Golf R 3 door/5 door speculation/information thread

[ddre78]

Below is a Dutch review with English subtitles available. Looks like the Golf R, like the R32, is quick to shift into top gear for the sake of economy. Also blunts the everyday driving experience around town, esp when looking to jump into that elusive shrinking gap in the neighbouring lane.

Every Golf ive ever driven has done this. Its not a problem at all with the speed of the downshifts. Even slight throttle or an incline will make it kickdown. It will also happily drop 3 gears with WOT. Not a reason not to buy the car in my opinion.

[G-rig]

Every Golf ive ever driven has done this. Its not a problem at all with the speed of the downshifts. Even slight throttle or an incline will make it kickdown. It will also happily drop 3 gears with WOT. Not a reason not to buy the car in my opinion.

Yeah and it would take a lot longer to shift down three gears in a manual.

My GTI is sitting at Port Kembla atm. Although I lament not driving the Golf R or being able to conduct a short back to back run re: Golf R -v- GTI. I'm still keen on the GTI for its attractive price, leaner weight, agility, XDS, DCC, economy, looks and fun factor. The Golf R should have better resale value & be easier to sell down the track. My neighbour who owns an MKV R32 is of the opinion that the Golf R is not a step far enough ahead over the MKV R32; He's looking at downgrading to a fully kitted (or thereabouts) GTI pending a test drive in the Golf R - Audi A5 Coupe (diesel & 2.0 TSI) - Golf GTI.

Not long now WJ .

I would have been nice to test drive the R as well, but I'd decided it was fairly pointless to sell an R32 to buy a Golf R as stock for stock not that much different or better.

Also think the GTI would be easier to sell, and the R32 resale was terrible as well and didn't want to spend the same or more again on a less unique car, so decided the GTI would be just as much fun most of the time, and better bang for buck. I don't track mine so wouldn't get the most out of a Golf R at legal speeds around town.

[Corey_R]

I disagree. .... It's also a common complaint I here all the time from my neighbour - 6th gear at ridiculously low speeds, so much so, he tends to use the paddles quite often in city traffic, keeping the R32 in 4th gear around 60kph, instead of 6th as 'Drive' does.

Ok, so now that you've finally put an actual quantifiable figure there, 60kph with 6th gear, then I can confirm that every GTI with DSG I've driven does this too. All 6sp DSG's are programmed to do this in D - for the sake of economy. It's generally 2nd @ 20km, 3 @ 30, 4 @ 40, 5 @ 50, 6 @ 60. There is no issue with this in the GTI, and the R will have more torque, so I can't see how it'll be an issue there either. Plus, put your foot down and engage the kickdown and it'll change from 6th to 3rd pretty damn quickly.

[Guest1306]

112 pages of going around in circles

[sabloke]

Bugger this, I gave up waiting for the R. Changed my mind a few days ago and decided to go for a classic FWD hot hatch kit instead. Test driving a Clio Rs 200 Cup later this week. Chances are, I'll be terminally hooked then...
I'm sure the R is a fantastic and fast machine and that you guys buying it will be over the moon with it. However, I'm not convinced it would be as agile on the Adelaide Hills twisties as the little Frenchie

[Tim]

Bugger this, I gave up waiting for the R. Changed my mind a few days ago and decided to go for a classic FWD hot hatch kit instead. Test driving a Clio Rs 200 Cup later this week. Chances are, I'll be terminally hooked then...
I'm sure the R is a fantastic and fast machine and that you guys buying it will be over the moon with it. However, I'm not convinced it would be as agile on the Adelaide Hills twisties as the little Frenchie

If youre after a real drivers car im sure you cant go too far wrong there.

[Corey_R]

Except for it being French....

[WhiteJames]

At carpark speeds: The GTI sits in 2nd gear when the R32 is in 4th gear - one of the first things I noticed on the R32.

I'm simply drawing attention to the fact that others are observing the same tendencies in the R32/Golf R gearshifts and I have.

