RE: Volkswagen Golf R: PH Fleet

[nickfrog]

But in a straight line, the aggressive neg camber will decrease traction, not increase it, so that would penalise acceleration figures a little. Different story around corners of course where the gain in lat grip will be considerable.

[anonymous-user]

davey68 said:

Thats what I was really getting at, it sounds like the car tested was 'prepared' by VW for the press. The figures don't stack up for the power to weight, 4WD and DSG only go so far. I think if it was my money i'd be looking at a 135 or even a 235i. Smooth six cylinder with rear wheel drive (and even more grunt).

They must have 'prepared' a hell of a lot of cars then lol.

[scherzkeks]

EricE said:

Test car measured -2°21´
VW recommended range is -1°14´ to -0°14´

The maximum you can get from a production car without modifications is around -1°30´ according to some guys with modified 7 Rs that I met at a trackday.

PS: oops I accidentally a word.

Interesting that they appear to have fiddled with it. The figures at bottom are typical for VAG. The typical design for the road cars is such that neg. camber increases when the wheel is turned (dynamically), eliminating the need for more extreme static adjustments.

[davey68]

By no means scientific but I've just watched about five youtube videos of DSG mk7 Golf R's accelerating. The results ranged from 4.9-5.2 seconds. On several they show the actual 0-60mph or 0-100kph time as it hits it. I didn't see one hit 0-60 in 4.4 seconds! Regardless, the 7R is a very good car, and by all accounts great fun to drive. Fair play to VAG for finally producing a drivers car after several efficient but slightly dull haldex driven cars.

Edited by davey68 on Tuesday 21st July 20:53

[Broccers]

I love these threads.

[Gio G]

The Golf R in DSG trim is the ultimate point and squirt machine, which is quite fun. It is the traffic light GP special, however after a while, does become rather boring.. If I really wanted to go for a hoon, I would always choose the Cayman over the Golf, as it was more involving, sounded better etc. Do I really miss my Golf since it was stolen? not really.

Why are they so over produced, as I seem to see more R's than GTI's or GTD's in the South East. In my opinion they should have kept the volume down, to make them more special, however they see the opportunity to cash in and having one for £200 a month opens up the market place.

Then again, maybe my opinion is slightly tainted..

G

[nickfrog]

For me point and squirt is the opposite of fun (in that context anyway) but each to their own.
They were never £200 if the deposit and VAT are counted, were they ?
Amusingly, guy at work has yielded £180/monthly depreciation on his M135i over 2.5 years.

[Broccers]

Mines 250 a month over 24 months and to be honest its worth every penny.

Cant understand all the ludicrous hating. Its a great car, you are reading these pages because you enjoy driving so if you don't like them then there's something wrong with you.

Go and do some yoga and chill boys.

[Lucas Ayde]

nickfrog said:

For me point and squirt is the opposite of fun (in that context anyway) but each to their own.
They were never £200 if the deposit and VAT are counted, were they ?
Amusingly, guy at work has yielded £180/monthly depreciation on his M135i over 2.5 years.

For a combination of a car that is pretty much the definition of 'practical' that can also go like a rocket, it's a hard to beat package.

Given the incredible finance deals that were available, it's not hard to see why it is so popular. Surprised that they didn't try to push the GTi too in a similar way but maybe margins are higher for them on the R.

[ORD]

I think it gets on people's nerves that the performance is so massively exaggerated! It really isn't massively fast, yet people talk about it as though it rips off your head with the acceleration. 0-30 is very fast, as you would expect from an AWD car with 300bhp, but is hardly a 'rocket'.

[Lucas Ayde]

ORD said:

I think it gets on people's nerves that the performance is so massively exaggerated! It really isn't massively fast, yet people talk about it as though it rips off your head with the acceleration. 0-30 is very fast, as you would expect from an AWD car with 300bhp, but is hardly a 'rocket'.

Most people would consider sub 5s 0-62 to be be 'going like a rocket' and it's a lot quicker than most of the stuff on the road, dedicated performance cars excepted.

[NJH]

ORD said:

I think it gets on people's nerves that the performance is so massively exaggerated! It really isn't massively fast, yet people talk about it as though it rips off your head with the acceleration. 0-30 is very fast, as you would expect from an AWD car with 300bhp, but is hardly a 'rocket'.

Like I said earlier its all about context. Also if the figures are genuine its as quick as any non-turbo Porsche 911 was from more than about 10 years ago which is pretty remarkable.

[andrewparker]

ORD said:

I think it gets on people's nerves that the performance is so massively exaggerated! It really isn't massively fast, yet people talk about it as though it rips off your head with the acceleration. 0-30 is very fast, as you would expect from an AWD car with 300bhp, but is hardly a 'rocket'.

There have been numerous conversations over on VWROC about it not feeling massively fast once it's moving.

[ManOpener]

andrewparker said:

ORD said:

I think it gets on people's nerves that the performance is so massively exaggerated! It really isn't massively fast, yet people talk about it as though it rips off your head with the acceleration. 0-30 is very fast, as you would expect from an AWD car with 300bhp, but is hardly a 'rocket'.

