Golf R 3 door/5 door speculation/information thread

[WhiteJames]

Power in reserve is good for safety. Better slightly more power for overtaking than less. At the end of the day, it’s people that cause accidents, not motor vehicles. Having said that: There also comes a point where additional power requires upgrades to other aspects of the vehicle, such as – brakes, suspension, wheels, tyres and in extreme cases, chassis stiffening. Anything more than a 15% power & torque increase may be significant amount & necessitate an RTA engineer signatory to approve the hike in power output. Even NSW finest are ordering 5K Brembo brakes as standard equipment for the chaser Falcon XR6 Turbo as the optional in-between performance brakes Ford offer are not up to the job.

Ultimately, you’d be looking at having a good performing vehicle between 40kph – 140kph for local conditions. This is the conundrum between being a prospective owner of a GTI –v- R. The difference in performance between the GTI and Golf R in the 40-140kph bracket favouring the Golf R may not be as pronounced in the real world. 140kph – 240kph window belongs to the Golf R undoubtedly. These are issues that any prospective buyer has to be asking themselves when part with an additional 10K for the Golf R.

The track times quoted are not entirely useful as a guide for the street. Attacking a series of tight twisties on your tourist drive resembles something closer to a hill climb to tight race track. You only have one lane to play with, not three – four car berths for a wide entry & exit as the case on the race track.

Coming back to my neighbour's issue, he’s looking at the Audi A5 Coupe now – either 2.0l AWD or V6 TDI AWD – v – GTI or Golf R. Styling of the A5 Hatchback is a tad odd. The A5 Coupe styling is a work of art. The Audi dealer goes on about extra performance of the diesel A5. I’d be inclined to head for the marginally slower 2.0 litre with 100kg less weight under the bonnet for improved balance front to rear and greater agility. My neighbourly friend, being no stranger to modifying his rides more so than driving them, could look at a set of large aftermarket Brembo type brakes to fill the wheel centres just nicely and an ECU retune to bridge any power deficiency concerns he has, and possible suspension mods consummate with the power upgrade if not going with magnetic dampers.

Another point in regards to my lurking neighbour is that the wheel base on the Audi has been stretched in a similar fashion as a VE Commodore, to allow for better weight distribution by situating the motor further rearward in the chassis. This is great for balance front to rear, but a longer wheelbase is not necessarily sporty in feel. Ferrari & Porsche coupes are generally short in wheelbase & wide in track length, as is the case with the compact Volkswagen Golf – this will accentuate the feeling of sportiness for day to day driving, but at the expense of balance front to rear with most weight of the GTI being up front. Making a purchase decision can involve many more aspects than simply outright acceleration figures. In terms of quality, it’s becoming increasing difficult to separate Audi quality from Volkswagen quality, esp. to the tune of 40K premium that Audi is asking.

Speaking of Audi’s, interesting to note that the new Audi RS5 Coupe V8 has XDS at the front wheels in addition to AWD, with a trick torque sensor LSD diff in the rear. XDS at the front – LSD behind. For Audi A5 money, I’d be inclined to look for a base model Cayman/Boxster for a better feeling drive, rather than outright pace. Problem is this article below:

DCOTY 2009: Best performance car under $60,000

The Mark GTI with its revised suspension tune & electronic aids performed better than the Cayman on the slalom run. Only vehicle to better the GTI was the Nissan GTR (Godzilla). Which raises the point, why a Cayman or Audi A5 Audi when the Golf GTI does such an adequate job. Decisions, decisions.

Cheers.
WJ