ok time for a few very first impressions (Ive only had the car for 6 hours and driven only 50miles and fiddled with PCM for a couple of hours to get to know it), but here goes... Overall the car already feels very different indeed to the Gen1 car - far more so than I expected and and in many unexpected ways to those that my test drive had revealed. Ride Its much more comfortable and compliant over uneven surfaces. The car feels much more like a GT cruiser than the bumpy but nimble Gen1, it almost feels like a much bigger heavier car. Im sure it will be an easier car to live inside but the drive does feel a little sanitised and some of that "fun at 50mph" factor seems to have gone and you seem to have to drive it faster to get the same thrill. On a long drive or on a bumpy road the Gen2 will excel of that I have no doubt as the Gen1 ride felt almost bone shakingly hard and old fashioned when compared to Gen2. I feel however that it has lost some of the great feedback I got from the old car. For some reason I didnt really notice the ride difference at all on the test drive perhaps because I was too focused on PDK, but now the two cars feel like chalk and cheese. Performance / PDK First let me say that PDK is great - I love it. Ive grouped performance and PDK together here because I do feel they are significantly linked. The car (even trying to hold it under 5k rpm) feels significantly faster than the old one, I mean a lot faster indeed almost warp speed! I shudder to think how fast it will feel once its run in. Much of the difference is down to PDK of that I am sure as it just rockets through the gears so smoothly you just seem to 'woosh' everywhere. Not sure why but I am definately driving it much faster than the I drove the old one. My initial thoughts are that my heavy right foot is down to either a) first day and Im pushing it more to see what it can do b) because the PDK encourages you to blast along as it is so much fun c) because putting Sport Mode on unfortunatly seems essential to get a punchy rapid change out of the PDK and thus the throttle response is also remapped d) the lack of PSE means Im going faster to try to get some audio feedback out of the engine or e) a combination of all of the above?? Either way this car feels like a rocketship compared to my old C2S, so much so that right now Im worried Im going to loose my license. I never felt the old car was slow but the difference is quite dramatic. Irrespective of speed I am missing PSE big time, the new car sounds like a muted hairdryer compared to the sheer loudness and the delicious pops and burbles of my unplugged PSE Gen1 car. The good news here is that my PSE is on order and should be fitted in around a month - I just pray it restores the soundtrack of Gen1 and that it can be unplugged. PCM / USB / BOSE / Bluetooth etc... There is a significant improvement in the Nav functionality and the touchscreen interface is just fantastic compared to the old twisty dial only interface. The only gripe I have so far is that the lady's voice is a little robotic compared to the old voice - she sounds a little like a female Dr Steven Hawkins! and far less pleasing to the ear. Sound quality from the new BOSE is also improved over the old BOSE too and the Ipod interface is also delightfully simple to use. Bluetooth seems to work just fine (although the dealer had to change the mode before my phone would pair as it is a HTC smartphone) - after the initial mode change problems all seems fine and the phonebook synced just fine. Other bits Love the LED daylights and the car looks more modern and slick externally. Adaptive sports seats are also much more comfortable than sports seats (I really didnt expect this to at all) and the side cushions seem far less prone to squashing as you get in and out. That said I am not sure they are worth £1350 more than sports seats however - Hmm as I type this I am wondering if the adaptive seats are partially responsible for softer more comfortable ride?? Even without an Aerokit Ive found myself really liking the 'stealth' looks of the new car already it is a more beautiful car to look at if a little less eyecatching without Aero. Overall its hard to say how I feel at the moment - there is a lot to be very positive about but its not as clear cut as I had hoped. Dont get me wrong I wasnt going to keep the old car forever so at some point it had to go and 2 years old has always been my trigger point previously. I did of course debate keeping it longer and adding X51, something that is now ringing in the back of my mind as something I should have not given up on as right now I'm not sure the new car is an improvement in all areas. I realise however it is very early days to make such conclusions and hopefully a few days into ownership my thoughts will change as I settle into the differences. In summary the new car is so much smoother, faster, slicker and more modern than the old car but some of the soul and character seems to have gone too. Quite a few unexpected feelings on the first day. On the negative side I am a little worried about the sheer speed of it (haha!), the ride whilst more comfortable has lost some feedback and feel and I am missing PSE perhaps most of all. On the positive side PCM3 is a huge improvement, I am already loving the looks and not missing Aero half as much as I thought I would and oh boy is it fast - The performance that Gen2 with PDK is capable of is very addictive indeed!
] Alan
