Epilogue (3 parts)

[newbie69]

I haven't been too active during the last months as things have been pretty busy both at work and at home on several levels, but I felt an update was long due and so here comes a last, much deserved write-up...

PART 1 - ROAD TRIP

After a few failed attempts, lot of hesitation and procrastination, during summer I finally managed to do the road-trip that I was longing for since I got the car and (as it turned out) the one every Superb is built for: nearly 5000km across Europe, all the way from southern Sweden to Greece and back

What a trip that was. Blasting down Autobahn and other European highways with all comforts turned on, car staying planted and smooth even way over 200km/h that kilometers were disappearing so easily behind us in hundreds. First thing I realized driving a modern and gadget loaded car for such a long distance was that while I didn't actually lower my attention and focus on the road, that thought that IF something unexpected was to happen, the lane assist, the adaptive cruise, the emergency brake etc. would provide an extra safety net (as it happened once) took some of the mental stress off and allowed me and  my co-pilot to do 1500km in just the first day and still get out of those wonderful SportLine seats around 23:00 without feeling exhausted or unable to continue by any means. I was truly blown away by the comfort at which we had travelled despite the fact we were keeping as high a pace as realistically possible.

Originally the plan was to judge how the trip developed and plan the night's stop on the way but at 1000km we were both feeling quite fresh still, 1200km the same and so we continued to the next big city on our way clocking a nice and round  1500km on the trip odo in just 14:40hr of drive, around 3hr of which were stops and customs/borders controls. After that, the remaining 1000km seemed like a piece of cake the second day and so it proved to be.

Another point worth mentioning: the car was tuned with REVO stage 2 map, loaded down to the last cubic cm in the boot (first time ever that I managed that), not running the recommended intercooler upgrade for stage 2, and was continuously accelerating to higher speeds when road conditions allowed (including a few top speed runs at the Autobahn) for 14 hrs and yet, it didn't miss a beat / ever go over 105 C / or act unusual in any way, what a testament to both the gen EA888 TSI and the optimization of the tune that REVO has accomplished 👏

As people who have been following my past threads know I was already a big fan of the car but upon completion of the trip, I realized I was really missing out a very important and impressive aspect of this car until that point, which was the way it can cover miles at such an astonishing (especially when price is taken into account) pace and comfort that one (myself included) would think is only appropriate of premium German sports saloons. In the end I was so thankful I went ahead with this plan for our vacation this year or I wouldn't have got to fully know my own car.




Boot packed (literally) and ready to set off, there was stuff even in the spare wheel compartment...


I s

"Necessary" top speed limiter removal confirmation at some long and relatively empty Autobahn bit. The picture is so clear and steady it feels almost fake but it echoes what I mentioned about smoothness and high speed stability.

I let off gas at that point but I swear it had some more yet to give, crazy all things considered...




First night's stop. Consumption was closer to 9 - 9.2lt/100km before hitting some huge borders cues, which for our pace / power / weight I believe was incredibly good.

Just stuff you can't do with an estate 😄


Part2 to follow...
 

Edited 17 November, 2021 by newbie69

[Timmyboy]

1 hour ago, newbie69 said:

car was tuned with REVO stage 2 map not running the recommended intercooler upgrade for stage 2 

Just wondering if you have the intake and intercooler pipework fitted which Revo recommend, if not the intercooler? 

[JR RS]

5 hours ago, newbie69 said:

Just stuff you can't do with an estate 😄
 

 

hahaha......love that 😁

[newbie69]

PART 2 - PARTING WAYS

So the trip was great, and coupled with the rest of the long vacation I ended up covering my typical year's mileage of 10k km in just a couple of months    Again, during that time, the daily need to carry all 4 of us, with all sorts of rather useless but so "necessary" vacation stuff around town but also between cities fast, effortlessly and comfortably showed what a great car this was.

But now we were all back to our routines again. During the year and in the current period of our lives trips are rather scarce and schools are within walking distance. Too early for regular kids activities either so that means 99% of the time me driving the car empty from home to work and back (a 10km trip), plus the usual errands, hardly exciting stuff. And apart from some occasional short highways blasts, the definition of fun in the car was limited to listening my music without bothering anyone else (as was the case at home). The modifications I had done to the car undoubtedly and very noticeably improved it by removing a lot of the "comfy cruiser" feel and character, but were still not enough to transform it to something else. Something with say a more distinct sporty / fun character that I was more and more missing since my Clubsport days, something that would make me grab the keys and go for a drive without a particular purpose but rather just for the drive itself. I was several times on the verge of continuing on that path with considerable suspension and brake upgrades, in the thought of becoming able to go back to the track and have a good time but retrospectively I am glad I didn't. Not just because of the questionable end result but also as a matter of jeopardizing our daily dependency on it.

