A surprising day of testing ht hatches; r26 & gti (197)
Discussion
So i went out today with two cars in mind for testing, the highly revered r26 230 megane and the pretty bogo standard looking golf gti (mk5).
First was the r26, which i had high hopes for being a 172 driver at present. So anyway, the megane had 48k on it, in pretty good nick body wise, a few stone chips but nothing to put me off.. Got inside and the seats were sublime, so comfy and supportive, the dash and fascia - worse than my 02 Clio... Horrible, anyway, i took it out and took it easy for the first few miles to let it warm up.. Went for it of the mark a few times and it didn't feel THAT much quicker than my Clio - which was a bit odd. Now this could be down to a number of things: 1) There were patches of moisture 2) Its tires, although new were vredsteins and from previous experience have been rather flex and didn't have much traction 3) the lsd gives a different feel on delivery? It didn't feel as zesty or as torquey from 2>5K when accelerating to the limiter. However, when i stuck it in 5th at 50 ish and put the foot down the torque was surprising.. So yeah, not massively blown away by the delivery. Have to say the handling was predictable, sure-footed and the LSD was noticeable and blew me away with how effective it was, where the clio would light up the inside tire the megane just pulled... I took the car back, had a chat with the guy and said i'd have a think.
I then drove 40 miles to Yo Vile where i test drove a 07 mk5 gti in black. A more suave looking car on the 18 inch wheels which i thought were going to be crashy and effected by tramlining but surprisingly were not. Started it up, and took it for a test drive.. The delivery was zesty and drove more like the clio does in terms of delivery - linear and reached the limiter quicker than i was expecting, it seemed more frenetic than the r26.. The brakes sucked (are they 4 pots?) , the seats unconmfy but the dash and facia were all a lot nicer looking/feeling than megane. Handled ok ish, but noticed the lack of lsd right away, also it was 2k more for a car a year older with a few thousand more miles..
So, do i find another r26 to see if it goes better than todays? Does the mk5 gti have 4 pots? Does the mk5 gti come with better seats (other than the std sports tartan jobbys)
I saw a slk 350 and was tempted to ask for a test drive as it was the same £, also a boxsters on my mind but worried about uber running costs and repair bills / ims etc...
Thanks for reading my waffle, but id appreciate some input !
First was the r26, which i had high hopes for being a 172 driver at present. So anyway, the megane had 48k on it, in pretty good nick body wise, a few stone chips but nothing to put me off.. Got inside and the seats were sublime, so comfy and supportive, the dash and fascia - worse than my 02 Clio... Horrible, anyway, i took it out and took it easy for the first few miles to let it warm up.. Went for it of the mark a few times and it didn't feel THAT much quicker than my Clio - which was a bit odd. Now this could be down to a number of things: 1) There were patches of moisture 2) Its tires, although new were vredsteins and from previous experience have been rather flex and didn't have much traction 3) the lsd gives a different feel on delivery? It didn't feel as zesty or as torquey from 2>5K when accelerating to the limiter. However, when i stuck it in 5th at 50 ish and put the foot down the torque was surprising.. So yeah, not massively blown away by the delivery. Have to say the handling was predictable, sure-footed and the LSD was noticeable and blew me away with how effective it was, where the clio would light up the inside tire the megane just pulled... I took the car back, had a chat with the guy and said i'd have a think.
I then drove 40 miles to Yo Vile where i test drove a 07 mk5 gti in black. A more suave looking car on the 18 inch wheels which i thought were going to be crashy and effected by tramlining but surprisingly were not. Started it up, and took it for a test drive.. The delivery was zesty and drove more like the clio does in terms of delivery - linear and reached the limiter quicker than i was expecting, it seemed more frenetic than the r26.. The brakes sucked (are they 4 pots?) , the seats unconmfy but the dash and facia were all a lot nicer looking/feeling than megane. Handled ok ish, but noticed the lack of lsd right away, also it was 2k more for a car a year older with a few thousand more miles..
