little blue Golf going down the road (it still pretty much is just that), but it's a barrel of fun when you want it to be. I'm still blown away by the amount of stuff you can haul in this tiny car. Best interior space utilization ever.