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Will I hate a manual?

GoLfUnV

Ready to race!
Location
Atlanta
Everyone suggests that the DSG is a faster track car, yet nobody recognizes that the fastest Golf around the ring (Clubsport S) was 6mt.

I was not aware Clubsport was available with DSG. :confused:
Nurburgring is far from average tracks, most of us would get to play/race on. Cars that hold "ring" records would not be as dominant on shorter and more technical tracks around the US.

OP, congrats on the new car, but you made a bad choice :)
 

ourlee

Drag Racing Champion
Location
3085 Pampas Streat
Car(s)
17 TT 17 GTI S
My son has a 17 manual gti. I LOVE when he visits, I drive his car the entire weekend. Go manual til you’re too old to operate it.
 

sidepieceracing

New member
Location
NJ
I just got my new (to me) golf r 2017 Mt back from a massive rebuild/uplift. I drove 3 days with a 11k mile old stock clutch and it was terrible. I'm now 30 miles into (babying) a South Bend Stg3 Endurance clutch ... And the action and feel is amazing...

I was worried about the clutch feel after those first 3 days ... But 2 months later my opinion is totally changed. Awesome choice... Not to mention, the anti-roll feature makes this the easiest manual car I've ever driven
 

translux

Ready to race!
Location
Chitown
My sentiments are similar to what has already been covered but my 2 cents are.

1. The manual in stock form is not very good. A couple minor tweaks and you can reduce the throw and get some feel and precision in the gear selector.

2. The clutch is a whole other story. Stock it’s lifeless with little in the way of feedback. Sure it’s easy to drive but it’s zero fun for an enthusiast. To ad insult to injury it’s going to slip even if you stay stock. Any tune will accelerate slipping.

3.The only remedy is a new clutch. Given the complexity of the install and the high cost for a replacement and your looking at a min $2k all in.

4. Beyond the cost for the new clutch all the SMF-single mass flywheels-IMHO compromise the comfort and refinement that I bought the R for over something like an RS. Clutches that use the factory dual mass flywheel appear to hold more power but in many cases not enough for stage 2.

So in the end you have to choose reduced performance to maintain refinement or give some of this up for performance.
If I had to do it all over again I’d go DSG or get a different car. Trouble is I can’t think of one that ticks all the boxes.
 

GTI-CAL

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Bay Area
My sentiments are similar to what has already been covered but my 2 cents are.

1. The manual in stock form is not very good. A couple minor tweaks and you can reduce the throw and get some feel and precision in the gear selector.

For about $70 bucks spent and you can have a good feeling manual trans.
$55 for euro short shifter
$10 clutch stop
$5 clutch fluid for the cdv removal
This is what i spent and i mostly enjoy this manual driving experience. Doesn't compare to a honda manual driving experience though(integra, rsx-s, s2000)
 

KevinC

Autocross Champion
Location
The land of Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday
Car(s)
'19 Golf R, '21 M2c
1. The manual in stock form is not very good. A couple minor tweaks and you can reduce the throw and get some feel and precision in the gear selector.

VW manual shift linkage and overall feel has been pretty crappy dating back to the original Beetle.

VW went to a cable-shifted setup when the Corrado VR6 came out. It was REALLY awful - crazy-long throws, and as one review described it, "like rowing a stick through a box of Kleenex". But they've gotten better gradually ever since. I really don't mind the linkage & feel on my R at all, in bone stock form. I did short-shift kits on some of my older VW's and was never happy with the result - there were always tradeoffs.

So my 2c is to try the stock linkage first before deciding you need to add a short shift kit. I've done the CDV removal on my last few BMWs, and on those cars there was almost zero difference to me. Might turn out better on an R? Maybe, I dunno.

Bottom line - I don't think you'll hate a manual for the shift feel. Is it great? No. Is it OK? IMHO, yes.
 

translux

Ready to race!
Location
Chitown
For about $70 bucks spent and you can have a good feeling manual trans.
$55 for euro short shifter
$10 clutch stop
$5 clutch fluid for the cdv removal
This is what i spent and i mostly enjoy this manual driving experience. Doesn't compare to a honda manual driving experience though(integra, rsx-s, s2000)
I also removed the return spring at the pedal and changed to more ridged shifter bushings. All helped but still not great. Given the Porsche link, you'd think they could have done a better job.
NSX & S2000 for me will always be the benchmark.

But the terrible clutch is unconscionable.
 
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GTI-CAL

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Bay Area
I also removed the return spring at the pedal and changed to more ridged shifter bushings. All helped but still not great. Given the Porsche link, you'd think they could have done a better job.
NSX & S2000 for me will always be the benchmark.

But the terrible clutch is unconscionable.
I left the return spring....without it, the pedal was too springy and made it harder for consistent smooth shifts. I actually like the oem clutch feel on our cars... or i just got use to it.
 

TraceMe

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
San Diego
Car(s)
2019 Golf R DSG
Hey, I ended up going with the SouthBend Stage 3 clutch and it really made the whole manual experience fantastic!

I coupled it with a BFI Weighted Shift Knob and it really made the shifts feel so much better. I am stage 2, so I needed the beefier clutch, but even if I wasn't stage 2, I would seriously consider upgrading to this clutch right out of the box with or without mods. It is how the car should have come factory.
 

Noudlesoop

New member
Location
CA
I will say, however, that the 1-2 shift in my Golf R is miserable. You have to wait a long beat or two if you want it to just slip into gear nicely, otherwise it feels like you're asking too much of the synchronizer. Thus, I find I wait until I'm in second gear before I give it much throttle (feels stupid to blast forward in 1st just to hang for an eternity before grabbing 2nd). This bothers me a bit, so I thought I'd warn you to look for it (some folks claim their 1-2 syncs are smooth as butter, so it could vary).

You aren't the only one with this issue. I thought i was just doing something wrong in my 2018 R 6MT as far as 1st and 2nd gears go. Sometimes it makes me miss my mk6 GTI DSG but then i start rowing through the gears and remembered why i got the manual lol.

Are there any mods that alleviate this issue?
 

CarlosCanizares

Autocross Newbie
Location
Surrey, BC, Canada
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf R
You aren't the only one with this issue. I thought i was just doing something wrong in my 2018 R 6MT as far as 1st and 2nd gears go. Sometimes it makes me miss my mk6 GTI DSG but then i start rowing through the gears and remembered why i got the manual lol.

Are there any mods that alleviate this issue?

The Boomba Shifter Adapter made a night/day difference for mine. I, too, felt the awkwardness of the 1-2 shift before.
 

sterkrazzy

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
Car(s)
Turbo. Blue.
I feel like how you sit and how you position your foot can help a lot. If I'm slouched in my chair my shifts are sloppy. If I'm sitting up straight my shifts are smoother. I've recently started experimenting with changing my footing as well. Instead of having my heel sit below the brake and my toes over on the gas I've started to bring my heel closer to the gas pedal.

I know smooth shifts from 1st to 2nd are possible as I've done it plenty of times, but it's not easy to do consistently.

I'll be replacing the clutch soon so I haven't been too concerned about it. When I do the clutch I'll be doing the valve delay delete, some stiffer bushings and brackets, and an oem short shifter. Removing the valve delay should add some consistency to it.
 
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