Performance itself wasn''t the issue either, after all with 0-60mph in 3.80 seconds and seamless acceleration from 0 to its top speed (whatever that might have been I never got round in finding out) under all conditions it had me covered, not that I was even exploiting it that often any more as the novelty of testing/admiring acceleration times was wearing off.

So what I was left with was a car that was a) much bigger than we needed it to be for 99.9% of the time  b) less efficient that it should be for stuff like commuting at 50km/h and driving slowly to the super market  c) unable to really excite below 120km/h or when not launching from traffic lights and low speeds just for the fun of it. Most of that were not faults of the car itself obviously, nobody forces you to buy a bigger car than you need, and I had enjoyed the silly push back in my seat plenty those 2.5 years, but it just wasn't doing it for me anymore. Coupled with the fact we were not needing much of its other talents most of the time and the crazy used car market prices that meant i could sell with the best (smallest) loss I have ever had with any of my previous cars made it clear it would have to go.

It's funny because after that, when people were asking me why I was selling the car I couldn't come up with something objectively negative to say about it, instead my reply was always starting "well actually it's the best car I've ever owned" and that's true that if you write down how many things a slightly tuned 272 can do and how well it can do them, it is very hard to find something else that comes close. But in my case I guess the question was, do all of those things matter the same? And do you want your car to be doing everything at 7/10 (some even higher) or maybe just ONE thing at 10/10 is more important than the others...?

Long story short, I put an ad out and around a week later a car dealer, the type of which are usually offering a ridiculously low trade-in, surprisingly matched it to 95% of my asking and so after 30 months of ownership it was time to say good-bye.

Edited 19 November, 2021 by newbie69

[Roscio]

15 hours ago, newbie69 said:

But in my case I guess the question was, do all of those things matter the same? And do you want your car to be doing everything at 7/10 (some even higher) or maybe just ONE thing at 10/10 is more important than the others...?

Long story short, I put an ad out and around a week later a car dealer, the type of which are usually offering a ridiculously low trade-in, surprisingly matched it to 95% of my asking and so after 30 months of ownership it was time to say good-bye.

 

So what's the 10/10 feature your new car should have? I guess you're already driving it, right?

[Beanhead]

I can’t wait for this conclusion. I’m hoping Alpine A110

[newbie69]

15 hours ago, Roscio said:

 

So what's the 10/10 feature your new car should have? I guess you're already driving it, right?

To be honest 10/10 is probably a big statement for any car but let's say it should have had that element (which I am speaking about in the upcoming part) in generous amounts, and yes I say "should have had" because it's already sitting in the garage but I didn't have the time to write a long update on this for quite some time....


 

12 hours ago, Beanhead said:

I can’t wait for this conclusion. I’m hoping Alpine A110

Good thought but you missed the part where I received a veto from the wife that even if now I will be running my "own" car it should still be able to fit 2 children in the back seats when the main driver will be unavailable to carry those duties.

[newbie69]

PART 3 - A CHANGE OF MINDSET

I should probably start by saying that the car finally chosen was not one I was having in my radar ever before. Relieved from the burden of "it should be spacious, practical, comfortable and have 4 doors" for the first time in the last 8 years, I started considering some rather powerful German RWD coupes but in the end I decided this was not the right time to jump into one. I should also mention that during the time of transition a few significant changes/decisions in our professional and family lives took place which meant it would be wise to not get too carried away with my next purchase for roughly the next year or so before things were completed/settled. This situation made me feel somewhat nervous every time I was thinking of going ahead with one of the aforementioned type of cars so I decided "if the prospect of its ownership doesn't feel 100% right and gives me various worries when it should only be giving me enthusiasm, then it's probably just not the best choice at this point".

