A while ago VW very graciously gave me a Golf R for a week after my Cupra 280 ate it's own engine and I did a rather lengthy post on a back-to-back comparison, clicky: http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=432400
Well the 280 SC DSG is going back at the end of the month and being replaced with a 300 ST DSG and as this is essentially a Golf R estate in drag I thought I'd do a similar brain dump.
First of all the timescales were a bit shorter this time around, about 30 minutes, so it won't be as verbose, however 95% of the comparison is the same as Golf R vs Cupra 280. I did this on a sunny clear day with a mix of twisty fast A-road, residential (for the speed bumps) and industrial areas (gotta love those fast roundabouts)
Spec of the cars:
280 SC FWD - Sub8 pack, DSG, ACC, 5" Nav, Bucket seats, Pano roof, SEAT sound and currently sat on Michelin PSS tyres at the front and PS3s at the rear.
300 ST AWD/4DRIVE - Standard brakes, DSG, ACC, High spec Nav, reversing camera, Bucket seats, standard roof, SEAT sound and was on Pirelli P Zero tyres (surprised me that one).
Driving/handling/comfort
I'll start with the obvious recycled statement from the Golf review, it takes off from the lights like a scalded cat, you can mash your foot down and get round the corner really fast with little thought or skill required, it is a very flattering car to drive fast, blah blah blah, however it isn't nearly as entertaining to drive as the FWD SC as once the thrill of the speed wears off you realise you are just a sack of meat along for the drive suggesting the general direction and speed to the car which does the hard work.
The first thing that struck me when performing a fast roundabout chicane is that there seems to be very little body roll from left to right or front to back in the ST whereas in the SC you can feel the weight being transferred as you accelerate, brake and turn. I put this down to a number of factors, the slight increase in length of the car, when you accelerate hard the Haldex diff pitches in thereby reducing the ferocity of the weight being transferred rearward, during hard cornering the diff in the SC quite aggressively puts power over to one wheel which I expect will lead to more weight being transferred to the opposite diagonal corner whereas the ST should be putting power to all 4 wheels and using the brakes to trim the line where appropriate.
Turn in wasn't as sharp as the SC and was a little lazier than the Golf R, length and weight will play some part in this but I'm guessing the diff in the SC is the main difference, that being said it was much less hassle to tweak the line mid corner in the ST; I'm interested to see what a slightly beefier rear ARB would do here!
Comfort wise, the shocks felt a little softer to me in all settings all though the rears felt slightly firmer in relation to the fronts, as it is an estate I guess the rear springs are stronger to cope with wardrobes and porky Labradors.
Acceleration when above 30-40mph didn't feel as fast as the SC and probably wasn't.
Exhaust sound externally seemed around the same level as the SC, although inside it seemed quieter, probably so you don't deafen any passengers while the SC and 5dr 300's probably sound a bit fruity.
The brakes were standard on the ST and felt softer than the Brembos on the SC and required a bit more pressure, some of this was probably down to the extra weight but guessing the majority was the size of the discs the the difference in caliper tech (sliding vs. floating); that being said they were still very effective.
Interior and nav
Major interior differences were the silver trim on the dash and steering wheel, DSG lever is a bit shorter and seems a little more offset, handbrake is now a button, cup holders have been rotated around 90 degrees and the white vinyl accents have been changed to carbon effect vinyl.
Regarding the interior the silver seems to brighten the interior a bit, can't say I care for the carbon effect vinyl as it looks cheap IMHO, other than that no real comments, it's still a lovely place to sit especially with the lovely bucket seats.
The navigation system looks much better and seems to have beefier hardware as it wasn't nearly as "ponderous" as the one in the SC. Display was nice and crisp however you have to tape the screen now to get the corner buttons up as the proximity sensor has gone.
In summary the ST with AWD didn't feel as visceral as the SC FWD car as there was none of sensation of weight transference when accelerating or cornering sharply and it required minimal skill to drive quickly, I suppose if I had to sum it up in a few words it would be "very competent but clinical".
Anyway, I'm taking the ex-demo I drove, I'm a pretty avid Scuba diver and the SC is a bit too restrictive (I have been in the boot twice now courtesy of 50kg+ worth of Twinset and the rather large loading lip), the Brembos on the Sub8 are pi**ing me off and as I am doing more miles in my new job I like knowing I have an AWD car when conditions are crap.
