Scottish Elises

Joe Le Taxi turned 8 last month. We've mulled over a few potential replacements over the last couple of years, but as the title suggests, we've gone from this:



...to this:





Both are vRS, diesel, and Race Blue in colour. But that's broadly where the similarity ends!

Joe Two Point Oh, as we have been calling it, has...

DSG gearbox
Elec windows front AND rear (lol)
Auto-lights, auto-dimming-mirror
Rear park sensors
Rear seat air vents (lol)
Even better seats
Lane assist (freaky)
Xenons
14PS extra
"vRS button" (worth 20bhp, obvz!)
Touch screen infotainment with CarPlay option (but need a dealer code to enable for a few £££, boo)

I did a lot of homework before setting out for a deal on this specific car. Goal was to get a new but "runout" model with serious discount just before the Mk3 gets its mid-term facelift. But our timetable slipped a little and it turned out I was just 2 weeks too late

Anyway this example is 8 months old, with just under 8k on the clock, and I got it down to £8k off list. Happy days.

The car was, however, in Southampton. Rolls eyes.

OTOH. Roadtrip!

Would've gone just myself but saw the chance of an impromptu family holiday built around it. So booked 4 flights EDI-SOU (£28 a head...thanks, Avios!). Wee train ride across to Brockenhurst. Then 3 nights in a cottage on North York Moors to break the journey home.

What better way to get to know our new family butler than skelping it northward on m-way and some nice A-roads, esp the ones across the Moors

First impressions are excellent. Slightly firmer sprung than the Mk2 yet soaks up bumps fine. Extremely refined cabin, both for noise and toys. And I'm getting very fond of DSG very quickly. 48mpg so far and DEFINITELY haven't spared the horses.

Also should tip the cap to the dealer, Meadens of Brockenhurst. Ben Jones was brilliant to deal with. Our allegiance to our previous dealer of choice, Telford's of Carlisle, has weakened, mainly because they had no vRS diesel estate stock for months. Hard lines, boyz!

Taken a risk there Campbell, big change.

Shaking, quite honestly =8-o

I thought he had just washed it?

Loving your style, some new wheels

When I was 16 my dad took delivery of his Alfa 156. It was beautiful, and bright red. He kept it for 4 years then traded it for a 147. After a couple of years, we were speaking to a neighbour who had lived there throughout was standing at the end of the driveway chatting to my mum. She saw the number plate on the car and recognised it as only 2 years old. "Is that another car?" followed by "they all look the same to me - another red car..."

I hope you remain as fond of this new steed as much as you clearly loved the old one!

Chris

campbell wrote:Touch screen infotainment with CarPlay option (but need a dealer code to enable for a few £££, boo)!

I hate when things are software disabled it is a personal bug bear of mine. They do it all the time with machine tools when all they need to do is input a code! £1k for shaping Mazak you robbing guys the thing cost £1.8m!

I digress

Lol. £150 for SmartLink I think. Since I know how good CarPlay is, I don't really mind.

Would be nice to get the license keys sent to me and do at home - like real software! - but it's a dealer visit I believe.

Looks excellent Campbell.

Ours will turn 6 next week, I think another couple of years will be the time frame for replacing it too.

Without spending a fortune it's difficult to think of anything different to replace it with.
We'll go estate this time so it's Golf GTD or another Octavia I think.
Will be interested to hear what you make of the DSG over the coming months. I think the ZF8 in my BMW is excellent but I still don't know if I'd spend a couple of grand on it if speccing from new.

The only thing I don't like about the new Octavia though is the wheels- I was hoping they'd change them for the facelift but no such luck. Will just need to put some pennies aside for some BBS if I buy one!

campbell wrote:Lol. £150 for SmartLink I think. Since I know how good CarPlay is, I don't really mind.

Would be nice to get the license keys sent to me and do at home - like real software! - but it's a dealer visit I believe.

Check if it is enabled by VCDS/VAGCOM. There's a few folks have the program

Try emailing manwiththevag@gmail.com. Ryan is around Perth and does track days at Knockhill

https://www.facebook.com/ManwiththeVAG/

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A change is as good as a rest.... oh wait.

Nice one interested in a Campbell extensive report on how you find the DSG after a few months.
Our BMW Touring is getting to 8years old still fine, will probably look to go different next time as we can downsize car size, upsize power so a Golf GTI, R may be option, obviously lots of them DSG

As per Stevoraith, glad you didn't go for very latest model, the wheel are subtely different but horrendous.

Diesel, thought that is becoming public enemy number 1 now ?

I have yet to drive or own a DSG, PDK, S Tronic or whatever your manufacturer chooses to call it equipped vehicle which isn't elevated to another level by the absence of the clutch pedal.

I'm currently on a DSG equipped Golf R, on the contract hire for Corsa money. It gets ragged and abused something awful, actually bordering on the disgraceful.

Troy Queef types don't approve of DSG obviously but it makes for a far more relaxing day to day companion and bullet quick upchanges combined with perfectly blipped downchanges when you're pressing on.

Small fuel consumption benefits if you're that way inclined. No sh*t given here. Emissions lower and 0-60, 0-100 times quicker if that makes any swings.

I believe the phrase is "a no brainer". Manual is fine on a sunday sunshine car like the Elise but otherwise it's dead.

Regards,

Jeremy

Jeremy wrote:Manual is fine on a sunday sunshine car like the Elise but otherwise it's dead.

As someone who has never, in my life driven any form or automatic / automated manual / flappy paddle gearbox car, I... think I completely agree.

