Golf VR6

[JohnoCup]

Hi all, just thought I'd share the latest vehicle I've bought.

Due to my Alfa Romeo GTV having escalating running costs, I did the sensible thing and sold it. Naturally when you sell a 3.0 V6 you want something small, economical and practical, so I did the predictable thing and bought a Golf VR6.

As much as I loved the Alfa, it just wasn't me. It was a gorgeous looking and sounding car, but I couldn't justify the MPG it was returning...as well as it was a car I couldn't do much to, in terms of aftermarket parts. As someone mentioned, it's not the sort of car you can improve on. With that in mind and the fact I like tinkering with things, ultimately led me to part ways.

Slightly irrelevant and boring intro out the way, this is the new car;



Popped up on here 5 miles from my parents house, only 54,000 miles, FSH and a decent spec, I popped down with the intentions of 'just looking'... Knowing full well I wanted another, seeing as I'm still embittered by selling my old one to a full on berk who ruined it. But hey ho, wasn't my car any more.

So, last weekend, me and a friend set about adding some extras;





Which resulted in me smashing the splitter clean off two hours later, but a multitude of cable ties and plastic glue later and its as good as new, in all but aesthetics.

Added a bit of satin black paint to the grill to break it up a bit, as well as the engine plastics;



Cars already fitted with a Scorpion cat-back exhaust, so I modified the air-box to give it a bit more of a roar, now sounds a lot meatier.

Still need to tidy one or two bits up but I'm generally happy with the car. It's been averaging 34mpg on motorways and 26mpg overall. I can't complain with that as it still moves well for a thirteen year old car.

Also these turned up this morning;





Going to run them in collab with some Leon Cupra R 323mm discs and Porsche OE pads.

Basic aim of the car is to get it in a trackish ready state. I want it to retain some of the regular spec, it's not going to be perspex window'd and stripped out as shaving 1/10ths off lap times are really insignificant on track days, I want it to be a decently fast and useable everyday car.

If I manage to keep the car long enough, it'l be turbo'd and LSD'd, but I'm getting far ahead of myself there. For now, a little tinkering here and there will suffice.

So yeah, bit of a waffley post for what is, in essence, a 13 year old Golf with a set coilovers, but there we go. I like it anyway

Thanks for looking (and most likely, skim reading!)

John.

[Horrocks]

Really nice looking car, how much was the insurance?

One thing I dont like is the registration and the England flag, patriotic or not I would prefer a plain one as I think it spoils the car slightly. Just my opinion though, other than that, it looks fun.

[JohnoCup]

Horrocks said:

Really nice looking car, how much was the insurance?

One thing I dont like is the registration and the England flag, patriotic or not I would prefer a plain one as I think it spoils the car slightly. Just my opinion though, other than that, it looks fun.

Thanks! Insurance isn't to bad, could be a hell of a lot better though, just a case of the company I use is a bit duff. When it's up for renewal in 6months, it should be significantly better.

And don't worry, the england flag is going straight away. I hate the damn thing. I want to put my private reg on there, so didn't see the point on replacing the logo'd plates with plain ones to replace them again in a matter of weeks. Now the V5's come through I can get it all sorted.

[Somnophore]

I've always liked these but they aren't that much faster than the 16v gti for a lot lower mpg

[007 VXR]

nice can see you will be back very soon with pics of more mods

[soad]

Engine bay pics, please.

[Yelly]

Somnophore said:

I've always liked these but they aren't that much faster than the 16v gti for a lot lower mpg

they are sufficiently faster than the GTi, they sound a hell of a lot better than the 4 pot engine, and whatever 0-60 is quoted, it's the 0-100 that counts, and the in gear accleeration, and the way it does does it. The fact that a GTi isn't too far behind doesn't cut it with me

[Chicane-UK]

Agreed. Certainly owning a 2.0 16v (9A) engined Corrado and a VR6, the VR6 is just such a different beast.

Gears are taller but there's far more torque meaning it's much nicer to drive around in town traffic (I can sit at 25MPH in 5th and still accelerate quite well whereas the 16V would just not go anywhere) and the sound is just immense compared to the 16V as well.

