xr4

[Tim]

The colt is a hiddeous beast! I think the pogo has the best compromise between performance/handling/styling in that segment. If the budget stretched id be in a renault clio though. Those things are a hoot!

[RhysQ]

I forsee this thread soaring to great heights

However it will not beat a Polo with a CAD18T engine I have been told

that is true steve, and the moment we all realise that the better off we'll all be . on that note, back to the XR4 before the thread gets closed!

[VW GTI]

I forsee this thread soaring to great heights

However it will not beat a Polo with a CAD18T engine I have been told

Wow, can't think of a new joke?

[RhysQ]

Wow, can't think of a new joke?

have you ever noticed successful comedians always bring up parts of earlier jokes and incorporate them into new material, works for them!

[VW GTI]

have you ever noticed successful comedians always bring up parts of earlier jokes and incorporate them into new material, works for them!

missing something...

[RhysQ]

missing something...

this thread is the new material....comparing cars. the joke was relevant.

enough explaining, no doubt these OT posts will get deleted any way.

[Golf Houso]

Can't wait for the next intelligent post from the "Polo Gang", come on guys, "Roll up, Roll up" ... come out and play with Uncle Rob!

It won't happen, because we only discuss things with contributing members and this unfortuntately does not include you.

Remember its just a car at the end of the day...

[polo_spec_d]

Well put Golf Houso

[Kiel_GTI]

just took the xr for a spin...retract my previous statement...its VERY close to the GTI.

[Blitzen]

I think Rob there has a half decent point(albeit very one sided). Along with the Astra SRI Turbo, Polo GTI, Suzuki Swift Sport, Ralliart Colt and I took a XR4 for a couple of test drives when they first came out (I was very disappointed the that in Wheels in 2006 who stated that the XR4 were comming out as a 2L turbo, and then rocking up at Sinclair Ford and finding it was NA...Say good bye to relativity cheap tunability), and right up to the day that I put a holding deposit on my Polo GTI.

Don't get me wrong, the thing handles a treat, and I think the exterior looks great, but the interior feels tiny (even in this small car), but and looks very cheap I do love the wheels though.

I settled on the Polo GTI because of the engine. It is proven, and very tunable for on the cheap (110kw to 153kw in one hit, have to love that). I love the interior, and it feels much bigger than it is. The handling is great, even though it isn't as good as the XR4(but a rear sway bar and lower springs fixed this for about $600). One of the major factors for me was getting a full size mag wheel as a spare. The Swift had none, and both the Colt and XR4 come with Space Savers. I know this sounds trivial, but at least twice a year, I travel more than 5,000km return over 3 to 4 days though the desert with hundreds of kilometers between services and no mobile coverage, so this was a major factor.

I really think that the Polo GTI is the complete package...Although it is more expensive than the competition, it has better and proven tunability from at least 5 tuners, a proven engine, and great interior, and I like the looks over the XR4(but I do love the looks of the Swift Sport...Too bad it is 4 door only, and a tiny engine...It really is alot of fun to drive).

[The_Hawk]

Rob is offline
Rob is Banned

"Oh well ... that was short lived"

You ladies are no fun at all, .... guess I'll head back over to the Mitsi forums ... now those guys are "great fun!"

See ya

See, if he had of put forward a valid arguement we could of had intelligent debate, sadly it looks like that just won't be the case...

[Golf Houso]

See, if he had of put forward a valid arguement we could of had intelligent debate, sadly it looks like that just won't be the case...

Excellent to see the VWW admins doing their job so well and so diligently And is it so much to ask for an actual contribution instead of just a flame?

[MR-GTI]

As you all know I have a Polo GTI which has been with me for over two years. It was originally stressed upon to me by my brother, who said it was pretty much the best hatch to get a few years back (XR4 was not confirmed for Australia, Rcolt was just released, Swift Sport i think wasnt out yet). Anyways my brother bought himself a XR4 1 year ago, and though ive only driven it a few times in the early stages 5kms - 100kms, I must say the handling is superb and has lots of poke. Engine sounds raw along with exhaust note (polo's is a little louder and rumbles). It sticks to the road like S**t to a blanket. Doesnt look too bad either. It is pretty much the only competitor to the Polo in terms of performance and handling. Rcolt is a bus with two chairs tho has 113kws, Swift sport looks like a Gerbel and is underpowered.

Anyways, the Polo does have a few things over the XR4. Most prominent is the tunability which is the main selling point. Engine is trusted and well known in the industry. The interior is alot better if the leather option is ticked, along with a bigger more usefull cabin. Polo's seats are more bolstered. The XR4 was developed by Team RS which is the Rally Development Team for Ford Europe. They really know there stuff. The thing that puts it down is its NA. But people have acheived in excess of 220+ BHP which will pretty much rape its bigger brother XR5T. Also Cosworth have done extensive research on the engine. Im sure you know what Cosworth means.....

