" " (a7rrows)
10/27/2018 at 22:42 • Filed to: None
1
43|
" " (a7rrows)
10/27/2018 at 22:42 • Filed to: None | 1
| 43 |
We’ve lost another one. Volkswagen will no longer sell manual Golfs in Australia except the base 1.4L in poverty spec .
I expect the entire VW range will go auto only within a year or two.
Maxima Speed
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10/27/2018 at 22:48 |
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Had me panicking for a second until I saw Australia. At first I thought the US was losing the manual. Still sucks. How come the enthusiast market in Australia has seemingly collapsed.
Nibby
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10/27/2018 at 22:52 |
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I offer fantasy, and you... creator, blind... with envy
wafflesnfalafel
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10/27/2018 at 22:55 |
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damn... Australia still has nearly double the overall take rate than the US but still no manual GTI?
For Sweden
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10/27/2018 at 22:59 |
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Thanks Morrison
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> Maxima Speed
10/27/2018 at 23:08 |
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I don’t know. People just don’t seem to care anymore. It’s not a country conducive for enthusiasm.
Vehicle taxes are high. P etrol is about to hit AUD2/L. City roads are traffic locked; country roads are isolated and dangerous. Traffic laws ar e over-police d and counterproductive to flow. It’d be so much easier not to care about fun.
whoarder is tellurium
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10/27/2018 at 23:09 |
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Ya dun Aus no good, VW.
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> wafflesnfalafel
10/27/2018 at 23:10 |
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Take rate on GTIs specifically? Or manuals in general? In any case it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not like RHD is an issue since the UK will always be a huge manual hot hatch market.
facw
> Maxima Speed
10/27/2018 at 23:12 |
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We are going to lose a bunch more manuals in the US if current trends continue , but I’d have to image something like the GTI would be among the last to go. I’d actually expect the base model to go before the performance models. Apparently manual take rate is something like 50% on the R and 20% on the GTI.
Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
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10/27/2018 at 23:15 |
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Hot take: Nothing of value was lost. The enjoyment of driving a manual is the engagement, feeling like you are shifting a controller isn’t engaging, and that’s what the GTI’s stick feels like.
The DSG just feels alive and responsive, and driving them back to back, it’s also more engaging. You can focus more on the drive, since the trans is going to do everything faster than you would have anyway. If you want to shift yourself, you can do that too.
After driving them both, I think the manual in the Mk7 solely exists for manual elitists who can’t accept that there are better things in the world.
-Former manual elitist who saw the light.
K-Roll-PorscheTamer
> facw
10/27/2018 at 23:17 |
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Not too sure of that. The current focus lost its manual in the base models in 2017 I memory serves me right. Personally I think the Civic will be the last one.
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wafflesnfalafel
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10/27/2018 at 23:18 |
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no... overall manual take rate. Aussie market m ust just be small enough for the numbers not to pencil out anymore...
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Maxima Speed
> facw
10/27/2018 at 23:23 |
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True that. I knew manual take rate was high on those. Good to see it so high on the R. Maybe there is hope yet. I’m curious is there will be a marked increase in performance oriented manual gas cars once the general populace switches to electric.
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> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/27/2018 at 23:27 |
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I haven’t driven them and you’re probably right, but it’s good to have the option at least. I always though the GTI would be the last to go.
arl
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10/27/2018 at 23:28 |
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The US is headed the same way.
Jammed roads, horrible commutes, ridiculous car and gas taxes, outdated traffic laws geared towards revenue generation instead of safety. The ability to enjoy driving is dropping fast. Even “car guys” are just getting sick and tired of it all. If I were to put on my tin foil hat, I would say it’s all a big conspiracy to push us to automated vehicles so the government can control, monitor, and tax our every movement. With the emphasis on tax.
The non-ti n foil hat m e says that the end of the car as personal ownership is nearing an end. It will be semi-automated vehicles using semi-automated infrastructure. All very boring and good for high density areas. Like most of the east coast and west coast. Millions of people
Sadly, I really do think the end of the car for fun is closer than we think.
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> arl
10/27/2018 at 23:39 |
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It’s especially sad when it comes just as my driving and adult car ownership life begins :(
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facw
> Maxima Speed
10/27/2018 at 23:58 |
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Source on the R number if you are curious:
“We sell about 50 percent of Golf Rs with manual transmissions here in the U.S. - it is a higher percentage than GTI,” said VW spokesperson Mark Gillies.
On the other hand, the overall take rate for the US has fallen to 2%, while 20% of models still offer a manual, which seems unsustainable. I imagine sports cars will keep them for quite a while still, but those base-level economy cars where the manual is only used because it is cheaper I think may be on the way out. Even if it’s cheaper to build with the manual, if they can’t amortize design, testing, and certification across enough cars, that price advantage is going to disappear, and then there’s no reason to go through all the trouble.
M.T. Blake
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10/28/2018 at 00:11 |
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You guys have lost a lot down under in the last ten years... my sympathies.
Forrest
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10/28/2018 at 00:24 |
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I actually like the manual in the MK7 GTI. It’s not amazing, but I find it fairly engaging.
