Moving up from a Starlet GT turbo...

[Mark]

Hi everyone,

I've graduated from a Starlet Turbo after 6 years of ownership, and am looking toward a Polo GTI and ultimately Golf GTI.

Currently have a Mazda SP20, but despite only having it for a few months, am already bored of it

I'm doing my PhD in road safety research (specifically hazard perception), and lecture a bit to pay the bills.

Look forward to involving myself in the forum and possibly meeting some members in the near future.

Mark

[Buller_Scott]

jump on board! how was the starlet turbo? they're pretty rare in melbourne. i've got a little respect for them from when i lived in japan. what kinda figures?

[AusScare]

hey Mark, pics of your starlet?

I went on a Starlet cruise last year, was really good, my mate Daniel owns one, you might've seen it before?

[Mark]

[QUOTE=AusScare;410288]hey Mark, pics of your starlet?

I went on a Starlet cruise last year, was really good, my mate Daniel owns one, you might've seen it before?

[QUOTE]

I wasn't much into the cruising side of things and don't recognise the car, even though I'm a long term member of the AuStarletClub forums...

Don't have any pics of the car, but it is an EP82 import turbo in the dark grey/green colour. Lowered etc... A good car, but ultimately it is a shopping trolley chassis that can't be made to handle well without a great deal of compromise in terms of ride quality. For example, a stock Renault Clio Sport would do faster laps and be more enjoyable to drive than a modded starlet... I'm hoping (and have read that) the Polo GTI has a good chassis that will respond to a few choice handling mods to become a great all rounder. Yet to have a drive of one, but am aiming to ASAP.

[GoLfMan]

welcome matey

interesting degree your doing. Do you cover anything on stupid speed restrictions on massive open highways???

enjoy it here, dont be afraid to use the search functions for any questions you have, no doubt they have all been answered previously

good luck with your search for a car

[Mark]

welcome matey

interesting degree your doing. Do you cover anything on stupid speed restrictions on massive open highways???

No, but I've driven on the German Autobahn with open speed limits and don't necessarily think that is the way to go... Picture this: in a diesel rental trying to accelerate from 60kph to 150kph on the shortish on-ramp to merge with the other traffic travelling at above 150kph... To say it was hairy would truly convey the fear experienced

[gerhard]

No, but I've driven on the German Autobahn with open speed limits and don't necessarily think that is the way to go... Picture this: in a diesel rental trying to accelerate from 60kph to 150kph on the shortish on-ramp to merge with the other traffic travelling at above 150kph... To say it was hairy would truly convey the fear experienced

Hmmm. The Germans are masters of their roads and speed limits.

You're a student but you don't agree with them. Lucky you're in Australia - in Germany you'd fail Here you'll surely pass as long as you toe the "speed kills" line.

I can't believe they travel at over 150 in the right hand (merging) lane, to make it hard for a slow car to build up speed. Their driving tests are more advanced than that.

[Mark]

Hmmm. The Germans are masters of their roads and speed limits.

You're a student but you don't agree with them. Lucky you're in Australia - in Germany you'd fail Here you'll surely pass as long as you toe the "speed kills" line.

I can't believe they travel at over 150 in the right hand (merging) lane, to make it hard for a slow car to build up speed. Their driving tests are more advanced than that.

Well, I'm just speaking from experience here... The slowest vehicles in the merging lane are trucks, they travel close to 100. As a result, you are always having to overtake them, and when you want to do that you have to make sure that there isn't somebody flying up in the left lane at almost double that speed as you might have slowed behind the truck and have to pull out and pass very quickly to get out of the fast lane. In a slow car that isn't very fun.

I found it much easier to travel in the fast lane all the time at near Vmax for the car (~170kph). Then you only have to worry about cars coming up behind you on occasion and sitting on your bumper at that speed (no exaggeration) waiting for you to get out of the way.

And yes, despite being very disciplined drivers they are also very intolerant of slow traffic and tend to travel very closely behind you at high speed, and will tailgate you if they want you out of the way.

One notable example of the merging problem was when a German friend was driving in the right lane at 140kph and as we approached an on-ramp with 2 cars on it she didn't move over to let them in. As we neared them they had to slow right down in an almost panicked stop as she effectively blocked their merge. That was scary as I didn't know whether they were going to be able to stop in the on-ramp because they had been trying to build up speed to merge on...

I spent a good few days on autobahns including a 20 min traffic jam that was crawling along at 5kph, then when you got to the end of it there were no cars in front as they had floored it out of there. And, there seemed to be no reason for the jam either...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'student' and 'fail'? I don't tow any line, just commenting from my experience from actually having driven on these autobahns and having flogged a diesel rental to around 180kph completely legally It simply couldn't go any faster...

[madglf3]

Welcome Mark, good to see you're doing some research into stuff like that. Even better to see that you have very good logic to back up what you say. Enjoy your stay mate.

[MattyT]

Welcome to the forum

As a bunch of car enthusiats I'd say we're all a bit touchy about speed limits and the general dumbing down of roads these days. Most of the blame appears to be (rightly or otherwise) pointed at those who champion "road safety".

Still, there is a line between being killed and having fun. Just have to find it

In other news, why go from a Polo GTI to a Golf GTI? Why not just leapfrog the Polo?

[Buller_Scott]

mate, you werent driving the right diesels if you were struggling onto onramps....

i know i know... diesels will always and forever be slow..... an argument which is best supported by the EU audi-peugeot tdi wins at le mans last year, i believe?

[C.T_07]

Welcome to VWW

[Mark]

Welcome to the forum

As a bunch of car enthusiats I'd say we're all a bit touchy about speed limits and the general dumbing down of roads these days. Most of the blame appears to be (rightly or otherwise) pointed at those who champion "road safety".

Still, there is a line between being killed and having fun. Just have to find it

In other news, why go from a Polo GTI to a Golf GTI? Why not just leapfrog the Polo?

I know, I am a car enthusiast also (obviously) so am aware that we would have a lot more fun on the roads if we could do what we want. You'd be surprised by how many more accidents there would be if that were the case though... There is a reason why some other countries that have poor road rule adherence and enforcement tend to have much higher numbers of people killed per rate of car ownership. The average joe is the majority, and the average joe doesn't neccessarily have the level of skill, judgement or care when given unlimited speeds...

Sick of talking about that though, I came here to find out about the cars!

You make a good point that I have thought of often: why bother with the polo... It really is a question of initial outlay vs mileage and condition.

To get a golf with 20,000km on it you are paying around $35k private. More if it has DSG. To get a polo with 20,000km on it you are paying $20k. That is a big difference. The other thing to consider though is how much each example will drop in price in the space of 5 years. So, do you lose more money (depreciation) buying a low km polo then selling it to get a low klm golf in 5 years, compared to buying a low km golf now and spending $15k more?

It is difficult to answer this question really, as I think that 2nd hand values for the Golf GTI V will drop with the release of the VI.