The XR4 looks more aggressive and raw where as the Polo is more towards the easy going all round package. "Off the shelf and proven". XR4 is aimed at the under 25's who cant drive a turbo because of licence restrictions. But my brother has told me of even people over 40yo purchasing them and modding them hard.

All im saying is both cars have there strong and weak points. I got the polo because it suits my needs. My brother got the XR4 becasue it suits him. Its all up to personal preference. No one is any better than the other.

XR4 will outhandle a Polo GTI, but in a straight line Polo will put up a fight and win.

[Pumpe-Düse]

its slow to 100kmph because it only has 110kw and 190nm
no way that beats a VTSS (180kw/400nm) above 2nd gear (100+kmph)

Its slow to 100km/h because it has torque flags (restricting power & torque) in first and 2nd gear. 2nd at the 7100rpm limiter is 101km/h. As I have explained over and over and over. When you drive it you can feel third pull harder then 2nd and you can really feel where at 5500rpm 2nd really starts to die off and is totally gone by 6200rpm, third pulls all the way to 7100rpm without letting up.

From a third gear roll an XR4 will easily put a 5.0 SS Commodore behind it.

A Polo GTI has 110kW/220Nm @ 1190kg. The XR4 has 110kW/190Nm @ 1090kg. So if the XR4 is slow, then everyone arguing it has to admit the Polo GTI is slow, its power/weight and top end are worse. It would lose to an XR4 with deleted torque flags.

[Pumpe-Düse]

The Ford XR4 is rubbish!

If a car company is going to spend money on something that handles well, make sure it has enough power to make the handling abilities actually useful. Also, it features a cheaply made interior that is but ugly and a bodykit/styling that makes you want ambulance tint so noone will see you driving it.

I took one for a test drive and was utterly disappointed, i cut my test drive short as i couldn't stand it any longer. It was so laggy off the line and out of corners...not to mention i felt so gay i was actually feeling around inside my girlfriends handbag for some lip gloss.

For $24,990 it is a complete rip off. If i wanted something that looked good and handled extremely well, i would have stayed in my Peugeot 206 GTi for half the price, which happened to be quicker!

These days you can get a 206 GTi 180 (130kW) for similar sort of money to the Ford XR4 and the interior and styling is far superior, and it will rip it to shreds on a track.

That's interesting, because the Fiesta XR4's performance is roughly the same as the Polo GTI.

http://www.fastestlaps.com/index.php?page_id=compare&car1=45ca36454a6a9&car2=45ca36f57b0d7

And so my point about the XR4 having superior top end is proven. Look at the acceleration figures. 0-100km/h in 8.4 XR4, 7.7 Polo GTI. 1/4 mile in 15.6 for both (so the XR4 has evened out). 0-160km/h in 19.9 XR4, 20.1 Polo GTI (at this point the GTI is losing). And the XR4 will continue to pull on the GTI in the top end until it hits its ultra-tightly geared 206km/h top speed. They're almost dead-even on Hockenheim Short and on Balocco the GTI cops 3 seconds.

But hey you know, the XR4's slow.

And why do people always come up with the silly comparison of a more expensive second hand car against a low-end priced brand new one? If you want to argue that, a 236kW BMW M3 E36 3.2 ($24-$26k) is a better buy then any of these cars because it can out-drag a 300kW HSV and out-corner most cars on the road. Except its 10 years old and will have 100,000km... but it doesn't matter because its faster, right?

http://www.fastestlaps.com/index.php?page_id=compare&car1=45ca36454a6a9&car2=45d0271ac4900

All things considered, the 206 GTi180 isn't that much better. Losing on one track in fact. Not that impressive for something with 20kW more power, 12Nm more torque and no torque-flags.

I'm amazed at the level of negative commenting going on against the XR4 with the extreme lack of knowledge/information about the car.

The 2.0 Duratec in it is probably one of the best naturally aspirated four-cylinder motors there is (along with its stroked brother in the Mondeo and SP23, the 2.3 Duratec, which Cosworth have making over 300bhp N/A). To unlock 20kW from the XR4 you need to do two really basic mods that actually cost less then an APR for a Polo GTI. Put on an aftermarket intake and get rid of the flex-pipe in the exhaust. Bang, 130kW. The engine is deliberately hampered to only 147bhp (150ps) for insurance reasons (mostly in the UK), so that the target market can actually insure (therefore buy) the car. Things like the 130kW 206 GTi180 and 131kW Clio 182 were in Insurance Group 16 in the UK, which also contains some Aston Martin's and Ferrari's. The 150ps Polo GTI and Fiesta XR4 are both in insurance group 13.

Anyway, I'm surprised to see so many people put the XR4 down without knowing much at all about it, and constantly ignoring fact to continually try to put it down. I put it to a chipped Polo GTI driver to try to get away from an XR4 with intake/exhaust/ecu (torque flag delete included) on any remotely twisty road. Hell, a 150kW 1190kg car is going to struggle to stay ahead of a 140kW 1090kg car in a straight line, let alone when you get into the corners with the glaringly obvious handling disparity.