Well worth the extra money. Does need a few handling mods though as the MK3 is a bit lardy, and that only gets worse with the big VR6 up front

[RetroTed]

Somnophore said:

I've always liked these but they aren't that much faster than the 16v gti for a lot lower mpg

A VR6 will wipe the floor with a 16V

[Somnophore]

I'm not saying it's not a faster car just not sure I could justify the additional cost of ownership for a bit of extra speed and I would have though they were pretty nose heavy with a big v6 up front.

I'm looking at golf gtis at the mo as getting a job nearer home means lot less miles but the mpg of the v6 is a bit low really plus I'll get bent over for insurance if I modded it to have it anything like yours ie brakes or suspension mods

[Chicane-UK]

On a run, if you drive the VR sensibly, you can get well over 30MPG. If I do a steady 70MPH up the motorway for an hour or so I can see 35MPG. Equals the fuel economy of my 2.0 16v. I can only put it down to being more powerful and therefore less effort required, and also being a much more modern engine design!

[TomM]

Somnophore said:

I'm not saying it's not a faster car just not sure I could justify the additional cost of ownership for a bit of extra speed and I would have though they were pretty nose heavy with a big v6 up front.

I'm looking at golf gtis at the mo as getting a job nearer home means lot less miles but the mpg of the v6 is a bit low really plus I'll get bent over for insurance if I modded it to have it anything like yours ie brakes or suspension mods

Having owned both - I would never have the GTI, would rather pay the extra fuel costs. The VR6 is a FAR better car.

Nice car OP - rare in silver and look less dated IMHO. I still miss mine.

Edited by TomM on Saturday 26th June 14:28

[Somnophore]

I'm actually very interested in the theory about larger engines being good on fuel at a road/motorway crusing speeds. Do tend to find smaller engines are crap on fuel on say my daily commute or mainly A road occasional traffic lights etc my 1.6 golf is revving at like 4k revs at 70odd mpg whereas a bigger engine would be less stressed and may offer similar mpg

[Somnophore]

What sort of engine mods are available for the vr6? I know there's lots of tuning stuff for VAG turbo cars don't know
much about the v6s though

[Heathwood]

JohnoCup said:

It's been averaging 34mpg on motorways and 26mpg overall.

How the hell are you getting that?! I used to have a VR6 and used to get 22ish unless I drove like a stoned nun.

[paultownsend]

a decent panel filter, gutted airbox. dougherty cams, re-map and 6 branch will see these push 200hp easy. no headwork needed. slip a lower FD and your talking a good turn of speed.

vr is the next lump in my mk2

[150bhp]

Looks so good lowered, what coilovers you rolling with mate?

[Defcon5]

How much do those calipers weigh over standard? They are huge!

[Chicane-UK]

Somnophore said:

What sort of engine mods are available for the vr6? I know there's lots of tuning stuff for VAG turbo cars don't know
much about the v6s though

Depends which route you take. There are bolt on supercharger and now turbo conversions for the VR6. Charger (stage 1) will take you into the 250-280BHP area for a few grand.. turbo is a whole different ballgame and a VW tuners near me have recently completed their turbo "package" which is drive in / drive out for approximately £5000-£6000 and takes you from 180-190BHP to 400BHP! I had their demo car for a day and it was staggeringly fast.

If you want to remain N/A then cams (from someone like Schimmel Performance), a Schrick VGI (variable inlet manifold) or if you can find it VW Motorsport VSR (better design, but getting rare and damn expensive), 6 branch, ported throttle body and a remap.. you could be talking 220/230BHP? You can also reliably take the VR6 out to about 3.1 litres but no further really.

Turbo really is the best in terms of price to performance. £5000 to double your performance is pretty awesome but aside from the work done to improve how long the engine lasts (ARP headbolts, stronger clutch, etc) you really need to factor in a substantial brake upgrade, uprated fuel pump, etc etc. So really it's gonna be more than £5000 by the time you add it up

[ManOpener]

Throttle bodies get done from time to times, they're a bit of a challenge with the VR motor though due to how close the banks are to eachother. 300+bhp capable abd a great sound...