I've conducted reviews at carpark speeds, between speed humps in a carpark, the R32 has shifted to 4th gear at ridiculously low speed (20-30kph), whereas as the GTI would be in 2nd. The vehicles were driven around the carpark over speed humps with the pupose of reviewing the suspension set-up. The difference in DSG change-up was an inadvertent finding. See reviews in the link below. You will find plenty of R32 Golfs being driven by me that is consistent with what journos are saying.

WHITE JAMES: Suspension & Wheel Reviews - VW GTI Forum / VW Rabbit Forum / VW R32 Forum / VW Golf Forum - Golfmkv.com

Not many owners of a 65K R32 are prepared to hand over their pride & joy so as WJ can give his opinion re vehicle setup. When was the last time any member on here conducted several back to back drive reviews of the GTI -v- R32? The opinions I give are based on all the reviews I've conducted.
Data is hitting the net and the difference between the R32 and Golf R may not be as pronounced as first thought.

This post shows some hard data of times between R32 and Golf R: VW Driver Performance Comparison: Mk 6 R vs Mk 5 R32

Cheers.
WJ

[Tim]

Except for it being French....

haha you cant play the reliability card when comparing them to VWs.
The rs clio is a solid fun package however you look at it.

[G-rig]

Im sure the new Megane 250RS would feel like a better sports car, would be a lot of fun and same goes for the other ones. However the Golf R would be a great all rounder, but so is the GTI.

[Corey_R]

This post shows some hard data of times between R32 and Golf R: VW Driver Performance Comparison: Mk 6 R vs Mk 5 R32

Well at least that this shows that people are in fact able to meet and EXCEED VW's claimed acceleration times on the Golf R. That contradicts all your other stuff about the R being slow to accelerate.

[elisiX]

lol how can anyone think the R is slow. jeez.

Not even the GTI is slow.

Hell.. the Mazda SP23 i've been driving for 2.5 years isn't 'slow'.

[nau]

lol how can anyone think the R is slow. jeez.

Not even the GTI is slow.

dont think he means slow, more like feels slow
I have to say GTI feels slower then my old golf4 .... until you look at the speedo lol
I guess its all the noise isolation

[sabloke]

haha you cant play the reliability card when comparing them to VWs.
The rs clio is a solid fun package however you look at it.

That's exactly right. Apparently quality improved since Renault got some Nissan genes in the mix. On the other hand, VW's quality levels seem to go down for some reason. Perhaps they're trying to become the new Toyota and rule the auto world, dunno... I've got friends in Europe that are not impressed at all with their efforts in the last 5-7 years.
There's one more thing: Renault's warranty covers track days as well! Try telling your VAG dealer you broke something on your GTI or R last Sunday at Mallala, see what happens

[WhiteJames]

Many of the articles posted on this thread conflict to a degree; esp. for weights, times and the need for DCC or 19 wheels, etc.

Acceleration times for all vehicles – Golf R, R32 and GTI – are faster than the norm on that schedule. Further down the r_form.co.uk post someone indicates that the GTI clocked 6.3 secs to 60mph.

More to the point: check out the in gear ‘rolling’ response times. The Golf R starts off 0.4 secs faster than the R32, probably because the turbo is spooled up to a higher degree in the lower gear. The R32 bridges this gap to between zero to 0.2 secs slower in the higher gears with its V6 responsiveness. This echoes what I have been saying in terms of real life performance R32 –v- Golf R. . Turbo lag of the Golf R sees it slip further behind, esp. in the higher gear ratios.

My neighbour has made some enquiries with Pickles Prestige Auctions re: Sale of R32. They say if he sells soon and before his R32 reaches 30,000km, he should expect $42,000 or more for the R32 as they have been fetching good money. The R32 and Golf R are more exclusive, this is a good selling point over the myriad of GTI on the second hand market.

Cheers.
WJ