RE: Next Golf to get active diff

[thinfourth2]

Kazlet said:

So a professional driver thrashing it on 16 miles of race track made 8.5 seconds difference. Good in race terms but not something you are ever going to notice on a road. It does seem rather pointless and will only add more cost to a car that is already ridiculously priced!

Ah but that will translate into 0.0000000000001 seconds faster to get the kids to tesco

[Marf]

Good news, every powerful front drive car should have an LSD. Good on VW.

[gangzoom]

I take it ever one here concerned about the price/weight of a LSD have all driven a car with a LSD? Ever since owning a DC2 Integra Type R I'm never buying a car without a mechanical LSD again. Been able to acclerate out of a corner/roundabout rather than just getting understeer/wheel spin is fab. Ofcourse in the real world it doesn't make much difference in terms of pace, but certainly does make the car much more fun to drive, after all the whole point of cars like Golf GTIs is to be fun to drive??

I had to pay a 3rd party lots of £££ to get a LSD fitted to my BMW 335i, before having the LSD fitted the TC/EPS light would come every time if the road was even slightly damp or bumpy. One of the reasons I didn't buy a VW group car (Scirocco R was the car in questions) was because of the stupid electronic diff, glad to see at least one car maker actually thinking about driver enjoyment rather than profits/marketing.

[thinfourth2]

gangzoom said:

glad to see at least one car maker actually thinking about driver enjoyment rather than profits/marketing.

Yeah thats why is weighs as much as a small planet and a list if kit longer then your arm


If you want a drivers car go buy something without 5 tons of lard

[antspants]

thinfourth2 said:

Yeah thats why is weighs as much as a small planet and a list if kit longer then your arm


If you want a drivers car go buy something without 5 tons of lard

You're taking too simplified a view, obviously to make a point, but still not considering the Golf's target market.
A car designed to carry a family, go to the tip and carry the monthly shop is not going to be transformed into a stripped out road racer with no luxuries and sound deadening.
At least VW are considering that their buyers are looking for a car that can do all of the above plus be a decent drive when circumstances allow.
They've presumably seen the success Renault have with their mechanicall LSD on the Megane, but decided that is perhaps too raw for their target customer.
IMO this will allow them to retain some of the customers who might have been tempted away and allow them to grab some of the Renault customers looking for a little more refinement.
Your comment just assumes that anyone wanting some driving enjoyment will all go out and buy an Elise instead.

[carl_w]

article said:

Now it's saying the next Golf GTI will be available with a proper mechanical limited-slip diff, and an electronically controlled one at that.

That would make it the first production front-wheel-drive car in the world to get one.

Didn't the original Focus RS have one? The Integra Type-R? The Fiat Coupe Turbo?

[Marf]

carl_w said:

article said:

Now it's saying the next Golf GTI will be available with a proper mechanical limited-slip diff, and an electronically controlled one at that.

That would make it the first production front-wheel-drive car in the world to get one.

Didn't the original Focus RS have one? The Integra Type-R? The Fiat Coupe Turbo?

Mechanical, mechanical, viscous respectively, none of which are electronically controlled. The golf is the first FWD production car to have an electronically controlled mechanical diff.

[StevieB]

Crafty_ said:

Ah but its worth it because its a golf. Apparently.

I agree though, they'd do better to stop making the things so flipping boring to drive.

I agree, the Mk5 golf GTI was considered the best GTI since the MK2 and that didnt have LSD and cost £20K. The MK6 costs £26 and isnt selling in anything like the same numbers. I think the LSD is a good enough feature, but again proves that manufacturers are obsessed with lap tims and thinking less and less of road driving.

[Marf]

StevieB said:

I think the LSD is a good enough feature, but again proves that manufacturers are obsessed with lap tims and thinking less and less of road driving.

Have you ever had a pokey front wheel drive road car with a diff?

Sure, an LSD improves track driving, but it also improves road driving immensely.

Having had a few FWD cars with plate and torsen style diffs, there's no way I'd have another FWD hot hatch without one.

