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View Full Version : Lets get critical...



eob
23-10-2009, 10:41 PM
Now I love the CC. I love the shape, the ride, the frameless windows, the wheels and the four seater layout.
But it's not perfect.
I've had the car for 6 weeks now but technically I've only been driving it for 1.
There are a few issues, all minor, some which relate to the model in general and some which relate to my car in particular.
These are only my personal opinions and some guys might see me as being picky especially considering that the car is a company car and will be changed in three years anyway but here goes.

Standard equipment.


Compared to my Passat saloon, I have gained climate control but I have lost cruise control and all round parking sensors. I think this is penny pinching by VAG of the highest standard. They know that these are desirable features in a car such as this and are hoping that people like myself will fork out to have these fitted as an optional extra or retrofitted.
Other minor points are the headlights and tail lights. It is clearly obvious that the CC has had bespoke items designed for it and dont get me wrong, they are nice, but why drop the projector lamps in the front and the LEDs in the rear?
The door pockets are a bit useless but I guess that comes as a price of having lovely coupe style doors. Speaking of which, I don't like the way that all the windows pop down when you pull the key from the ignition. I think there is an option to disable this but so far I have only got it dropping the driver door window when unlocked from outside. I'll need to check again though.


Build Quality


On the whole this is not bad. The CC is tightly screwed together as was the Saloon. I have the material seats. The two tone effect is nice but the darker trim around the edges of the seats is a little fragile. I have already damaged one of my rear seats with an Isofix child seat. :zx11: I'm hoping that a dents-away guy will be able to invisibly mend it but I don't think that the seats will wear well at all. time will tell.
I also have an issue with the clutch. It feels a bit 'grabby' on the way up past biting point. When the car goes in to have the Cruise and parking fitted I'll get them to check it out but I feel it will be one of those 'Driver only' type faults and they will not find anything wrong with it.
My boot lid seems too springy. It pops up very quickly but is too light and overly damped which means that in order to close it you end up really banging it down or closing it with too little effort that it doesn't catch.
The GT trim could have done with black headlining. Some reviews state that the lower roofline can make it feel closed in and that the cream offsets this but I'd like to feel closed in.


ICE


Failrly minor point but the 'Mix' function doesn't seem to be very random at all. In fact, it could be described as sequential. :DApparently there is a firmware update available for this and I'm getting it seen to when it goes in.
In the setup menu, there is an option for Bluetooth Audio but when enabled nothing seems to happen. Now the Americans are having bluetooth fitted as standard to all their VAG cars. In vanilla form it is very basic, you have to control the phone through the phone :confused:. But it does allow you to receive calls through the stereo system. Now the americans have found that with some VAG.COM coding, you can enable full functionality including touch screen dialling and texts in the DIS etc.Eh, Hello VAG? Miss out GB on that little gem? Standard bluetooth handsfree for the yanks, and we were supposed to be neighbours in Europe.:D I have bought the so called 'Skoda' kit which is available to VAGs in Eastern Europe through eBay and am in the middle of fitting that just now (managed to break a few things.:o). Again, this is an expensive optional extra which VAg want the buyer to add and the retrofit options are not very good either.


So there you go, feel free to add your thoughts or flame me. As I said, I'm still a huge fan of the car and these are just my personal opinions and after all, we don't live in a perfect world.:D

:beerchug:

Shadow CC
29-10-2009, 10:48 AM
Crikey that is picky. You should see the Saab forum I have just left if you want to understand the meaning of the word "critical" !

So here's my take on the "Good, the bad and the ugly" of the CC having had it for a week.

The Bad:

- Radio interference when heated rear window is on. ok it's only for a minute
- Separate heated rear screen and heated mirror controls. Do windows ever steam up independently? Why not go the whole hog and have sep heating for left and right mirrors. Dont tell me it has.
- The whole parking brake/autohold pantomime. Is it holding or not and when it does I've stalled a couple of times having not applied enough umph to push through it. I'll get the hang of it, but was the handbrake concept really so wrong?
- The steering is a little too light at speed. Cough and you change lanes. I sneezed once and left the motorway a junction early. Wonder if it's the Dunlop Sportmax tyres on the front?
- Dancing pop up windows as they constantly try and guess whether you are about to open/close the door and adjust up/down accordingly. mmm.


The Good

Balanced with these eccentricities rather than bad points are
- sublime handling,
- superb driving position,
- smooth and silent diesel,
- light gearbox,
- Amazing stereo (love the SD card - never need cd's or ipod again)
- easy 55 mpg. Could probably improve on this.
- Great standard lights esp corner lights. Makes you want to go round corners!
- Everything seems well screwed together and solid. Heard a squeak yesterday. Turned out to be my sunglasses.

The Ugly:

Only kidding. No one except diesel heads can believe it's just a VW Passat. :D

Shadow CC

eob
29-10-2009, 10:55 AM
Persevere with the electronic handbrake/auto hold combo. I peobably learned to use it in the saloon so have not had to adjust. The thing to remember is to ensure that you depress the clutch fully when engaging gear to pull away.

Welcome to the section BTW. What do you have?

You have Dunlops on yours? I have the Continental Conti-Seal beasties and the grip on them has been fantastic even in the wet.

gamichea
29-10-2009, 11:22 AM
Persevere with the electronic handbrake/auto hold combo. I peobably learned to use it in the saloon so have not had to adjust. The thing to remember is to ensure that you depress the clutch fully when engaging gear to pull away.

Welcome to the section BTW. What do you have?

You have Dunlops on yours? I have the Continental Conti-Seal beasties and the grip on them has been fantastic even in the wet.

Having covered 46k in a saloon I would miss the electronic parking brake. As EOB says its absolutely key to depress the clutch fully on take off. Its a minor pain that the seat belt needs to fastened and door closed when you only want to manoeuvre a bit but otherwise no gripes here. I'm looking forward to having Autohold as well when my CC arrives. As you're new to it all why not turn off Autohold until you're comfortable with the parking brake then turn it back on?

Dunlops eh? More cost cutting methinks. When the CC was launched there was much trumpeting about the Contiseals being the standard fit. On Blackcircles Contiseals are £50-60 a corner more expensive than their non-Contiseal brethren SportContact 3s. About £210 each for the 18s the GT uses :eek:.

Shadow CC
29-10-2009, 11:42 AM
thanks for the suggestions on the brakes. I'll try it out and am sure it will all be excellent once i'm used to it, but as for the wife...... :1zhelp:

As for the tyres I have Dunlops on the front and contis sport 3 (not the seal ones) on the back. I got it a year old with 10k on it, so can't quite fathom how the previous owner (Avis) got through 4x contiseals in 10k, ah but then again maybe I can fathom it and just don't want to think about it . Thinking positively it could be linked with the tracking being out when I got it (on all 4 wheels) leading to faster tyre wear but everything else is fine.

Shadow CC

Vanilla CC with 140 diesel manual in er um blue. No extras except Cruise and large cheesy grin. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D.