RE: Mercedes-AMG A35 vs VW Golf R | PH Video

[Chestrockwell]

Deep Thought said:

Chestrockwell said:

Even if it didn’t, who actually presses on when it’s raining? I stick to the speed limits and drive slowly when it’s raining, braking distance doubles and everything becomes more dangerous!

Yeah I guess that's for the best in a fwd civic on anything but dry roads...

I have no doubt of how capable the Type R is on wet roads but I highly doubt a Type R would struggle to keep up with a Golf R unless it’s on a skid pan or a short track with lots of hairpins

[Court_S]

Chestrockwell said:

Even if it didn’t, who actually presses on when it’s raining? I stick to the speed limits and drive slowly when it’s raining, braking distance doubles and everything becomes more dangerous!

And the importance of that ‘Ring time no longer matters then

[Chestrockwell]

Court_S said:

And the importance of that ‘Ring time no longer matters then

Grass is green
The sky is blue
The UK voted to leave the EU
The Civic Type R is the king of hot hatches and is the quickest car around the Nurburgring that you can actually buy tomorrow that doesn’t use carbon fibre wheels.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/honda/civic/107348/h...

I’m officially bowing out of this thread and leaving on a high note. If you need me, use the words ‘quickest around the Nurburgring’ and I’ll pop up. Cheers

[SidewaysSi]

Chestrockwell said:

nickfrog said:

Burwood said:

And the weather in the UK is generally st. Real world conditions, wet roads. The civic wouldn’t know which way the R went

I think it would. Traction is only a small factor on the open road as traffic, line of sight and licence preservation are probably the limiting factors. 4wd doesn't add any lateral grip. I find the weather in the UK is quite temperate.

Even if it didn’t, who actually presses on when it’s raining? I stick to the speed limits and drive slowly when it’s raining, braking distance doubles and everything becomes more dangerous!

I know I shouldn't laugh but....;)

[cerb4.5lee]

Chestrockwell said:

Court_S said:

And the importance of that ‘Ring time no longer matters then

Grass is green
The sky is blue
The UK voted to leave the EU
The Civic Type R is the king of hot hatches and is the quickest car around the Nurburgring that you can actually buy tomorrow that doesn’t use carbon fibre wheels.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/honda/civic/107348/h...

I’m officially bowing out of this thread and leaving on a high note. If you need me, use the words ‘quickest around the Nurburgring’ and I’ll pop up. Cheers

I much prefer it when you post stuff up about it where it wins for sure!

[DoubleD]

Chestrockwell said:

The Civic Type R is the king of hot hatches and is the quickest car around the Nurburgring that you can actually buy tomorrow that doesn’t use carbon fibre wheels.

So its the 2nd quickest, does that make it the Queen of hot hatches?

[nickfrog]

Chestrockwell said:

I’m officially bowing out of this thread and leaving on a high note. If you need me, use the words ‘quickest around the Nurburgring’ and I’ll pop up. Cheers

Hopefully we'll see you on a track day, including at the Ring, when you have saved up for tyres. And you can show us a sub-8, as if the car can do it, it shouldn't be a problem. Let's just hope it's dry as your track record in the wet isn't great, even in a straight line.

[gigglebug]

Chestrockwell said:

The Civic Type R is the king of hot hatches and is the quickest car around the Nurburgring that you can actually buy tomorrow that doesn’t use carbon fibre wheels.

You could buy one tomorrow with no infotainment or back seat and a 'floating' roll cage fitted?

[Deep Thought]

Being or not being the fastest hatchback without carbon wheels around a particular track in a foreign country on a particular day with perfect weather conditions driven by a particular driver doesnt hold enough sway with me to get past those looks.

[Nerdherder]

JimbobVFR said:

nickfrog said:

What's a tepid hatch then?

I'd guess that would be my Suzuki Swift Sport, although I prefer to call it a proper old school hot hatch with none of this Turbo nonsense.

Haha, a tepid hatch. I’d have one in this case.

[nickfrog]

Deep Thought said:

Being or not being the fastest hatchback without carbon wheels around a particular track in a foreign country on a particular day with perfect weather conditions driven by a particular driver doesnt hold enough sway with me to get past those looks.

indeed.

[Baldchap]

gigglebug said:

Chestrockwell said:

The Civic Type R is the king of hot hatches and is the quickest car around the Nurburgring that you can actually buy tomorrow that doesn’t use carbon fibre wheels.

You could buy one tomorrow with no infotainment or back seat and a 'floating' roll cage fitted?

You raise an interesting point. Is there a laptime anywhere for a standard car with seats and normal road tyres anywhere out there yet? I'd be interested to see why Honda went to such lengths if it's so good to begin with.

Maybe without modification, the standard car couldn't have claimed the FWD record???

[gigglebug]

Baldchap said:

You raise an interesting point. Is there a laptime anywhere for a standard car with seats and normal road tyres anywhere out there yet? I'd be interested to see why Honda went to such lengths if it's so good to begin with.

Maybe without modification, the standard car couldn't have claimed the FWD record???

RacerMike said:

I'd be interested to see the 'real' time when it's reviewed in SportAuto. The 'old' one that allegedly did the 7min50sec could only muster an

8min15sec in the hands of Christian Gebhardt

who independntly managed a respectable

7min56sec lap in the Golf GTI Clubsport S which was only 6s off the official VW time at that point.

