Mk 5 Golf R32 - Supercharged
Discussion
New discs and pads all round plus break fluid with the guys at TRD in Stroud. These guys really know their R32s. Whilst in I'm getting a new auxiliary belt which does the water pump and air con because the one fitted by VW was the wrong size! It was too narrow and I noticed it was starting to squeak.
Also getting the drivers side xenon light reset as it was sitting too low. They self level via 2 sensors which sit on the rear and front of the car. Also getting it scanned on vagcom to make sure there are no hidden faults.
Car is filthy again!
Also getting the drivers side xenon light reset as it was sitting too low. They self level via 2 sensors which sit on the rear and front of the car. Also getting it scanned on vagcom to make sure there are no hidden faults.
Car is filthy again!
Time to bring this thread up to date. Just after Christmas I met up with some fellow PH for an early run out to Wales to sample some of the good roads that way. They didn't disappoint. Company included 2 tuned Audi TTRS with over 400 bhp, Clio V6, 993 Porsche, TTS, old Scooby, E92 M3.
Started off around -4c and foggy but the day turned into a cold crisp, but sunny day. Roads were filthy and a little slippery, not that I noticed it with the Haldex 4WD.
Car filthy again - I promise I do clean it...
The car went in to VW for a main service back in February to include spark plugs and passed its MOT with no advisories. Around April I noticed the car developed an occasional lumpy idle where the rev's fluctuated from 600rpm to 1000 rpm and the fans came on. I took it back to VW who found a few fault codes including one relating to the ignition Gateway and some old ones stored on their. They cleared them and reset the main gateway control unit, plus recommended I changed the fuel filter as whilst it was not strictly a service item, the 3.2 likes to have a drink and any restrictions wouldn't be helping. Afterwards it did feel more spritely and the issue hasn't appeared again.
The R32 has just ticked over 74,000 miles now, having covered 14,000 in my 11 months of ownership. Its seen me move house too and I now have the benefit of an offroad drive, so it will be getting a proper detail over the next few weeks with the help of Jay and his buffing tools!
Unfortunately I have noticed the common rust issue starting to appear on the front arches, it is most noticeable on the passenger side. There is a 12 year anti-corrosion warranty but VW seem to vary in willingness to address the issue under warranty, depending on what dealership you use. Some offering to complete FOC, others ask for a contribution with the need for the customer to pay if they want the paintwork blending from wings to doors and bonnet, which of course you would. As the bonnet has a few marks I would probably get that sprayed too. My nearest VW bodywork repair centre is Newbury VW, they apparently send out an engineer to your nearest VW dealer (Kidlington) assess the paintwork to check the depth and ensure its original, then send you a report with their findings and diagnosis.
I'm also soon to embark on another 2000 mile roadtrip to the South of France on holiday - I will do another update on that trip once I return but before I go, its going to VW for a minor service, Haldex 4WD oil change, DSG oil change and air-con re-gas all for £500 which I thought wasn't too bad.
Started off around -4c and foggy but the day turned into a cold crisp, but sunny day. Roads were filthy and a little slippery, not that I noticed it with the Haldex 4WD.
Car filthy again - I promise I do clean it...
The car went in to VW for a main service back in February to include spark plugs and passed its MOT with no advisories. Around April I noticed the car developed an occasional lumpy idle where the rev's fluctuated from 600rpm to 1000 rpm and the fans came on. I took it back to VW who found a few fault codes including one relating to the ignition Gateway and some old ones stored on their. They cleared them and reset the main gateway control unit, plus recommended I changed the fuel filter as whilst it was not strictly a service item, the 3.2 likes to have a drink and any restrictions wouldn't be helping. Afterwards it did feel more spritely and the issue hasn't appeared again.
The R32 has just ticked over 74,000 miles now, having covered 14,000 in my 11 months of ownership. Its seen me move house too and I now have the benefit of an offroad drive, so it will be getting a proper detail over the next few weeks with the help of Jay and his buffing tools!
Unfortunately I have noticed the common rust issue starting to appear on the front arches, it is most noticeable on the passenger side. There is a 12 year anti-corrosion warranty but VW seem to vary in willingness to address the issue under warranty, depending on what dealership you use. Some offering to complete FOC, others ask for a contribution with the need for the customer to pay if they want the paintwork blending from wings to doors and bonnet, which of course you would. As the bonnet has a few marks I would probably get that sprayed too. My nearest VW bodywork repair centre is Newbury VW, they apparently send out an engineer to your nearest VW dealer (Kidlington) assess the paintwork to check the depth and ensure its original, then send you a report with their findings and diagnosis.
