MKV GTI replaced by T-ROC R

After 16 years of loving my MKV GTI it has gone to a new owner, 98000ks.

At 73 I was finding it more difficult to get in and out of :( , as was my wife.

A very nice Demo T-ROC R popped up at my local dealer - haggled down to $58,000 drive away. 240k (not 240,000) on the clock, registered till May next year, so virtually brand new.

It's Iridium Grey, Black Pack, Sunroof, Beats audio, and 3 years service pack. I think VW imported a good batch of these as a special offer, not sure, but I saw a few others in different colours with the same combo pack.

Now the fun begins with learning how it all works, how to disable nag screens, lane keep, and probably a few more things I haven't got frustrated with yet :)

I've only had a short test drive, but initial impressions are that the 200kg extra means performance is about the same as the stage 1 mapped GTI (about 180kw, 350nm) which makes the GTI really nice to drive. I will always lust after a tune for the Roc, but probably should tone down a bit at my age (well, that's what I tell my wife..... )


It will be in my hands next week after I hand over the cash.

Tune it m8 the wife will never need to know .As for your Gti thats Gold and the new owner would have be stoked to drive it away ..Mods are a simpler way of pimping your ride

Congrats on the new T-Roc R. I recently drove a T-Roc base model (rental car) and was quite impressed by it, can imagine the R model would be awesome.

I bet there are not many Mk5 GTI's with under 100,000km these days. You should be able to sell that for decent money (don't trade it in!!). Coincidentally, I was just outside looking at a 2013 model Golf Mk6 GTI with 195,000km that I am considering buying from a workmate to tidy up and resell. He has just bought a new car and cant be bothered to clean up the GTI and deal with buyers so ill do that task and buy the car cheap.

The entry height is a great thing about the T-Roc for sure. Also the ride height....no dragging on driveways into petrol stations etc.

Congrats, I love my R apart from one minor whinge. Whilst I think the engine power is great, it's the gearbox that annoys me. Always seems to be in a gear too high so if you want to do a quick lane change and give it some it's a bit lack lustre in the get up and go department. As soon as they crack the gearbox tuning, I'll be getting the TCU tuned for a snappier shifting gearbox. I also love the travel assist feature over the ACC function.

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Originally Posted by HORSPWR

Congrats, I love my R apart from one minor whinge. Whilst I think the engine power is great, it's the gearbox that annoys me. Always seems to be in a gear too high so if you want to do a quick lane change and give it some it's a bit lack lustre in the get up and go department. As soon as they crack the gearbox tuning, I'll be getting the TCU tuned for a snappier shifting gearbox. I also love the travel assist feature over the ACC function.

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I haven't done enough ks yet to decide what the quirks are for me.

Have you tried flicking the gear lever back into sport for quick lane change? It could be a way to solve the issue before a remap is available. Or a couple of flicks of the paddle?

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Originally Posted by gerhard

I haven't done enough ks yet to decide what the quirks are for me.

Have you tried flicking the gear lever back into sport for quick lane change? It could be a way to solve the issue before a remap is available. Or a couple of flicks of the paddle?

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Going into Sport mode helps but still has some annoying lag, smashing the pedal to floor also helps. Paddle shifting is fine until I forget to change back up :facepalm:

I had an FPV F6 that I got tuned (engine and gearbox) and the gearbox tuning was night and day over stock tune. It really woke the gearbox up, it was so responsive and intuitive, zero lag or hesitation.

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Originally Posted by HORSPWR

it's the gearbox that annoys me. Always seems to be in a gear too high so if you want to do a quick lane change and give it some it's a bit lack lustre in the get up and go department. As soon as they crack the gearbox tuning, I'll be getting the TCU tuned for a snappier shifting gearbox.

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I'm with you brother, as soon as its out I'll have it .... absolutely loath the gearbox.

Love the space, ride etc, especially the power (now), but hate the gearbox with a passion. Driving it back to back with my Golf R it is such a let down.

