Today I had the chance along with TC to attend the afternoon session of the "New Golf GTI" (as the marketing people call it) or as we know it the Mk6 Golf GTI, launch event at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire.
This was described as a chance to explore the full potential of the car in an exclusive venue so it would have been rude to turn it down.
About the day: -We arrived at lunch time and after being stripped of our cameras (due to the nature of Millbrook being a test location for a number of manufactures we were restricted on the photo opportunities).
We were driven up to the welcome centre for a quick bite to eat before we started the activities, so joined up with John_o and greenouse (who had attended the morning session). We were then given a safety brief and a quick run through of the events plans. First surprise of the day was the expected technical review was now replaced a session with Russ Swift to demo some of his infamous auto test driving skills in a Mk6 GTI.
We were then shown to our instructor and car for the afternoon.
The car was a Three door manual Candy White Mk6, being a DSG daily driver (and general DSG fanboy
) I wasn't sure if this might have been the best car to have but as the afternoon progressed I was happy we ended up in the manual
Spec wise it was running the 18" Shadow Monza's, had the optional Adaptive Chassis Control and inside had the RNS-510 with Dynaudio (not that we were concerned about that for today
)
On to the events
Event 1 - The 1 mile straight.As the title really, we were given the chance to try standing starts up to 130mph to test the acceleration of the car.
Then was the braking test to go from standing start up to 100mph then full on brakes.
On the acceleration I was surprised with performance, given I had just stepped out of my Stage 2 mapped ED30, that the new TSI engine was defiantly quicker than it's predecessor Mk5 GTI.
Brakes wise it appears the Mk6's runs the same standard setup as the Mk5, fortunately I have never needed to do an emergency stop from 100mph but was really surprised how well it stopped and how straight and composed the car was under these conditions.
Event 2 - Alpine Hill RoadsNext up we had a chance to experience the alpine hill roads (as seen on the truck race feature of the last series of Top Gear).
So here you had lots of twists and turns over different cambers and gradients.
Our instructor gave us a couple of sighting laps first then we had a chance to drive a couple of laps for ourselves.
This gave a brief opportunity to explore the handling of the car, as our test car had the ACC option our instructor showed the difference this makes in the tight and twisty bends, to be honest it was difficult to pass judgment on this feature without driving the car for a more extended period of time. You could immediately feel the difference between the comfort and sport modes. all of the driving we did the car remained in the sport setting.
After starting to get in to pushing the car a bit more on the car an Aston Martin was then spotted ahead which we were rapidly catching up on coming into some blind bends, so had to finish off we taking things easy.
This was made up for when the instructor gave us a "flying" lap showed what some talent combined with some good knowledge of the course and the car can do. The driving style of being able to flick the car into the cars showed how well poised the Mk6 is for a standard car
Event 3 - High Speed Bowl RunFirstly we where taken around the top lane of the bowl by the instructor to show the top speed of the car, we reach an indicated 150mph. I was suprised given what this piece of road is used for how rough it was
We then took over and had the chance to go up to 100mph on the forth lane, it showed the a high speed cruising the Mk6 is a generally quieter car than the Mk5.
Event 4 - Inter handling courseProbably my favorite bit of the day.
This was a closed section of the course where only the instructor was allowed to drive.
He really pushed the car to it's limits and showed how the right driving techniques could really exploit the cars agility. With some encouragement from me and TC he had quiet a few laps around this course.
The only negative comment our instructor had about the car was the fact the ESP can't be fully disabled so wasn't able to get as much oversteer as he would like when coming through the corners at speed
We did have one "oh sugar" moment on our last lap when coming into the last and fastest corner we found the military "hummer style" vehicle that was also being tested on the same course had an off and had placed loads of gravel on the road
Again we found the brakes to work well then needed.
Event 5 - Photo OpportunityAfter a brew we had the chance to get our cameras back to take some pictures of the Mk6 in action. The instructors took four of the car off from the welcome center up to the alpine hill roads directly in front of us.
We were allowed on the grass in front of the down hill section to get some shots of the cars coming down to a fast right hand bend.
However the car me and TC were using that afternoon didn't make it due it losing gear selection on the way up (i am sure it had nothing to do with the extra laps on the handling course
).
A few pictures can be found at the end of this page.
Also here's a short vid of the cars coming down the hill into the bend: -
We then got a few pictures of the assembled Mk1 - Mk5 display press cars. My favoirte is still the run out Mk2 8v GTI
with the massive 167 miles on the clock from new
Event 6 - Russ Swift DemoTo end the day we had a demo and the chance to ride in the car with Russ Swift (for those who don't know who he is just have a look on youtube!).
He demoed (using a standard Mk6 GTI on 17" Monza's) some of his trade mark moves.
First up was the J turn between two Mk6's, then I got a passenger ride while he did his trademark handbrake parallel park (again between two Mk6's).
Finally he did a dance routine around a course set to Queen's Don't stop me now
This involved lots of j-turns, flicks, handbrake turns and other auto test techniques.
It was a really impressive display and considering he normally uses Mini's was quite impressive that the Mk6 can really be chucked about like that.
The EndIt was a really great afternoon and has defiantly changed my initial impression of the Mk6. Visually this was the first time I saw one in the flesh, there were examples in Candy White, Silver and Red and I am really starting to like the shape and some of the design features.
Internally it more like the Mk5 than I expected, especially when sitting in the back, however some of the features like the new steering wheel are a big improvement.
Performance and handling wise I was also impressed and can see with some well chosen mods it could make an awesome car but the potential of the new TSI engine is a little unproven so far so time will tell. As said above it's difficult to make a judgment on the ACC without driving the car some more.
The big question, would I buy one??
Well....
Yes, but not to replace the Edition 30 at the moment, I would happily have it as a second car for the misses at present and would regally use it and probably really enjoy it, however if they produce an "R20" type version then yes it would be an Edition 30 replacement for me
Finally a big thanks to Luke and Lesley @ the BE Company for inviting us and to VW UK for laying on a great event
The photo's from today: -
More can be found in the Gallery
And a few more pictures from VW that they sent me today