I'm also soon to embark on another 2000 mile roadtrip to the South of France on holiday - I will do another update on that trip once I return but before I go, its going to VW for a minor service, Haldex 4WD oil change, DSG oil change and air-con re-gas all for £500 which I thought wasn't too bad.
si_xsi said:
nearest VW bodywork repair centre is Newbury VW, they apparently send out an engineer to your nearest VW dealer (Kidlington) assess the paintwork to check the depth and ensure its original, then send you a report with their findings and diagnosis.
Good luck, they were useless with both of my old Mk5's.Nice car, very interesting to hear about your engine failure. I do have a 2000 mk4 4 motion (v5) and two years old Vw Beetle 2.0 Turbo (Golf mk7 GTI engine).
In fact, I've decided to purchase Vw Beetle, after putting over 140k miles on this 4 motion, still on original engine and clutch
I was very close to getting mk5 r32 or mk7 R but after test driving beetle, I decided for a change, knowing that shares the same engine with GTI, was pretty confident. I had two porsches in between (986 boxster mine, and 997 c2 fathers company car).
Both porks, were fantastic to drive but needed engine rebuild at some stage!
- Fantastic cars to drive, but nightmare to own to be honest.
Your piston failure is interesting because many times been advised by both official VW and indies, that you need to maintain a decent fuel consumption and keep the engine on good revs before hitting proper oil temperatures. I keep both Golf and Beetle under 3000 rpms, until I hit 90 on oil temperature gauge. Not particularly Golf R32 but heard tiguan and scirocco (1.4 & 1.6) engines failing (cracked piston heads) due to this issue.
In fact, I've decided to purchase Vw Beetle, after putting over 140k miles on this 4 motion, still on original engine and clutch
I was very close to getting mk5 r32 or mk7 R but after test driving beetle, I decided for a change, knowing that shares the same engine with GTI, was pretty confident. I had two porsches in between (986 boxster mine, and 997 c2 fathers company car).
Both porks, were fantastic to drive but needed engine rebuild at some stage!
- Fantastic cars to drive, but nightmare to own to be honest.Your piston failure is interesting because many times been advised by both official VW and indies, that you need to maintain a decent fuel consumption and keep the engine on good revs before hitting proper oil temperatures. I keep both Golf and Beetle under 3000 rpms, until I hit 90 on oil temperature gauge. Not particularly Golf R32 but heard tiguan and scirocco (1.4 & 1.6) engines failing (cracked piston heads) due to this issue.
Moderators – any chance you could change my topic title to ‘ A tale of 2 VW Golf R32s ‘ its more appropriate and I'd prefer not to create a new thread.
Time for an update. Whilst out on a Sunday afternoon drive on some of my favourite local roads (where Harry Metcalfe from Harry’s Garage drives his cars), I managed to clout a huge wood pigeon at about 60mph which damaged the lower centre grill. Once I managed to pull out the bird, maggots and feathers, thankfully I could see the radiator was ok and the damage was cosmetic. Now, whilst the black grill section does separate from the silver bumper part, VW do not sell it separately so you have to buy the whole replacement silver section, cost…£500 plus fitting, so currently on the lookout on ebay for a used one but they are quite rare.
Got leant a new diesel Scirocco 150 whilst mine was in for a pre-holiday service, DSG & Haldex oil change and air con regas. It was pleasant enough, very frugal, did about 150 miles on a quarter of a tank which made a nice change.
ROADTRIP!!
Route
https://goo.gl/maps/ZZndM6W94C52
2150 miles in total
7 tanks of Super Unleaded
Average about 30mpg.
Back to the south of France again, this time with my fairly heavily pregnant OH and her mother, we met my father down there. We caught the 7.30am ferry from Dover and were able to make good progress down to Morey Saint Denis just south of Dijon for our overnight stop over, arriving about 4pm. Quick nap and a decent meal and few beers.
Up early and made our way to the villa in Lacoste, the Luberon region of Provence. Simply bliss.
Glad I got the air con re-gassed before we left.
After Lacoste, we made our way across and up to Lac Annnecy via the top half of the N85 Route napoleon. It absolutely chucked it down all day so I was thankful for the 4wd as the twisty mountain roads were a bit sketchy in places. Got a few thumbs up from a van load of French Tradesman on the autoroute, they were clearly into their cars, then the same from a couple of yoofs entering one mountain village….bwwaarp. I think the R32 is a pretty rare sight over there. If you are doing th Route napoleon, the bottom half is supposed to be the best, its on the list for another time, including Lake Como.
One of its many fill ups…..
As we neared the Swiss boarder the cars suddenly became a lot more exotic
We stayed for 2 nights in Annecy, probably 1 too many to be honest but amazing scenery and food. The underground car parks are so clean, safe and inexpensive.
Our final night was in Epernay amongst the Champagne region of northern France.