This actually helped me dissect what I was really missing from the Superb and should be looking for in my own next car, in an effort to see whether it would be possible to find it in other, more "reasonable" options: I wanted to be into something that would allow me to hit the track again without heavy supporting mods. I wanted it to be more "involving" as opposed to "isolating" even if that meant loss of comfort and refinement. I wanted to be able to provide my own input and choose different approaches to different scenarios based on how i felt like. Last but not least, I wanted it to feel special from a driver's perspective, clearly associated with some good time behind the wheel without many questions asked or preconditions met for that to happen. At the same time I thought the decision to stay within "reasonable" costs of purchasing and ownership would be a good break from high bhp and 100-200 km/h obsessions.

So... a MX-5 would (as always, lol) be the answer? In its latest ND generation I really love its looks (for the first time), chassis is said to be more sorted than ever, at least more than the NC I had driven several years back, what's not to like?  Errr, "yeah did you forget about those two rear seats we talked about?"   Dang...  Ok then, a 2 series coupe? Yeah but I was previously thinking of either a M240i or (if going full crazy) a M2C and it would feel like a complete failure/compromise getting in a lesser 220i even if that was for just a transitional period so no. Back to a practical hot-hatch again after the GTI maybe? Pfff... I don't think I would discover anything new with such a car so again, no. What was I left with then?  Nothing really seemed to be doing it until a good "car buddy" said, have you thought about a John Cooper Works?

And the truth is no, I hadn't. I knew what a JCW was but as it had always been so irrelevant for my needs i had basically forgot about its existence until that point. But the thing is I was now (then), for the first time ever, in the market for a car for just myself (ok yes with 2 seats at the back but still) and so its practical limitations did not matter. If anything, the lack of space, weight and refinement added to its appeal rather than take away from it.... So this was starting to become interesting. BMW's B48 engine (same unit as found on the F30 330i) with extra power and reinforcements compared to the Cooper S, stiffer suspension as standard, and ,oh-yes, 4-pot Brembos finally as standard. On the visual department several bespoke bits and pieces like the sportier bodykit and the lovely bucket seats, something I was really missing since the Clubsport's amazing Recaros just topped it off as a prospect and gave it all the uniqueness I was after. The fact that a really nice one was on sale at the time just brought the inevitable closer and after just 10 minutes of driving it I knew I was going back with it.

[newbie69]

If I wanted to give an idea of how this car feels like to drive I would have to say: "think of the Superb ok? and now turn everything that you've thought upside down and you're starting to get there" (both good and bad, that is)

For starters, it's a 2016 manual (10 years since my last manual car...)  231bhp JCW. But it also had two crucial upgrades: It's on Eibach springs (saved me the trouble of doing that myself, car looks just perfect) and a valved Remus non-resonated cat-back ☺️  (I appreciated that modification more than I ever thought was important for me) . Previous owner had also ditched the awful stock run-flats for PS4's. Oh yes, and it's red with black roof. I would not buy many cars in red, actually it's the colour I was always steering away first from in all my previous cars but there's something about this caricature of a car (because that's what it really is) that makes it look so right on it.  In fact i think it was one of the reasons to go for it after I saw it in the flesh thinking "i should just have some fun this time without over-thinking everything...:

Now, as "cute" as it may look to some on the outside, it is completely the opposite when you're inside. First off, the engine sets of with a massive "VROOOOMMMM" and if it's doing its cold start and you have the valves open it sounds outright brutal. Not cheap, fake, or loud, but rather proper angry and purposeful, as if it was always that way. Then there's the steering wheel and clutch that are so heavy and so old-school feeling compared to most other modern cars and especially to what you think such a small car must feel like that it's giving you smiles before even taking it up to speed. Set off and you feel everything in your fingers, butt and ears, from road anomalies to how the engine is firing (probably an after-effect of the open valve and non-res exhaust that turns it into a straight piped setup after the cat...).  Gear shifter slots in so nicely I found myself enjoying the very thing I was once mocking when people were on about "the pleasure of shifting your own gears". Probably not equally enjoyable in a manual Astra but in this car it completely makes sense. Suspension is definitely on the firm side but not crashy. My Fabia vRS on H&R springs and Bilstein B8s was punishing on imperfect surfaces but this one no.

And then you arrive at your first corner and the real appeal of the car becomes apparent. The immediacy of the steering and the response/lack of resistance of the whole car to your input is hard to describe and hard to expect. There's a new (to me) feeling that the car does not steer front first then rear follows but from somewhere between the steering wheel and the back of the seat, almost exactly where you're sitting, with front and rear rigidly connected as one piece. It takes a while to get used to it. At first  I was either applying more lock than it really needed or I was cornering at a much slower speed than the car could take the corner in, you need to delete your old thresholds of inertia, grip etc. and re-calibrate yourself to it. Seating position is great. Car is already low and by picking a low position also, you feel you could reach out for the road with your hand. Coupled with the excellent support from the buckets this allows you to push with even more confidence the more you learn the car.