So, do i find another r26 to see if it goes better than todays? Does the mk5 gti have 4 pots? Does the mk5 gti come with better seats (other than the std sports tartan jobbys)
I saw a slk 350 and was tempted to ask for a test drive as it was the same £, also a boxsters on my mind but worried about uber running costs and repair bills / ims etc...
Thanks for reading my waffle, but id appreciate some input !
Not one the best of examples I bought by any stretch of the imagination, however, You would imagine an 8 year old car from one of the worlds largest manufacturers to be completely rust free would you not?
Maybe I was naive, no troubles, VW has a 12 anti-corrosion warranty so it'll soon be sorted. After a couple of months of being ignored and generally messed around they told me they would only cover 50% of the work that needed to be done leaving me with a bill of well over £1500, naturally shocked and angry I declined and got in touch with VWUK who weren't any better, told me 50% was the best offer they could give me.
Also the air-conditioning is broken which turns out to be a compressor, price of a new one fitted from VW was just shy of £1000
Both of which have nothing to do with MK5's in general, just a bit miffed with the treatment from VW having previously owned a Polo which was a cracking car!
In terms of the drive it is fairly decent but nothing to write home about, steering is easily controlled and fairly weighty but with next to no feel, turn in is average, one thing in its favour is the grip, it is pretty impressive to be honest.
When pushing on it doesn't get the heart pumping or adrenaline flowing it just doesn't make me feel anything, maybe it's just me? I hope so!
Anyway it will be staying for a while so maybe a few tweak will improve it.
Maybe I was naive, no troubles, VW has a 12 anti-corrosion warranty so it'll soon be sorted. After a couple of months of being ignored and generally messed around they told me they would only cover 50% of the work that needed to be done leaving me with a bill of well over £1500, naturally shocked and angry I declined and got in touch with VWUK who weren't any better, told me 50% was the best offer they could give me.
Also the air-conditioning is broken which turns out to be a compressor, price of a new one fitted from VW was just shy of £1000
Both of which have nothing to do with MK5's in general, just a bit miffed with the treatment from VW having previously owned a Polo which was a cracking car!
In terms of the drive it is fairly decent but nothing to write home about, steering is easily controlled and fairly weighty but with next to no feel, turn in is average, one thing in its favour is the grip, it is pretty impressive to be honest.
When pushing on it doesn't get the heart pumping or adrenaline flowing it just doesn't make me feel anything, maybe it's just me? I hope so!
Anyway it will be staying for a while so maybe a few tweak will improve it.
PorkRind said:
The brakes were poor on the Golf, expected better things, it didnt handle as directly or turn in as well as the megane, nor does it have the lsd of the megane.. Does the ed30 have lsd / 4 pots?
Edition 30 has the same brakes as the standard GTI, no LSD just a Bigger Turbo and a few cosmetic modsPorkRind said:
& commands a few k more.. Hmm...
The edition 30 has an Audi S3 engine more than just the turbo you can easily get them to 320 - 340bhp with a few simple modifications. Even a standard remap for £350 will give you 305bhp!If you wanted to try a sorted one this would be a good start as has the uprated brakes, better suspension and the 320bhp they are a bloody quick car when remapped.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-VOLKSWAGEN-GOLF-GTI...
greggy50 said:
The edition 30 has an Audi S3 engine more than just the turbo you can easily get them to 320 - 340bhp with a few simple modifications. Even a standard remap for £350 will give you 305bhp!
If you wanted to try a sorted one this would be a good start as has the uprated brakes, better suspension and the 320bhp they are a bloody quick car when remapped.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-VOLKSWAGEN-GOLF-GTI...
Not sure the brakes or drivetrain can handle it !! If you wanted to try a sorted one this would be a good start as has the uprated brakes, better suspension and the 320bhp they are a bloody quick car when remapped.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2007-VOLKSWAGEN-GOLF-GTI...
Ideally id take aspects of both cars to make the perfect car for me !!
PorkRind said:
Cost of an lsd?
£750 for a Quaifehttp://www.awesomegti.com/car/vw/golfmk5/quaife-at...
PorkRind said:
Cost of an lsd?
£750 for a Quaifehttp://www.awesomegti.com/car/vw/golfmk5/quaife-at...
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