Diesel really is for the win!!

[polo_spec_d]

haha thanks man, yeah lovin the diesel fun!!

[Greg Roles]

Awesome story, great to hear. Nice when a "weezy diesel" can hand it to other supposedly sportier cars. Nice work!

Doesn't suprise me really, as I've yet to have my butt handed to me in the Golf, it has upset a lot of cars I figured would own me.

Keep us informed of your progesss in the lil oiler : )

[polo_spec_d]

Will do, yeah car has gone in for 2weeks of servicing and upgrades while im up in sunny exmouth, will be like a new car when i get back

[Pumpe-Düse]

Sounds like you had a top day.

I've got to ask though; Golfman, how can you find the stock Polo TDI 1.9 suspension to be on the firm side? It has to be one of the most softly sprung cars on the road today. Its so soft that it reacts badly to bumps on the road, not like driving a Golf V Comfortline which sort of cuts out the bump and that's it... the Polo bobs up and down and sways around and gets really unsettled. There's a "dip," near my house that if you go 60km/h (the speed limit) over, the car "rises," on the suspensions and then crashes onto the bump-stops and then rises up again and then sways down. My old Sport Clio didn't feel that there was a dip there.

For anyone who's driven McCarr's Creek Road in Sydney (going to Church Point), there's this set of 25km/h corners one after the other, specifically heading towards Terrey Hills (west?), 25km/h left hander leading into 25km/h right hander. The old Clio took that at ~100 without faltering, the Polo at 70km/h took the left hander fine, but was unable to "recover," in time for the quick direction change for the right hander, so while still not out of its body-roll, started to understeer towards the wall. That wasn't fun, but ABS and EBD saved the day.

Sorry for going a bit off-topic...

[GoLfMan]

my one crashes over bumps and seems not to have much body roll around corners. Its pretty compliant but definately not undersprung like your one sounds.

I havent had the experience of bobbing in normal driving, only over speed humps.

[Oneofthegreats]

I've got to ask though; Golfman, how can you find the stock Polo TDI 1.9 suspension to be on the firm side? It has to be one of the most softly sprung cars on the road today. Its so soft that it reacts badly to bumps on the road, not like driving a Golf V Comfortline which sort of cuts out the bump and that's it... the Polo bobs up and down and sways around and gets really unsettled.

This is true.

I've driven a few of them now & I'm not a fan of the ride. It is soft & floaty

But VW have never got a perfect match with there spring's & damper rates.


Back on topic,

I'd be interested to know how the hottuning fixed damper's go.

IMHO, if you plan on track daying it a fair bit, I'd definately go with something that gives you some more adjustability other than ride height.

[bluey]

I can't easily describe my Polo as softly sprung or floaty to drive. I agree with Golfman. For what its worth, the data sticker says:

HA9 tires 195/55 R 15 85V
G28 front shock absorption
0AQ front stabilizer
1JP rear shock absorption
L18 suspension range 18

Perhaps someone can report on the data sticker decoding of the MY08 Polo to see what's different if anything - certainly rims/tyres are.

I am presently running 34psi front, 30psi rear. Tyre pressures do make a noticeable difference to ride/handling.

I've always found it amusing/sad that a lot of people who buy "fast" cars never drive them at anywhere near their potential. Had fun driving a rental Audi A3 1.8T DSG in Adelaide dragging against a local in a BMW 335i (3.5 twin turbo) a couple of times - obviously the BMW won but not by a lot - perhaps a car length and a bit by 80km/h.

[Pumpe-Düse]

BMW 335i (3.5 twin turbo)

Just a quick correction, the 335i is a 3.0 Twin Turbo. The 5 is in the name to indicate its the TT version of the 330i. Don't ask me how that works... lol

[gregozedobe]

I think it is a left over from when BMW only had one version of each motor and they stated the engine capacity (in litres) to allow people to show whether they had the larger (and more powerful and more expensive) engine. Now they also seem use it to distinguish between less and more powerful engines of the same capacity.

I think the 3 litre in-line petrol six currently comes in 3 different versions, each with their own "displacement" number. IIRC it goes something like this (but I might be wrong on the details, I've never really taken much notice as I'm unlikely to ever buy a new BMW):

Std (non-turbo) "x30" (230 hp, also badged as "328" in current 3 series ?)
Normal Turbo "x35" (300hp)
Hi-po turbo "x40" (just to be confused with their NA 4.0 litre V8 ?)

[geoff_gti]

Just got home after a morning on the track at ahg in perth. Well the day started off good as i "played" with this clio sport on the way there, turns out the clio was owned by one of the v8 drivers there. he was very impressed the way the polo TDi kept up with him through the round abouts. This was just the start of it. instructor sent us out 1 by 1, the other cars there were mr2 turbo, celica gt4, acouple of mx5s, stagea, m3, celica supra(1 of the old 1s) well when every1 was in the groove the instructor decided to start the stop watch, the polo was up there, and i mean up there, Number 1!!! NB: i have done other track days and etc so abit of experience but not alot. Ohh turns out the clio driver was racing bathurst last week 2 haha. almost fell over when i heard that. So yeah that was my morning, the bathurst guy reckons with sum new susp and chip that car will b hard to bet againest those other cars.

Matt, I know the guy you're talking about. Last time I saw him he was running semi slicks on his clio, wicked little car!! Top bloke too.

[polo_spec_d]

yeah he was hey