[Colonial]

Just drove a mates slightly modified mk6 gti fitted with a diff.

Made a world a difference.

Can only be a good thing.

[Turbo Harry]

"If it was good as an excellent GKN front-drive LSD we tried on a Mini Cooper S recently, it could offer nicely controllable oversteer into the bargain."

Surely with a FWD this would be on lift-off, where the front diff would have very little or no effect?

[MIP1983]

I suspect this will make the car feel much better to drive. The brake based systems you can feel kicking in like abs, where as when the torsen kicks in on mine, you can feel the car punching it's way out of the corner and turning in nicely. It's a nice senation, and if you're interested in a drivers car, it's what you want.

[Escort Si-130]

I love the term super hatch

Krikkit said:

I don't think there'll be much of a weight penalty for an e-Diff compared to a mechanical LSD. They're not heavy compared to the overall weight of the car anyway...

I think it's time to stop calling the Focus Golf GTI/R et al a hot hatch, they're more like super hatches now, most of them costing £30k or more.

[Kawasicki]

MIP1983 said:

I suspect this will make the car feel much better to drive. The brake based systems you can feel kicking in like abs, where as when the torsen kicks in on mine, you can feel the car punching it's way out of the corner and turning in nicely. It's a nice senation, and if you're interested in a drivers car, it's what you want.

Sorry, IMHO front wheel drive means it's not really a drivers car anyway. It's a spacious, cheap to build shopping car that's been hotted up very well. But it's still a car built to shop, not to drive, and yes I'm a rwd snob. This is just another flavour of limit understeer.

[Colonial]

Kawasicki said:

Sorry, IMHO front wheel drive means it's not really a drivers car anyway. It's a spacious, cheap to build shopping car that's been hotted up very well. But it's still a car built to shop, not to drive, and yes I'm a rwd snob. This is just another flavour of limit understeer.

Yep. A vauxhall crests is a far better drivers car than a 205 gti.

[Mr2Mike]

Kawasicki said:

Sorry, IMHO front wheel drive means it's not really a drivers car anyway. It's a spacious, cheap to build shopping car that's been hotted up very well. But it's still a car built to shop, not to drive, and yes I'm a rwd snob. This is just another flavour of limit understeer.

What a complete load of donkeys testicles

Apparently "RWD snob" implies a high level of ignorance.

[Baryonyx]

So, some differential trickery to try and fight back against the tremendous weight and bloated size? Do doubt coupled with an enjoyment-sapping automatic transmission too.

[Kawasicki]

Colonial said:

Kawasicki said:

Sorry, IMHO front wheel drive means it's not really a drivers car anyway. It's a spacious, cheap to build shopping car that's been hotted up very well. But it's still a car built to shop, not to drive, and yes I'm a rwd snob. This is just another flavour of limit understeer.

Yep. A vauxhall crests is a far better drivers car than a 205 gti.

I've never driven a Vauxhall Cresta, I have driven a 205 gti and the bog standard mk2 escort 1.6l I had at the time was much more fun/interesting to drive.

No one starts with front wheel drive when they plan to make a drivers car, why is that?

[Kawasicki]

Mr2Mike said:

Kawasicki said:

Sorry, IMHO front wheel drive means it's not really a drivers car anyway. It's a spacious, cheap to build shopping car that's been hotted up very well. But it's still a car built to shop, not to drive, and yes I'm a rwd snob. This is just another flavour of limit understeer.

What a complete load of donkeys testicles

Apparently "RWD snob" implies a high level of ignorance.

I'm blissfully happy in my "apparently" ignorant state.

So you disagree strongly that at the heart of every Golf Gti is a normal shopping car? Or do you disagree that it has been hotted up very well?

[mackie1]

Baryonyx said:

So, some differential trickery to try and fight back against the tremendous weight and bloated size? Do doubt coupled with an enjoyment-sapping automatic transmission too.

Except it's probably the lightest in its class and can be had with a manual if you want. I personally found the DSG box to be very enjoyable when driven enthusiasticly though.