RE: Abt boosts WLTP-approved VW Golf R to 350hp
Discussion
Front wheel drive is more exciting as you have to take greater care to manage traction, but also very rewarding when you get it right, with the nose very noticeably pulling you into the curve with suprising traction. Well driven, I've had all my passengers on a enthusiast drive think it's 4wd as it has traction out of curves they haven't experienced on 'normal' fwd's...
A review of a Golf R alternative that isn't a GTI and more practical than a CS: https://youtu.be/Mxm9Fx1UWqg
A review of a Golf R alternative that isn't a GTI and more practical than a CS: https://youtu.be/Mxm9Fx1UWqg
SturdyHSV said:
102mm diameter tailpipes? That's a significant piece of tube for so little power, even if there was only one of them!
End of page two before the exhausts were mentioned. Must be a record. There's only one thing more boring than the Golf R, and that's the banality of people wheeling out the same comments we've all heard for the last five years.Onehp said:
Front wheel drive is more exciting as you have to take greater care to manage traction, but also very rewarding when you get it right, with the nose very noticeably pulling you into the curve with suprising traction. Well driven, I've had all my passengers on a enthusiast drive think it's 4wd as it has traction out of curves they haven't experienced on 'normal' fwd's...
A review of a Golf R alternative that isn't a GTI and more practical than a CS: https://youtu.be/Mxm9Fx1UWqg
It gets ‘traction’ by restricting the power. Nothing clever. If you floor it through a bend it is probably putting 200bhp out, just like a laptop or or throttles the cpu when it gets too hot, clocks it down. If you floor a Golf R you are getting a lot more power down, despite additional transmission losses from the AWD system. A review of a Golf R alternative that isn't a GTI and more practical than a CS: https://youtu.be/Mxm9Fx1UWqg
ImpGT said:
It gets ‘traction’ by restricting the power. Nothing clever. If you floor it through a bend it is probably putting 200bhp out, just like a laptop or or throttles the cpu when it gets too hot, clocks it down. If you floor a Golf R you are getting a lot more power down, despite additional transmission losses from the AWD system.
No restriction going on if you switch of traction control, you as a driver can definitely overcook things. Of course traction from the word go is superior with 4wd, but out of a bend at speed, the VAQ diff on the VAG fwd hot hatches with 60-65% of weight on the front, are quite capable of putting full power down early and to great effect. My point is that up to that traction limit, FWD is more exciting because you can actually exceed traction, so a degree of driver input and skill is needed, instead of just flooring at and knowing all of it will go down, always. Capable, but boring.
Taken to the max on a dry track, FWD are the ones setting lap records... In daily driving with limited traction and lower speeds, FWD maybe isn't the fastest, but it is more involving. On winter roads with snow etc, I do enjoy 4wd more. But then preferably with a rear bias, too. And a manual handbrake
You can’t fully turn it off. It still nerfs the power.
You can hack it ....video links in this thread with mixed results.
https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25...
You can hack it ....video links in this thread with mixed results.
https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25...
They are about launching a FWD in a straight line EDIT: no, actually it's the Golf R section! EDIT 2: or it's about the regular GTI without VAQ and electronic XDS traction control.
Anyhow, if launching is your thing, just get a (proper) 4wd...
I've never found it intervening intrusively when driving great twisty roads on my FWD VAG +VAQ with esp in sport. I do know german mags had some conplaints trying to set laptimes on the ring, if you encounter actual problems there, surely they can be addressed...
Anyhow, if launching is your thing, just get a (proper) 4wd...
I've never found it intervening intrusively when driving great twisty roads on my FWD VAG +VAQ with esp in sport. I do know german mags had some conplaints trying to set laptimes on the ring, if you encounter actual problems there, surely they can be addressed...
Edited by Onehp on Friday 26th April 15:35
andrewparker said:
It isn't, or you don't think it is?
His opinion is subjective as the media he mentions. However there is a massive VW/Audi bias anywhere you care to look. As a German in the UK, always been puzzled by the status attached to VW cars in particular Golfs.I’ll second his opinion as a former owner. Great cars if you are used to Euroboxes and other dull porridge but not a car enthusiasts car. Just a competent hatch with quite a lot of bhp.
ImpGT said:
I personally wouldn’t want to explore the limits of a Golf R on the road. Getting feedback from the steering as to what the car is doing has all the communication potential of six miles of string and two yoghurt pots.
Every review I've read has the Golf's steering as 'less numb' then the S3. We are probably splitting hairs here - I wouldn't be surprised if the S3 and Golf R had exactly the same steering rack, but with different software tweaking.I do agree with you that the Golf's steering (and S3's for that matter) doesn't have great feel, however this is a common trait of pretty much all electric steering rack cars, which encompasses almost all cars on sale today, whether Golf or 911 or Ferrari.