Had a TCU tune on my daughters A1 and it absolutely transformed the car. Cant wait for the TCU tune to become available.

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Originally Posted by HORSPWR

Congrats, I love my R apart from one minor whinge. Whilst I think the engine power is great, it's the gearbox that annoys me. Always seems to be in a gear too high so if you want to do a quick lane change and give it some it's a bit lack lustre in the get up and go department. As soon as they crack the gearbox tuning, I'll be getting the TCU tuned for a snappier shifting gearbox. I also love the travel assist feature over the ACC function.

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For this reason is why I always drive my SQ5 in manual mode. If left in 'auto' mode its always in too high of a gear, whereas I like to be able to control what gear i want the car to be in.

And Sport mode is too much the opposite of auto mode - so its not for me. Holds onto gears too long and makes it rev too much for my liking. A sweet spot would be somewhere in between auto and Sport mode.

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Originally Posted by Lucas_R

A sweet spot would be somewhere in between auto and Sport mode.

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This is exactly what the TCU tune delivers from my (admittedly limited) experience.

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Originally Posted by Sharkie

This is exactly what the TCU tune delivers from my (admittedly limited) experience.

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The DSG tune I had on my Mk7 GTI (DQ250 6 speed) did this. It raised the shift point from about 1600rpm to about 2000rpm, which might not sound like much but made quite a noticeable difference. So cruising along at 60kph it would be in 4th gear instead of 5th gear and this meant that if you needed some acceleration that the car was in its torque powerband and you could just get on with it, rather than have the delay of the transmission knocking back a gear or two....or worse, not kicking back and labouring which means you get no power.

I never really noticed the other quoted improvements of faster gear changes or clutch clamping pressure etc etc, but the tune was worth it for me just for the everyday driveability improvements. No doubt there are better DSG tunes out there than what I had (the Integrated Engineering DSG and ECU tune) though.

Another who is less than impressed with how lazy the gearbox feels and how quickly it shifts up. Took my T Roc R around a 1k loop outside work, where there is a slowish 90 degree corner to get out of. Left in drive, the DSG takes an age to figure out what you want. In "S" it was better, but still a lag in the response. Only in "M" could i get the pick up to be any good at all.

My local APR dealer lodged a request with APR in prob June last year to get them to do a tune on the DQ381 for the T-Roc. Still waiting...

Hope the R meets your needs.
My only gripe with mine is the size of the boot which would have to be the smallest of any car I've owned.

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Originally Posted by Ale

Hope the R meets your needs.
My only gripe with mine is the size of the boot which would have to be the smallest of any car I've owned.

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It is a small boot in the T-Roc, but at least there is a reason for it (the rear diff eating into the boot space). But I recently rented a Corolla :puke: to drive to the airport and it had the most ridiculously small boot ive ever seen. It was so shallow that I had to take the parcel tray out just to fit 2x suitcases in the boot.

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Originally Posted by Sharkie

Cant wait for the TCU tune to become available.

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034 Motorsport - Volkswagen T-Roc R Tuning - Stage 1 & 2 ECU Tunes– VAGPARTS Australia

Does this link above mean they are BSing? Because they clearly state they can to a DQ381 DSG Tune!

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Originally Posted by Lucas_R

or worse, not kicking back and labouring which means you get no power.

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This is the exact scenario that annoys the crap out of me!

The DQ381 has been around for years. Quite feasible that they can tune the early ones, but the variant in the current R models are not "busted" yet so can't be tuned yet.

Have not done many ks yet in mine but I find S mode to be most usable around town - it's less manic than S mode was in the DQ250 GTI and provides mild DSG farts which always made me smile in the GTI. Will mostly go to S4 and S5 and change between 2000 and 2500rpm.

All the changes are much slower though, no snappiness. Bring on the Tune :)

I am drafting a questionnaire for Racingline to find out how the engine tune works for different driving modes, eg do you get the full fat tune only in race mode or also in eco/comfort/normal mode.