Quote Originally Posted by nermal View Post
Drove the R36 again the other night. It's really fun to drive and corners like it's on rails =)
It is a slightly smaller car, and the R36 had a very nice stock setup. It was sold as a sporty car, not a sports luxury (as much as it was quite luxurious).

The Stage 1 ECU/DSG tune on the Arteon has really helped the low end torque, but it's still a bit soggy/laggy (hopefully stage 2 will help with this). It also doesn't corner the same, even with sway bars - perhaps it's time to change them to the 'track' setting and/or investigate more suspension options.
The tuning house should publish torque and power curves. That will tell you if the low-end improves with the stage 2 tune.

Worth trying the track settings, just so that you know how they behave. Sometimes though there's very little you can do to hide size and weight.

The Arteon is more impressive if you're flooring it or have open roads and able to maintain momentum. But for driving around town, the R36 is more of a punchy beast.
That makes sense. The VR6 engines are beautifully linear and tractable, with a lovely consistent acceleration character. And the noise...

The EA888 is a great engine too - but it is a different beast.

Arteon is much more comfortable/luxurious, with better tech and (after Krytox'ing everything) less rattles, it also looks better and more "in fashion" of course.
A few years can make a big difference in terms of style and functions. I do love the look of the R36, but the style IS showing its age. I do wonder if we do get the full-fat Arteon R if it will be any sportier than the R-Line we get now (that said, I do like the current sport luxury compromise).

Surprisingly, there isn't much advantage in fuel economy around the city (Arteon dominates on highway/continuous driving though) - but this is probably a combination of my driving style, engine tuning and disabling of the auto start/stop.
There's no getting around the difference between a 2L 4cylinder with a turbo that is activated on demand and has really high volumetric efficiency and an NA 3.6L narrow-angle V6 that has the dame effective displacement no matter what the conditions.

The VR6 sounds amazeballs though.

I typically choose the Arteon as my daily driver as it's comfortable and more reliable (I assume)... but still enjoy driving the R36.
I'd love to have both. But yeah, the Arteon is the likely candidate to replace my current car soon...