There have been numerous conversations over on VWROC about it not feeling massively fast once it's moving.

AWD turbo fours with torque everywhere and loads of sound deadening seldom do. In fact, more generally, Haldex AWD equipped cars often feel slower compared to their 2WD brethren regardless of powerplant. Case in point- the Mk5 R32 and GTI. Only the ED30 is faster 30-70 than the R32 and both ED30 and standard GTI are slower 0-60 and 0-80, and yet even the base GTI feels quicker in-gear.

Edited by ManOpener on Thursday 23 July 12:54

[GravelBen]

NJH said:

Like I said earlier its all about context. Also if the figures are genuine its as quick as any non-turbo Porsche 911 was from more than about 10 years ago which is pretty remarkable.

I can just imagine advertisements saying "Golf R: as quick as a 10 year old Subaru!" Doesn't sound so remarkable that way does it?

[heebeegeetee]

Cups Renault said:

Think I must be one of the few laughing at the analogy at the start of this piece. In a bad way.

You have basically described a Mondeo or Insignia man. Those boring farts who sap the energy of a party and leave at an early juncture so they can be fresh for the morning and a trip to a retail park......also seems to sum up the 'clone' nature of this, the S3, the TT S.....4 pot blown to the max.

For £36k mega hatch territory, you want something that you can hear is the top of its game.....and not cos of the luuuuuuudicrous one 'zaust per cylinder VAG joke. Hats off to the Meganes, Focus RS etc they stand in their own space and offer great motoring in their own way. The VAG offerings are so boring. Yes fast but do they really offer a truly distinctive and defined experience that isn't replicated very closely in many other motors. Away from the fact they are the unimaginative choice at this end of the uber hatch market, I can only confirm that I have seen tonnes of them many I should imagine chosen on Top trumps ideals like this article on 0-60 times. Whoopdewooooo.

Give me the cold start up of a straight 6 and rwd to know I am in something that adds a point of difference to the hatch genre, than the automotive equivalent of a new build persimmon home.

I think you need to be careful .

Without wishing to make comment on it, I can fully understand that those who are happy to sit in Golfs do not want to sit in a Renault or a Ford. I understand that.

The Renaults and Fords, excellent cars that they are, are also dare I say it a teensy bit chav. Indeed quite a bit chav in the case of the Ford. They are hatchbacks that have had to have quite a bit of exterior 'kit' added to them.

Meanwhile the Golf has it's 4 exhausts, which I imagine that were it an option it might be a box on the order form that wouldn't get ticked too often.

Those who aren't very good might have to shout about it. Those who are confident about themselves don't have to shout about it, and would be much more happy in something like a Golf.

Mind you, it's going to be interesting to see what all these leased Golfs sell for come the time. If they're cheap enough then they too will be receiving lots of add-on 'kit'.

There might come a time when all the piss-poor drivers are all in Golf R's, making a right pain of themselves.

[Ali_T]

GravelBen said:

I can just imagine advertisements saying "Golf R: as quick as a 10 year old Subaru!" Doesn't sound so remarkable that way does it?

LMFAO!!

[Ali_T]

heebeegeetee said:

Mind you, it's going to be interesting to see what all these leased Golfs sell for come the time. If they're cheap enough then they too will be receiving lots of add-on 'kit'.

That's when it gets interesting. I can imagine VW are going to lose a fair whack of money on them. They've promised a high final residual value to get those low rate, then they sold thousands of them, at the same time. So they'll all come on the market....at the same time. You can't just create demand and have a high price from nowhere. You need exclusivity. This may bite them in the arse soon...

Edited by Ali_T on Friday 24th July 12:06

[HarryW]

Really strugglng to understand the lack of love from some quarters here, is this PH or Mumsnet?

The comments about it doesn't feel fast can be a very subjective thing. IMHE a quick car doesn't feel fast when the delivery is very linear, sit in my Cerbera at medium throttle and you wouldn't beleive the speed unless you looked at the speedo or scenery, trust me it is fast like that and really fast if you bury the throttle into the carpet.
A peaky car can feel very fast when actually its not that fast, its jut the delivery when its either coming on cam or boost. Likewise a unstable car can feel fast even when its not, it isn't fast its just unsafe!
No doubting a really fast car on full chat will always feel fast, pin you back in your seat kind of fast, but the Golf R isn't a really fast car, its a very capable fast car by any measure that happens to be a practical hatchback as well. Can't undertand the negativity here?

[Broccers]

Ali_T said:

That's when it gets interesting. I can imagine VW are going to lose a fair whack of money on them. They've promised a highness of lease residual value to get those low rate, then they sold thousands of them, at the same time. So they'll all come on the market....at the same time. You can't just create demand and have a high price from nowhere. You need exclusivity. This may bite them in the arse soon...

I bet a fair few leasers might actually buy their cars if the alternative is less appealing at the time.