What did you do to your Polo today?

[BLAKROC]

Nice buy! I was considering one of them, but then settled on the Roc R .. still another 4-5 months of GTI ownership for me!

Had the 90k service done yesterday at Golfwagen in Wangara, nice job and price.. The guy who did the service was saying he used to work for Volkspower and been involved in a couple of mk 5 race cars. Nice to know the car was in his hands as opposed to the usual dealership rookies.

Been told my suspension bushes and gearbox/engine mounts are soft and could do with upgrading to whiteline/superpro bushes, might have to invest and tighten things up!

[gjuu]

NICE - I've been tempted on numerous occasions. Love the clio too, would be a tough decision between the two of them. Great that renault are now making cars that look good AND go like a cut snake.

Yeah I had done a bit of web research for cars in my price range and as the Renault dealer was right next door to the VW dealer i thought i would go and take a look.

Photos do not do justice to how sexy the RS250 is in the flesh - has to be seen to be appreciated - especially in yellow

So i took one for a couple of test drives - one drive was early saturday morning followed by a test drive of a DSG Golf GTI straight afterwards for a direct comparrison....

Thoughts after driving both on various roads with loose surfaces, potholes, ultra smooth fast swooping corners, and in traffic.

**My thoughts only - just a few musing on the cars - no need to start a war**

RS250:
- a very involving drive - did not want to stop driving it - even just tooling around the streets in traffic it is a blast
- handling was fantastic - you could feel the weight of the car but it made it seem very planted and not the least bit sluggish in the corners - unbelievable ability to turn into corners
- rear visibility - well lets just say you change lanes by feel..... actually not too bad now i have gotten used to knowing where to look when glancing over shoulder - but still really bad
- ride is firm - but even on townsville's crap roads it is easily liveable.... not so sure how the Trophee version with 19" wheels and recaro seats would go
- Induction roar from inside the car at full throttle - damn!!!!
- And of course the looks - in a town full of Commodores and Falcons it certainly looks a bit different

Golf GTI:
- Totally addicted to the DSG shift when giving it a boot full - not so much on the change down into a corner
- Smoother and quieter than RS250 on crappy roads
- Seems lighter and not so planted in the faster corners
- Steering felt a bit remote - and with the paddles my thoughts were it was like a video game. But as i commented at the time it felt like anyone could drive the car reasonably fast.
- four door practicallity and visibility

What made me decide on the RS250?
- the drive - very much a car to drive not just to get from "a" to "b" in. Not as small and agile as the Polo, but like the polo it sucks you into driving it and you can't stop smiling whilst you are.
- the looks - damn sexy car


again....

**My thoughts only - just a few musing on the cars - no need to start a war**

in the driveway yesterday....

[seangti]

It did prompt to have a look at Clio's y'day A mate had an older clio sport, around town it didn't have anything on the polo (IMO), felt ordinary, but on the track and comparing it to my near stock polo at the time, chalk and cheese, enjoyment factor was off the charts. The added weight of every input worked. And now they are building cars of much better quality. It'll frighten some the townsville folk, enjoy.

[leitch]

^^

I find, driving the Clio and the Polo back to back, which have very similar peak power figures of around 200Hp, that as you said the Clio has nothing on the Polo for around town fun. The sheer torque:weight of the Polo with a tune just tears the 220Nm of the Clio to pieces.

That said, take them to a mountain run or a track where you can keep the Clio above 6k RPM and it becomes a whole different beast. The thing just screams. Nice wide track, handles beautifully, every input is translated into motion immediately, 3-wheeling tight corners - the Clio is amazing when really driven, and then a sedate day-to-day hatch the rest of the time.

[kaanage]

Changed my torque arm back to the one with the stock rubber bush (from the one with the APR bush)
"Just listen to that serenity!"

[GoLfMan]

Changed my torque arm back to the one with the stock rubber bush (from the one with the APR bush)
"Just listen to that serenity!"

you are getting soft in your old age!!!

[bfeboi]

while everyone at work started on the Xmas BBQ. i decided to replace the timing belt in the POG


stripping it down


I figured i'll replace everything even though there was nothing wrong with tensioner, damper and w/pump


All on and back together and running in a little over 2 hours. In time for a nice icey cold xmas beer

[Spec83]

Looks like a big job... I don't know they the f*&k manufacturers make it so difficult to replace serviceable items??

[bfeboi]

I've replaced enough timing belts on s3, tt and a4 to know what im doing. the only difficult part was removing the engine mount backet, other than that its pretty straight forward

[fuzion]

I've replaced enough timing belts on s3, tt and a4 to know what im doing. the only difficult part was removing the engine mount backet, other than that its pretty straight forward

fun fun fun! not due yet! not looking forward to do the either of the cars.