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facw
> wafflesnfalafel
10/28/2018 at 00:41 |
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A l arger piece of a much smaller pie still isn’t much pie.
That said given the VW has to design abd build these cars anyway for other markets , you wonder if sending some to Australia would really be that difficult. Presumably Australia has some testing or certification laws that make it non-economical to bring in just a small number of a type.
DipodomysDeserti
> arl
10/28/2018 at 00:47 |
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No, I can see your tinfoil hat soarkling bright through my phone.
-hops on five decade old motorcycle and cruises through the fifth largest city in the US, paying some of the cheapest fuel rates in the first world.
duurtlang
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 02:48 |
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Are you arguing that the manual in the Golf sucks while the DSG is a great automatic, making the DSG a better pick? Or are you arguing the DSG would be the better pick, regardless of the quality of the manual?
Derpwagon
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10/28/2018 at 03:22 |
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Extra spice-e take: No loss, German cars suck anyway.
pip bip - choose Corrour
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10/28/2018 at 06:19 |
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:(
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pip bip - choose Corrour
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 06:19 |
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humbug
SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
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10/28/2018 at 06:32 |
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On the upside... electric. One gear. All the torques from just the slightest depression of the lever...
The first carmaker to call their new electric car 'Impact Driver' or 'Hammer Drill' will make a squillion...
The_Phew
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 08:30 |
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I thought the same, but switching t o bronze shifter bushings (like $40 and 15 mins to install) puts the 6MT in the Mk7 GTI pretty high in my MT rankings (behind Honda, Porsche, and the STi, but up there).
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> duurtlang
10/28/2018 at 08:36 |
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The DSG is the better pick because of the quality of the manual.
Abam
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10/28/2018 at 08:46 |
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I almost bought a Golf R last month for this reason; however, my thought is that I’ll wait and see what the powertrain options are on the Golf 8 next year (summer/fall). The US manual enthusiast market is just big enough that they might have a few 6MT models. I could always buy a lightly used ‘19 MK7 GTI/R/Alltrack if I needed to, or just turbo-swap my '17 wagon.
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arl
> DipodomysDeserti
10/28/2018 at 08:46 |
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Lol, I guess I did have my tin foil hat on last night. Miata’s and motorcycles for everyone!
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Abam
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 08:47 |
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I politely disagree. I've driven the DSG and 6MT A4, essentially same. The DSG is perfect but boring.
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> SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
10/28/2018 at 09:14 |
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Funny... I don’t picture the typical electric car driver as someone who knows what either of those tools are :P
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> Abam
10/28/2018 at 09:20 |
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Different transmission, different orientation.
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> The_Phew
10/28/2018 at 09:21 |
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Having to fix it to make it acceptable is what I just got out of. Between that, and the 40k mile clutch life, no thanks.
TrickJos
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10/28/2018 at 14:44 |
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I own a manual MkVII GTI and it’s fantastic. I don’t doubt that the DSG is great, but the manual is a real treat to drive.
Josh - the lost soldier
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 15:10 |
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As much as I hate to admit it, you are absolutely correct. In a past life when I was considering a new car, I test-drove a GTI manual back-to-back with a DSG GLI (no DSG GTIs in stock that day, oddly). I was surprised that the DSG was so much more engaging than the manual. The GTI ’s manual isn’t the worst ever, but the DSG is so good that if I were in the market for one now, I wouldn’t even consider the manual.
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> Josh - the lost soldier
10/28/2018 at 16:40 |
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It’s just so good at everything, from being boring during a commute to being fun when you want it to be.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/28/2018 at 22:29 |
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VW’s DSG is good but VW stick sifts that I’ve riven have been kinda meh in the grand scheme of things. Meanwhile, other companies that have DSGs still tend to suck so for now, I’d say the stick shift will still give you the better experience.
And before you try to argue that, I have two words for you - Ford Powershift. DSGs are still being refined today, right now. And hyundai/kia are in that camp too. Theirs is a pile of hot garbage.
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
10/29/2018 at 09:38 |
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Oh no, I would get a manual pretty much any other time, unless it was a track derived Porsche. The DSG is just on another level amongst normal trans missions.
babystapler
> Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/29/2018 at 19:04 |
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Meh. I get where your coming from, but I disagree . My brother has a Mk6 DSG GTI, and I have a MkV Manual Golf (2.5l in the USA). We both appreciate the DSG for what it is, but agree that the manual is way more fun. Even when comparing my underpowered Golf to his Stage 1 GTI.
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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> babystapler
10/30/2018 at 07:37 |
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From everything I’ve heard from people who’ve owned previous GTI’s before the Mk7, the shifter is worse now. As I said, they just threw in a manual to appease the slow elitists.
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
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11/02/2018 at 00:11 |
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I dunno, in my experience, every single Tesla driver has been a tool.
Saracen
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11/12/2018 at 20:23 |
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DSG-only Golf R doesn’t surprise me one bit...but the GTI?! Wow.
RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire
> arl
11/14/2018 at 00:18 |
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Less conspiracy, more incompetent city planning. Same result.