R roadtrippin'

[langers_sydney]

So I'm over with the missus and the Golf R in South Australia at the moment....Been bloody awesome fun. So glad we vhose to drive rather than fly.....

Road between Sydney and Adelaide is long and straight, perfect for cruise control but also suprisingly quite a lot to see. Comfort mode all the way though here!!

After Adelaide headed to the McClaren Vale and down to Victor Harbor and surroundings, roads are excellent, some great twistys and long stretches where you can see for miles in either direction.

Then took the car onto the Kangaroo Island ferry, got a few looks as it drove on.. Interestingly it was the only car throughout the entire voyage that decided to let rip with its car alarm!! I swtched it off quick but need to deactivate for the return trip in a few days for sure...

Kangaroo Island is a very friendly place, you get waves from most drivers and the roads are brilliant! There are some where you don't see a single car for 20kms of bush. There are some sweeping corners and great long straights, highly recommended if you have not been here.

We are having NYE on the Island and then the long drive back to Sydney via Midura and Wagga Wagga next week sometime (can't even remember when I am so relaxed)

Car is at 6500kms now and rising, engine seems to be really warmed up and a joy to drive.

TOUCH WOOD not a single chip yet, although I'm gonna need some serious bug remover next week!!

Cheers and have a great night tonight for New Year.....
LS

[abufijli]

Good to hear that the R is comfortable on long trips. My wife and I are tossing up if we should take the R or the Toyota Aurion to the Gold Coast on Monday. My heart tells me the R but im not sure if the Aurion will be more comfy on a long trip.

Only problem is I dont have ACC so cant put it into comfort mode. Do you guys reckon it will matter much? I find the R to be very comfy as is.

[Rob_R]

So I'm over with the missus and the Golf R in South Australia at the moment....Been bloody awesome fun. So glad we vhose to drive rather than fly.....

Road between Sydney and Adelaide is long and straight, perfect for cruise control but also suprisingly quite a lot to see. Comfort mode all the way though here!!

After Adelaide headed to the McClaren Vale and down to Victor Harbor and surroundings, roads are excellent, some great twistys and long stretches where you can see for miles in either direction.

Then took the car onto the Kangaroo Island ferry, got a few looks as it drove on.. Interestingly it was the only car throughout the entire voyage that decided to let rip with its car alarm!! I swtched it off quick but need to deactivate for the return trip in a few days for sure...

Kangaroo Island is a very friendly place, you get waves from most drivers and the roads are brilliant! There are some where you don't see a single car for 20kms of bush. There are some sweeping corners and great long straights, highly recommended if you have not been here.

We are having NYE on the Island and then the long drive back to Sydney via Midura and Wagga Wagga next week sometime (can't even remember when I am so relaxed)

Car is at 6500kms now and rising, engine seems to be really warmed up and a joy to drive.

TOUCH WOOD not a single chip yet, although I'm gonna need some serious bug remover next week!!

Cheers and have a great night tonight for New Year.....
LS

Sounds like you are having a good time R'ing around SA.

Cheers to you and Happy New Year!!

[clubbie]

Welcome to SA and have a Happy New Year. When you travel to Mildura go through Gawler and the Barossa rather than the bypass. It is a much nicer drive with sweeping roads and a few twisties. Fantastic wineries along the way. Turn right on the main street in Gawler (Murray st from memory) which turns into the Barossa Valley Highway. The road re-joins the the Sturt Highway to Renmark and Mildura after Nuriootpa. Also don't take the Monash turn off. Contiune on to Berri. The Berri section has really nice open road corners that the R will love and nice scenery through the vineyards.

[abufijli]

I drove my fully loaded R with kids in the back from Sydney to Gold Coast... It was a very pleasurable experIence, the R is very comfortable and the abundance of power is fantastic for overtaking. I was concerned that we would be very tired because the R has sports suspension but I found the car to be perfect!

I just keep loving this car more and m

[halojump]

Yep I've been to Canberra and back (from Brisbane) twice in mine since August... The R is awesome for touring, I averaged around 96km/h on the way back at Christmas (via. Newell Highway), the twisty bits past Coonabarabran are awesome in with the ACC set in Sports.

[Callumgw]

I had my R over a year now and yep it's great to road trip in, even with the whole family (4). We've done Melb-Canb and Melb-lakes Entrance-Falls creek-Seymour-Melbourne and lots of day trips. Excellent fun, and the back road to falls is brilliant!

C

[Ideo]

Just did 1700kms in 3 days in mine. Mix of freeway, country highways and single lane dirt tracks.

Loved every second of it. Got a nasty stone chip on the windscreen though.

18,000kms and I swear it's getting stronger and stronger.

[wai]

Only problem is I dont have ACC so cant put it into comfort mode. Do you guys reckon it will matter much? I find the R to be very comfy as is.

Cruise control does wonders for fuel economy. It is strange when you first use it after never having it before. Where do you put your foot...

What you notice though is that the transmission will hold a gear for a lot longer than with it off where it will change down.

One thing is that it can get hairy where you have steep changes in grade. On one stretch on my trip to Bendigo, there are a series of rises and dips. Going down, the accelerator is let off. Then it hits the rise and the accelerator comes back on, only the rise is very short. The Cruise Control cannot see this and keeps increasing the accelerator. You can see the crest coming up fast and it does become a bit hairy where you have to disengage it to stop taking off into orbit.

[AdamD]

One thing is that it can get hairy where you have steep changes in grade. On one stretch on my trip to Bendigo, there are a series of rises and dips. Going down, the accelerator is let off. Then it hits the rise and the accelerator comes back on, only the rise is very short. The Cruise Control cannot see this and keeps increasing the accelerator. You can see the crest coming up fast and it does become a bit hairy where you have to disengage it to stop taking off into orbit.

With time and use you'll get used to predicting its behaviour and working around it. I use my cruise all the time, and the act of cancelling it (just tapping the cruise on-off on top of the stalk) and resuming is second nature - I don't even give it a second thought. My foot rests just above the accelerator, so when I do cancel it, I tend to match throttle application so the transition is as seamless as possible.