The turning point for me was our Alfa I think. A (relatively) modern 1.9TD with narrow power band / boost / torque. Manual feels so pointless.
I'm looking at Mazda Bongo's at the moment for my MIL who wants a camper of sorts. Seem to be a lot of people moan about most being Autos - I can't think of any advantage of a manual one.
I drove my sister in laws pointless large Nissan 4x4 thing. Wallowing all over the shop, mental high centre of gravity, and a 5 speed manual. Utterly pointless. The thing was slower than a slow thing, and was never going to be a joy to drive, changing gear was just another chore..

I'm starting to think manual should be reserved as one of those features that simply suits a funday car. Something that adds to the experience. Like a loud exhaust, or back to basics lightness etc.

Am I just getting older?

Just about the perfect family bus I reckon and in a great colour. I'd be interested to hear your longer term impressions of DSG. We have had 2 DSG cars (well, one a van actually) in the family - a T5 180 DSG, and now a Golf 1.6Tdi DSG. I liked it in the T5 but I have to say I find DSG pretty irritating in the Golf. It always wants to change up to the highest possible gear making acceleration feel sluggish, but then if you kickdown it revs the engine too much. Sport mode similarly never seems to be in quite the right gear. For me the 8 speed ZF box in my beemer F31 is far superior. I suspect DSG may suit higher powered cars like the VRS better though.

I thought the 2.0 VAG diesel with DSG was a pretty good combination. Compared to the manual option, DSG uses the engine torque and slick changes to get the car off the line very effectively. I've helped a few people find this type of car and so far they've all agreed it's a sweet combination.

DSG on the S4 was frankly odd, it worked great, but the car was so quiet it was difficult to monitor the gearing without looking for the number and there was so much power that it could pull from lots of gear options and change aggressively. I tended to use manual with the paddles for anything other than town driving. Nothing wrong with the performance, but I did feel a bit more engine noise would have helped keep track of what the DSG was up to.

Thanks all, for the upbeat remarks. They compare very favourably to the pelters I took on here exactly 8 years back when our first Octava vRS was revealed

I've swept up all the key points below...

I hope you remain as fond of this new steed as much as you clearly loved the old one

Smitten already. Keeps revealing cool new toys and is a bit more "grown up and polished" than our Mk2. 8 years with it would be a doddle. If the gearbox holds up, LOL.

Will be interested to hear what you make of the DSG over the coming months. I think the ZF8 in my BMW is excellent but I still don't know if I'd spend a couple of grand on it if speccing from new.

The only thing I don't like about the new Octavia though is the wheels- I was hoping they'd change them for the facelift but no such luck. Will just need to put some pennies aside for some BBS if I buy one!

Finding the DSG a genuinely involving learning experience (given what I do for a living, that's maybe not a shock to some!). There are essentially 4 modes:

Eco - early upshifts, coasts where possible too...very relaxed mode
Drive - just like any other auto...but smoother
Sport - holds onto the gears much longer...very Xbox360!
"Manual" - only dabbled with this as not had the car out on roads to reward it but the speed and smoothness of the shifts is startling

The biggest challenge is spotting when to use which mode for best effect, although frankly Drive is good enough for 95% of situations really.

Actually the biggest challenge is helping Lisa get her head around it but there's no rush...and the less confident she feels, the more likely I am to a) get to drive and b) get to take the keys in the morning, LOL.

As for cost, it made little impact on the nearly-new pricing and in that respect really was a "no-brainer" (and see below).

On wheels, hm, yes. I saw a couple of cars marketed with plain bright silver versions of the 18" rim and TBH they look a lot better. However, the missus is keen on dark coloured rims so for the sake of a quiet life we'll probably leave them alone. Plus it leaves money in the kitty to maybe put some slightly bigger and nicer rims on the TT. Who knows, its outgoing 17s might even become winters for Joe 2.0!!

Check if it is enabled by VCDS/VAGCOM. There's a few folks have the program

Try emailing manwiththevag@gmail.com. Ryan is around Perth and does track days at Knockhill

Thanks! Have done just that.

Diesel, thought that is becoming public enemy number 1 now ?

Lot of scaremongering about this. Clearly a gamble, but isn't every car purchase. I figure if the Govt wanted to get tough on it, they'd have done so with the latest VED changes. They haven't, so I reckon we have 2-4 years before it starts to get oppressive. OK so that may affect residuals to a point but surely there will be a market for £6k-£8k diesel cars with strong spec and long reliability ahead of them? If not...a HELL of a lot of people stand to take a bath and I just don't see it happening in a flash. Also. It is quite frankly very hard to source a petrol vRS estate. And we needed our new barge

I believe the phrase is "a no brainer". Manual is fine on a sunday sunshine car like the Elise but otherwise it's dead.

Well, interestingly, when we were on the hunt for the TT, we were happy to accept a manual or DSG car (albeit some scare stories about leggy DSG boxes getting pricey to fix). And I do agree, having the Elise in the garage with its (albeit a little woeful) manual shift is plenty to balance out the lazy attitude we are fast developing for the auto-box!

I thought the 2.0 VAG diesel with DSG was a pretty good combination. Compared to the manual option, DSG uses the engine torque and slick changes to get the car off the line very effectively.

Can't comment on standing starts, ahem [not had a chance to play with launch control mode yet and I suspect that's life-limiting...both the car's and mine!] But in the 600 miles we've now put on the car, we haven't missed the manual shift at all. Well except when Lisa went to change down for a roundabout and did a "fresh-air-clutch" movement. Wow that was close!

Can't wait to drive it again. Might even take it tonight along my "test track". Just for ref purposes, you understand...