The day I returned home i took it straight to a "reference" b-road nearby despite having driven 350km to get back as I couldn't wait to try it in a suitable environment and boy did I have some good time... Exhaust valves fully open and the engine noise turning from a throaty to sharp, racecar-like tone as it approached 6K rpm, (Remus really has nailed it with this setup, didn't expect it from a 4-pot), steering wheel throwing everything that was on the road at my palms, focus on the shift, slot it in, MASSIVE pops and bangs on every lift-off, repeat!

Prior driving it, I though it would be similar to the GTI Clubsport DSG I owned before the Superb, but it is a completely different experience. The GTI was so efficient but at the same time it would feel like a standard Golf when you were not driving it at 9/10. I now realized the DSG also made much of the driving "automatic" (pun intended). This one shows its true character as soon as you start it up, it demands your attention even to reverse it and encourages you to thrash it at the first chance you get. It's firmer, noisier, less refined, and with much less comforts and gadgets than I have had for some time. With its retro, analog styling it feels more like a restomod for the track than a 2016 car, auto folding mirrors and rear cam you say? it doesn't even have CarPlay! But i don't care. For now it is giving me all that I've missed for some time in huge amounts. Will it at some point become tiring? I don't know but then again, it doesn't have to be driven everywhere all the time (although for now I do want to drive it everywhere  😆) as there's another ordinary and much friendlier car available. So yes, happy times.

Some photos:

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 November, 2021 by newbie69

[Bap33]

Nice! Enjoy the road with it! 🤩

One question, I can't remember. Is it an AWD or a RWD?  

[Beanhead]

I did forget the back seats thing! Looks great! Was thinking of trading in our DS5 commuter for a Mini diesel and this review might sway me with the steering feel. 

[newbie69]

8 hours ago, Bap33 said:

Nice! Enjoy the road with it! 🤩

One question, I can't remember. Is it an AWD or a RWD?  

Good question, but it's hard to say from behind the wheel 😛  I really need to go out  and check below the car and I'll get back you 😁

In all seriousness, this was something that prior driving it made me a bit hesitant but i has proved the least FWD-feeling FWD car I have ever driven.

This car just doesn't know what understeer is. Don't know if it's the short wheelbase, low center of gravity or the entire chassis setup and dimensions as a whole, but If you ever manage to reach the grip limit around a corner (and that's a big IF) it will start to let go in a 4-wheel drift fashion, rather than the nose washing wide. Oh and you can complete a 180degree handbrake turn inside your garage  probably, lol, so it's good.

It's also much harder to break traction compared to the GTI. I've only seen the ESP light come on once, briefly, and that was after it started making 300bhp (oops, forgot that bit) and hit identical 100-200 times like the Superb which btw I never saw coming!


 

 

7 hours ago, Beanhead said:

I did forget the back seats thing! Looks great! Was thinking of trading in our DS5 commuter for a Mini diesel and this review might sway me with the steering feel. 

Cooper SD then?! I guess the core feel should be there even with less focused suspension. No idea how the bigger and heavier versions like a Clubman ALL4 behave though.

[paddywack1878]

Hi newbie69...My old workmate bought a audi rs3. think that what its called, 3 litre with a dsg box and launch control, he jump started a hilux i had with a flat battery one time and he let me have a spin and it was the fastest car ive ever been in and brilliant stopping power, how would your JCW stack up against it do you think mate.

[Roscio]

20 hours ago, newbie69 said:

So yes, happy times.

 

that's what matters.

 

Personally I wouldn't have chosen it, but it's a nice car, and I'm glad you found the right car!

[newbie69]

27 minutes ago, paddywack1878 said:

Hi newbie69...My old workmate bought a audi rs3. think that what its called, 3 litre with a dsg box and launch control, he jump started a hilux i had with a flat battery one time and he let me have a spin and it was the fastest car ive ever been in and brilliant stopping power, how would your JCW stack up against it do you think mate.