Christian is a very quick driver, and having tried myself the other week in my own Focus RS, I would only just have managed to beat his 8min06sec lap if I'd had it clear. As it was, the best I could get was an

8min12sec haemorrhaging time at Adenau Forst behind a hesitant TTS and M3.

I have no doubt in my mind that the best an 'old' production Type R could manage would be around an 8min10sec. A fair way shy of it's alleged record.

In reality, I guess the new car will probably be similar to the 8min06sec of the Focus. Which is still monumentally quick....

Edited by RacerMike on Monday 24th April 12:03

Posts like this, lifted from a thread on Civic's lap time, may be of interest. Have there been any details released of any modifications made to the Megane?

I've nothing against manufacturers setting rings times myself in general, it's all a bit of fun as far as I'm concerned. I always tend to end up gaining more respect for the drivers themselves, as oppose to the metal they are driving, though; especially some of the drives at the top of the list which are just on a different level. I've also got too much self respect to just take them on face value and assume that a) they are black and white and all above board and b) any 'official time' would translate directly to what I could achieve. But each to their own

Edited by gigglebug on Thursday 11th July 10:57

[BreakingBad]

Re the original video, it seems an odd conclusion to me.
If Dan were really basing his decision on spending his own money, I can’t see opting for the Golf as a sensible choice. As he said, the 7R is just about to be replaced and will therefore depreciate substantially when the 8 comes out whereas the A35 is a new model (albeit likely for a facelift in the not-too-distant, as per all models in the middle sectors). So, with very little else to choose between them and the fact that the A35 interior trumps the R’s, I would have thought the A35 would have prevailed, considering Dan’s own criteria.
Personally, I never “connected with” the 7R I had for a couple of years and judging by several other posts, lots of us didn’t: Comments about it being efficient, very competent but somewhat uninspiring to drive completely chime with my own experience. I was pretty disappointed when I had it and not particularly sorry when it went.
The other week I had a short test drive of an A35 and thought it was quite a step up from the Golf: The interior was lovely and the new instrument panel (dashboard is too archaic a word for it ) looks amazing but would take a bit of acclimatisation as it’s quite different to a “normal” one and is configurable, too. The only minor gripe was the rather weedy, steering column-mounted gearshift but overall it was a much more appealing car to me, at least on first acquaintance.
Again, on a personal note, I’m actually more interested in the forthcoming CLA35 “shooting brake” although it remains to be seen how much of a price premium MB decide to stick on that option over the A...

[Deep Thought]

BreakingBad said:

Re the original video, it seems an odd conclusion to me.
If Dan were really basing his decision on spending his own money, I can’t see opting for the Golf as a sensible choice. As he said, the 7R is just about to be replaced and will therefore depreciate substantially when the 8 comes out whereas the A35 is a new model (albeit likely for a facelift in the not-too-distant, as per all models in the middle sectors). So, with very little else to choose between them and the fact that the A35 interior trumps the R’s, I would have thought the A35 would have prevailed, considering Dan’s own criteria.
Personally, I never “connected with” the 7R I had for a couple of years and judging by several other posts, lots of us didn’t: Comments about it being efficient, very competent but somewhat uninspiring to drive completely chime with my own experience. I was pretty disappointed when I had it and not particularly sorry when it went.
The other week I had a short test drive of an A35 and thought it was quite a step up from the Golf: The interior was lovely and the new instrument panel (dashboard is too archaic a word for it ) looks amazing but would take a bit of acclimatisation as it’s quite different to a “normal” one and is configurable, too. The only minor gripe was the rather weedy, steering column-mounted gearshift but overall it was a much more appealing car to me, at least on first acquaintance.
Again, on a personal note, I’m actually more interested in the forthcoming CLA35 “shooting brake” although it remains to be seen how much of a price premium MB decide to stick on that option over the A...

I think the new A class interior is a definite step up from whats otherwise around.

BUT - that big display which seems to be the "must have" option is £2,500+ from memory.

[BreakingBad]

I understand the bigger display is standard on all but the base spec model so probably would make more sense to pick a higher spec (although I’d have to use the MB configurator to check and I find that’s horrible to use on my iPad).

[Deep Thought]

BreakingBad said:

I understand the bigger display is standard on all but the base spec model so probably would make more sense to pick a higher spec (although I’d have to use the MB configurator to check and I find that’s horrible to use on my iPad).

I dont think it is... happy to be proven wrong.

EDIT: Sadly i think i'm right. Its a £2,395 Premium Package option on the A35, or £3,895 in the Premium Plus pack which gets you extra other stuff.

Edited by Deep Thought on Saturday 13th July 13:41

[BreakingBad]

Yes, that’s what I was referring to - I should have phrased it better

[Deep Thought]

BreakingBad said:

Yes, that’s what I was referring to - I should have phrased it better

Ah right, you meant "spec" as in "option pack" rather than "spec" as in A180SE versus A35?

I dont think you can buy the bigger screens in anything other than one of those expensive options packs - which is where Mercedes et al get people these days.

[elandri]

If only he'd tested the Golf in it's "Normal" suspension mode we might have had a valid comparison. Failing to do so has rendered this exercise completely meaningless.