Fifth gear first drives... Volkswagen Polo GTI

[Wand Weaver]

Oh come on, any car at 30km/h in 3rd gear is going to be sluggish, you're in the wrong gear for a corner so why bother making the comparo.

It's not going to be quick - granted - but the torque on N/A cars doesn't arrive in one huge lump at 1900RPM, contributing to the sensation of lag. The point I was making is that turbocharged cars inherently do not have linear power delivery that N/A cars enjoy, which contributes to the sensation of turbo lag.

If you do the 30km/h in third thing in an N/A car, the pace will build up slowly, which generally suggests to the driver 'hey, the power's building up, but I started in the wrong gear'. Do it in the GTI and you get really slow progress until 1900RPM, and then all the torque arrives in one big lump, which gives the sensation of turbo lag.

You can basically always get around Turbo Lag, by furiously working at the gearbox. It's really a matter of how much work you want to do with the gear lever. The GTI is much better than most in that you get peak torque at 1900RPM and a flat torque curve. The GTI's a great car - hell I own one - but to deny it has a degree of turbo lag is a fallacy.

As for the Falcodores - I don't think the GTI is much slower, if at all - than a base Falcon XT or Commodore Omega. The Commodore may have a huge power advantage, but it's nudging 1800kg. I think it'd be pretty close, especially since some magazines have suggested the 0-100 time of the Polo is closer to 7.8 seconds than the 8.2 quoted by VW.

[NickZ]

Yea I think the person who reviewed the car and drove it like that expecting some punch is a twit.

The aussies family cars do have a lot more power than in other parts of the world. If anyone in a falcon tries to have a go they feel pretty chuffed with themselves in a straight line until the first corner and I'm not braking.

Couldn't have said it better.

Hot hatches aren't all about 0-100 speed. Its round some twisties that a hot hatch makes you go . To say a Commodore is just as quick as the Polo GTI misses the point and to be honest I don't think it is a fair comparison.

And, if you put a bigger engine, upgraded the suspension a bit more etc etc what do you get? A golf GTI - which is $13k more. I personally think its great value for money at $27k.

Admittedly, most British Polo GTI reviews have said the competition is better. From my point of view, someone could say whatever they want - at the end of the day, what I think is all that matters!