Hi Paddy,

More likely a 2.5lt 5-cylinder 😁  but regardless, I'd driven a 2015 RS3 and all I can say is that during the search for this particular next car the RS3 was never in my list, the same way a M240i or M2 were (even if I wouldn't go for such a car in the end anyway), they are completely different cars. The RS3 is strong, has big tuning potential (if talking about the mk2) and does a lot of things very well, but kinda falls short dynamically and is too "isolating" and one-dimensional in its approach, not the car I was after at this point.

[newbie69]

1 hour ago, Roscio said:

 

that's what matters.

 

Personally I wouldn't have chosen it, but it's a nice car, and I'm glad you found the right car!

It was quite a turn of needs and priorities indeed and I wouldn't blame anyone for sticking to more modern luxuries and refinement 😄

But if you want to actually drive to your destination instead of simply be transported there, this car makes you work harder and rewards you to an equal extent. If you think again of what I wrote earlier, that a GTI Clubsport DSG which is supposed to be a focused hot-hatch felt like an ordinary car compared to this you get an idea of how much extra input you are provided with. That it might not be most people's primary requirement is perfectly understandable, but I wanted to go back to a much more analog, raw driving experience like this, after all I think the days of such cars are numbered anyway. Oh and they are not all as firm, or noisy or lacking all those modern gadgets, it just so happened that this one was as basic as possible, manual, no options apart from bucket seats, and an uprated exhaust that is making me feel like I'm 20 again...

And then there is the whole handling and nimbleness aspect which makes even 20km/h corners a reason to smile and every trip that is not just a straight line, an event. A lightweight car will always have an intrinsic advantage in the way it turns, accelerates and brakes that cannot be substituted with just more bhp. This was my main directive really. I wanted to have daily, accessible fun without having to hit stupid speeds to realize I am going fast and so far I can confidently say that it is delivering aplenty.

Edited 21 November, 2021 by newbie69

[Awesam]

My wife's car is a R55 Cooper S Clubman and I completely understand the driver's experience.  Even though its cost a small fortune to get things repaired, its fantastic wee car as its just fun and rewarding to drive.

 

I tend to use it locally or for a B road blast, keeping the Superb for long distances as much as possible. 

 

 

 

[Bap33]

23 hours ago, newbie69 said:

that is making me feel like I'm 20 again...

If you're 30, I'd say... Hmm OK, really worth of it?

If you're 40, the.... Errr... Sounds very interesting, why not!

If you're 60... I need one immediately!!!! 

 

LOL... 🤣 Note: I don't have many years to wait before I get 50. 😄

Edited 22 November, 2021 by Bap33

[newbie69]

15 hours ago, Bap33 said:

If you're 30, I'd say... Hmm OK, really worth of it?

If you're 40, the.... Errr... Sounds very interesting, why not!

If you're 60... I need one immediately!!!! 

 

LOL... 🤣 Note: I don't have many years to wait before I get 50. 😄

Quite close to your second hypothesis 😛   At 30s you're still feeling like you can physically and mentally do anything and in a better way than you did in your 20s so you wouldn't really miss it I think...

But seriously, I hadn't really owned a car in the full analog era, and yet that's what I love so far on this one and in this configuration/state, the simpleness and back-to-basics approach, even if it comes with learning to live without some luxuries I've had in my cars for a while.
I think anyone over 50 taking a manual S or JCW for a spin would come out with a huge smile on their face, i think i'm one of the youngest in my local mini club actually...

Plus I'd be lying if I said it doesn't have loads of character from the exterior down to the smallest of switches inside which matches the desirability of the driving experience to equal extent.

Have it for a month now and I've caught myself doing all silly things like looking for Mini JCW miniatures to buy, for the children of-course  😆   or helping them make paper cars that end up looking like this:



So yeah I could say i'm pretty happy with it...


The two bigger problems with it are that:
a) I can see it being a real money hole, not from a maintenance perspective (the F-series addressed many of the reliability issues of previous gens and upped the overall quality considerably) but because there's so much that you want to do to it in terms of visual and performance (mostly suspension and chassis) mods, it's that kind of car and

b) It's not a Skoda and there's just no other forum like Briskoda out there...

[Roscio]

6 hours ago, newbie69 said:

b) It's not a Skoda and there's just no other forum like Briskoda out there...

This is why you will have to keep talking here on Briskoda about your Mini, so that we can keep telling you that we disagree.
(Without admitting that we hardly bought our Skoda just to satisfy a personal need). 😂