ImpGT said:
I’ll second his opinion as a former owner. Great cars if you are used to Euroboxes and other dull porridge but not a car enthusiasts car. Just a competent hatch with quite a lot of bhp.
I think the biggest problem is the comparisons with more focussed hot hatches. Who really thinks that VW, with the R brand, set out to target those kind of cars and deliver a comparable driving experience? I don't, I believe that the R is to the Golf line up what the Turbo is to the 911 line up. It's the fastest and most expensive, but with that comes a more sterile nature. I've had one for over 4 years, it doesn't set my world on fire and in truth I don't drive it that often, but when I do I'm always surprised at how many things it does well. That's it's modus operandi.My wife has an R and loves it.
It’s a fast point-to-point car for sure, but I find it rather boring and one-dimensional.....I’d never want to take it for a blast on a Sunday morning, not really.
It understeers like a pig, but the one thing that irritates most, and really detracts from the driving experience, is the typical VAG over-servod brakes.....when you just want to dab them, they snatch....awful!
DSG is crap too....PDK is far more helpful to the driver when on it.
It’s a fast point-to-point car for sure, but I find it rather boring and one-dimensional.....I’d never want to take it for a blast on a Sunday morning, not really.
It understeers like a pig, but the one thing that irritates most, and really detracts from the driving experience, is the typical VAG over-servod brakes.....when you just want to dab them, they snatch....awful!
DSG is crap too....PDK is far more helpful to the driver when on it.
andrewparker said:
SturdyHSV said:
102mm diameter tailpipes? That's a significant piece of tube for so little power, even if there was only one of them!
End of page two before the exhausts were mentioned. Must be a record. There's only one thing more boring than the Golf R, and that's the banality of people wheeling out the same comments we've all heard for the last five years.I think it's quite normal that huge fart cans on cars are considered a bit... Undesirable? And a 4inch piece of pipe is quite a big fart can, so given the usage of the plural, and the 102mm given (apologies for my flicking back and forth between metric / imperial) I do wonder what exactly that'll look like?
I mean sweet baby jesus and the orphans if they put 4 102mm pipes on the back of it it'll look like something that should have the words 'falcon' and 'heavy' attached to it surely?
It also appears nobody else has mentioned exhausts, so although perhaps a record breaker, I'm a lonely one
Jazzer said:
DSG is crap too....PDK is far more helpful to the driver when on it.
How so?I had DSG on my Stage 2 Cupra with a DSG tune, I have PDK on my Stage 2 981 Cayman S now, The PDK is also tuned.
The only difference I've found is the ability to reverse the stick action, so now I pull back to go up gears and forwards down gears like you would a sequential box.
This criticism of the Golf R as being bland/understeery/uninvolving/one dimensional confuses me.
I had a decent drive in one last year and, to my surprise, I thought it was quite good fun to drive, particularly the handling...which was precise, agile and way more neutral in terms of balance than I expected.
I had a decent drive in one last year and, to my surprise, I thought it was quite good fun to drive, particularly the handling...which was precise, agile and way more neutral in terms of balance than I expected.
SturdyHSV said:
andrewparker said:
SturdyHSV said:
102mm diameter tailpipes? That's a significant piece of tube for so little power, even if there was only one of them!
End of page two before the exhausts were mentioned. Must be a record. There's only one thing more boring than the Golf R, and that's the banality of people wheeling out the same comments we've all heard for the last five years.I think it's quite normal that huge fart cans on cars are considered a bit... Undesirable? And a 4inch piece of pipe is quite a big fart can, so given the usage of the plural, and the 102mm given (apologies for my flicking back and forth between metric / imperial) I do wonder what exactly that'll look like?
I mean sweet baby jesus and the orphans if they put 4 102mm pipes on the back of it it'll look like something that should have the words 'falcon' and 'heavy' attached to it surely?
It also appears nobody else has mentioned exhausts, so although perhaps a record breaker, I'm a lonely one
Kawasicki said:
This criticism of the Golf R as being bland/understeery/uninvolving/one dimensional confuses me.
I had a decent drive in one last year and, to my surprise, I thought it was quite good fun to drive, particularly the handling...which was precise, agile and way more neutral in terms of balance than I expected.
Indeed. To anyone that has a clue the handling of the R and GTI is actually very good. The chassis is very stiff, it changes direction really well and the damping is very nicely judged - all noticeably better than VAG cars of previous generations.I had a decent drive in one last year and, to my surprise, I thought it was quite good fun to drive, particularly the handling...which was precise, agile and way more neutral in terms of balance than I expected.
I would criticise the R and GTI for several things, electric steering/enhanced noise/blandish engine etc, but the handling and chassis are very good.
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