Golf 4motion 2.8

[exgtt]

Poor mans R32 or the mk4 gti's fatter brother with a drink problem?

Insurance companies only want me to drive quick VAG's it seems and noticed these around the £2k mark. Are they worth considering against s3's/Leon Cupra R etc?

REALLY want an e36 M3 but cant get a quote under £2.5k. Massivly annoying.

[Bitzer]

MK4 GTi's fatter brother with a drink problem

204BHP from the V6.

A remap of a 1.8T will see 190BHP and less weight.

[RobCrezz]

Yeah not very quick and boring to drive.

Try a quote on a mr2 turbo, surprisingly cheap to insure and much more fun and performance than them vags.

[Funk]

Yeah, don't bother - there's more fun to be had out there if you're happy with 20mpg. It doesn't handle particularly well (in fact, it's a complete pudding).

As said, a 1.8T with remap will be quicker and more frugal. Actually, pretty much anything will be more frugal.

[Ved]

I owned one for 2 years and here's what they're really like:

Great noise, better with a replacement exhaust
Too much roll but reduced a lot with R32 ARBs (only a couple of hundred quid)
Very comfortable with soft suspension
Average steering feel but much better on 18" wheels
Will easily average 35mpg on a motorway and 28 around town.
Very well spec'd as standard
Lots of grip and excellent in the snow and sleet
Not a hot hatch, a torquey cruiser
Cheap to run, cheap to service (until you need a new alternator £450)
A healthy engine will be around 212bhp with similar torque.

It's a grown up, quality car not a chavy hot hatch demanding a remap and lowered suspension.

[rallycross]

Have had a couple of Golf 4motions and one Bora 4motion. Have driven a couple of mk4 R32's.

The 4motion's are very good value now, giving a very nice smooth refined drive with good performance from a hatch back feels like a 328/330 how it delivers its performance.

In no way are they a hot hatch, due to the soft nature of the standard suspension and the poor feed back from the steering.

Good for motorway runs, comfy, powerful luxury hatch for peanuts these days.

I took one on track a few years ago along with my Evo 8 Fq300 and an Nissan 200sx track car and the 4motion was much faster than I'd expected from a big soft Golf, but it had no feel or poise from the chassis.

For £2k I think its one of the best hatches you could buy.

[Vladimir]

I had a mk4 R32 for a year having driven a 2.8 4Motion and a few other mk4s - all fairly quackish models.

I'm not actually sure what magic they put on the R32 but it somehow turned one of the WORST handling cars of all time into something pretty fun to drive. The mk4 Golf (and Bora) was a major low for VW but I think maybe the guys that did the R32 realised how badly set up the mk4 was and put a lot of work into the car. It wasn't perfect by any means but a LOT more fun than the other models.

Worst was the often lauded PD150 diesel I drove after having to sell the R32 (became a HUGE thief magnet in Bristol) - a rev band of about 3rpm, the worst diesel noise ever, the body control of a lorry and dreadful torque steering, wheel spinning antics from something not actually very powerful.

Had owned three Golfs including the R32 but not restored my faith yet even though the mk5 GTi is much praised.

[TameRacingDriver]

RobCrezz said:

Yeah not very quick and boring to drive.

Try a quote on a mr2 turbo, surprisingly cheap to insure and much more fun and performance than them vags.

I agree better than the VAGs, but cheap to insure compared to what? When I had mine, they were pretty much up there with Imprezas and the like, and more than my old ITR by quite a margin.

Bloody insurance... can't work it out!

[exgtt]

Thanks for the advice,

Looking for something entertaining, think i'd get tired of the golf quickly, especially at 20mpg. Good shout with the MR2, most things i'm looking at (cupra r/s3/st220/9-3 aero) etc are around £700-£800 to insure. The MR2 came out at £1400 and the OH hates em unfortunatly!

Seems anything jap with a turbo or german 3+ litres and i'm a risk they dont wanna take on. As said in the food and drink thread my local Tesco security tag the steaks so my postcodes to blame.

[RobCrezz]

TameRacingDriver said:

I agree better than the VAGs, but cheap to insure compared to what? When I had mine, they were pretty much up there with Imprezas and the like, and more than my old ITR by quite a margin.

Bloody insurance... can't work it out!

When was that? I had one a year and a half ago and it was much cheaper than wrx imprezas, cheaper than the ep3 ctr that followed it. Also I had it running 294bhp so a standard one would have been a little bit cheaper to insure.

[TameRacingDriver]

RobCrezz said:

When was that? I had one a year and a half ago and it was much cheaper than wrx imprezas, cheaper than the ep3 ctr that followed it. Also I had it running 294bhp so a standard one would have been a little bit cheaper to insure.

Just this year... and it was standard(ish) too. It was about 25% more to insure than the 328i Sport I had before it, which was roughly the same as my ITR. But hey, if it doesn't cost the OP any more than some VAG car then they're definitely a lot more interesting.

[Bitzer]

Ved said:

It's a grown up, quality car not a chavy hot hatch demanding a remap and lowered suspension.

Have to agree, I've not seen a Barried Up 4Motion yet. They are rare though.

[RobCrezz]

exgtt said:

Thanks for the advice,

Looking for something entertaining, think i'd get tired of the golf quickly, especially at 20mpg. Good shout with the MR2, most things i'm looking at (cupra r/s3/st220/9-3 aero) etc are around £700-£800 to insure. The MR2 came out at £1400 and the OH hates em unfortunatly!

Seems anything jap with a turbo or german 3+ litres and i'm a risk they dont wanna take on. As said in the food and drink thread my local Tesco security tag the steaks so my postcodes to blame.

Had a quote for a dc2 integra type r?

[exgtt]

£1550! Double the price for an st220. Insurance eh!

[TameRacingDriver]

Tried an Audi TT if it has to be VAG?

[Aizle]

EvoDelta your thread has arrived!