Well the 280 SC DSG is going back at the end of the month and being replaced with a 300 ST DSG and as this is essentially a Golf R estate in drag I thought I'd do a similar brain dump.
First of all the timescales were a bit shorter this time around, about 30 minutes, so it won't be as verbose, however 95% of the comparison is the same as Golf R vs Cupra 280. I did this on a sunny clear day with a mix of twisty fast A-road, residential (for the speed bumps) and industrial areas (gotta love those fast roundabouts)
Spec of the cars:
280 SC FWD - Sub8 pack, DSG, ACC, 5" Nav, Bucket seats, Pano roof, SEAT sound and currently sat on Michelin PSS tyres at the front and PS3s at the rear.
300 ST AWD/4DRIVE - Standard brakes, DSG, ACC, High spec Nav, reversing camera, Bucket seats, standard roof, SEAT sound and was on Pirelli P Zero tyres (surprised me that one).
Driving/handling/comfort
I'll start with the obvious recycled statement from the Golf review, it takes off from the lights like a scalded cat, you can mash your foot down and get round the corner really fast with little thought or skill required, it is a very flattering car to drive fast, blah blah blah, however it isn't nearly as entertaining to drive as the FWD SC as once the thrill of the speed wears off you realise you are just a sack of meat along for the drive suggesting the general direction and speed to the car which does the hard work.
The first thing that struck me when performing a fast roundabout chicane is that there seems to be very little body roll from left to right or front to back in the ST whereas in the SC you can feel the weight being transferred as you accelerate, brake and turn. I put this down to a number of factors, the slight increase in length of the car, when you accelerate hard the Haldex diff pitches in thereby reducing the ferocity of the weight being transferred rearward, during hard cornering the diff in the SC quite aggressively puts power over to one wheel which I expect will lead to more weight being transferred to the opposite diagonal corner whereas the ST should be putting power to all 4 wheels and using the brakes to trim the line where appropriate.
Turn in wasn't as sharp as the SC and was a little lazier than the Golf R, length and weight will play some part in this but I'm guessing the diff in the SC is the main difference, that being said it was much less hassle to tweak the line mid corner in the ST; I'm interested to see what a slightly beefier rear ARB would do here!
Comfort wise, the shocks felt a little softer to me in all settings all though the rears felt slightly firmer in relation to the fronts, as it is an estate I guess the rear springs are stronger to cope with wardrobes and porky Labradors.
Acceleration when above 30-40mph didn't feel as fast as the SC and probably wasn't.
Exhaust sound externally seemed around the same level as the SC, although inside it seemed quieter, probably so you don't deafen any passengers while the SC and 5dr 300's probably sound a bit fruity.
The brakes were standard on the ST and felt softer than the Brembos on the SC and required a bit more pressure, some of this was probably down to the extra weight but guessing the majority was the size of the discs the the difference in caliper tech (sliding vs. floating); that being said they were still very effective.
Interior and nav
Major interior differences were the silver trim on the dash and steering wheel, DSG lever is a bit shorter and seems a little more offset, handbrake is now a button, cup holders have been rotated around 90 degrees and the white vinyl accents have been changed to carbon effect vinyl.
Regarding the interior the silver seems to brighten the interior a bit, can't say I care for the carbon effect vinyl as it looks cheap IMHO, other than that no real comments, it's still a lovely place to sit especially with the lovely bucket seats.
The navigation system looks much better and seems to have beefier hardware as it wasn't nearly as "ponderous" as the one in the SC. Display was nice and crisp however you have to tape the screen now to get the corner buttons up as the proximity sensor has gone.
In summary the ST with AWD didn't feel as visceral as the SC FWD car as there was none of sensation of weight transference when accelerating or cornering sharply and it required minimal skill to drive quickly, I suppose if I had to sum it up in a few words it would be "very competent but clinical".
Anyway, I'm taking the ex-demo I drove, I'm a pretty avid Scuba diver and the SC is a bit too restrictive (I have been in the boot twice now courtesy of 50kg+ worth of Twinset and the rather large loading lip), the Brembos on the Sub8 are pi**ing me off and as I am doing more miles in my new job I like knowing I have an AWD car when conditions are crap.
Although that being said, I hadn't been able to persuade my wife out of her Quattro S3 because she did want to just stamp on the throttle and go when needed, without thinking, whatever the weather. After driving the 