Some pretty special Champagne Houses but the stopover was tarnished by those pesky French Lorry drivers who decided to go on strike in many French cities that day. It took over 1hr 30 mins to get back to the autoroute which was 4 miles away, so I had to put my foot down to make up time and to fit in the obligatory Calais supermarket booze and food stock up.
Then a slightly choppy ferry back to Blighty.
The R32 took 3/4 of us and our luggage in comfort all the way and never missed a beat. However, about 2 months afterwards, I noticed a noise coming from the driver’s side rear. Snapped suspension spring…probbably all the wine from France, so I’ve just had both rear springs, control arms and bushes replaced, it feels much tighter as you would expect. I imagine the front suspension won’t be far behind needing a refresh as it approaches 80k miles.
I went to the Classic Motor Hub in the Cotswolds for the first time for their final cars and coffee breakfast meeet. Some lovely metal on display and in attendance. It was also great to see my fellow pistonheader and detailer Steve Bell who has set up part of his business there. Also bumped into Henry Cole from The Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides, had a chat wwith him about his upcoming series, thoroughly nice chap who is not afraid to say it how it is!
Things left to do:
Sort out front wings under VW warranty
Source new front grill.
Those going to Silverstone Sunday service tomorrow, see you there
Time for an update. Whilst out on a Sunday afternoon drive on some of my favourite local roads (where Harry Metcalfe from Harry’s Garage drives his cars), I managed to clout a huge wood pigeon at about 60mph which damaged the lower centre grill. Once I managed to pull out the bird, maggots and feathers, thankfully I could see the radiator was ok and the damage was cosmetic. Now, whilst the black grill section does separate from the silver bumper part, VW do not sell it separately so you have to buy the whole replacement silver section, cost…£500 plus fitting, so currently on the lookout on ebay for a used one but they are quite rare.
Got leant a new diesel Scirocco 150 whilst mine was in for a pre-holiday service, DSG & Haldex oil change and air con regas. It was pleasant enough, very frugal, did about 150 miles on a quarter of a tank which made a nice change.
ROADTRIP!!
Route
https://goo.gl/maps/ZZndM6W94C52
2150 miles in total
7 tanks of Super Unleaded
Average about 30mpg.
Back to the south of France again, this time with my fairly heavily pregnant OH and her mother, we met my father down there. We caught the 7.30am ferry from Dover and were able to make good progress down to Morey Saint Denis just south of Dijon for our overnight stop over, arriving about 4pm. Quick nap and a decent meal and few beers.
Up early and made our way to the villa in Lacoste, the Luberon region of Provence. Simply bliss.
Glad I got the air con re-gassed before we left.
After Lacoste, we made our way across and up to Lac Annnecy via the top half of the N85 Route napoleon. It absolutely chucked it down all day so I was thankful for the 4wd as the twisty mountain roads were a bit sketchy in places. Got a few thumbs up from a van load of French Tradesman on the autoroute, they were clearly into their cars, then the same from a couple of yoofs entering one mountain village….bwwaarp. I think the R32 is a pretty rare sight over there. If you are doing th Route napoleon, the bottom half is supposed to be the best, its on the list for another time, including Lake Como.
One of its many fill ups…..
As we neared the Swiss boarder the cars suddenly became a lot more exotic
We stayed for 2 nights in Annecy, probably 1 too many to be honest but amazing scenery and food. The underground car parks are so clean, safe and inexpensive.
Our final night was in Epernay amongst the Champagne region of northern France.
Some pretty special Champagne Houses but the stopover was tarnished by those pesky French Lorry drivers who decided to go on strike in many French cities that day. It took over 1hr 30 mins to get back to the autoroute which was 4 miles away, so I had to put my foot down to make up time and to fit in the obligatory Calais supermarket booze and food stock up.
Then a slightly choppy ferry back to Blighty.
The R32 took 3/4 of us and our luggage in comfort all the way and never missed a beat. However, about 2 months afterwards, I noticed a noise coming from the driver’s side rear. Snapped suspension spring…probbably all the wine from France, so I’ve just had both rear springs, control arms and bushes replaced, it feels much tighter as you would expect. I imagine the front suspension won’t be far behind needing a refresh as it approaches 80k miles.
I went to the Classic Motor Hub in the Cotswolds for the first time for their final cars and coffee breakfast meeet. Some lovely metal on display and in attendance. It was also great to see my fellow pistonheader and detailer Steve Bell who has set up part of his business there. Also bumped into Henry Cole from The Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides, had a chat wwith him about his upcoming series, thoroughly nice chap who is not afraid to say it how it is!
Things left to do:
Sort out front wings under VW warranty
Source new front grill.
Those going to Silverstone Sunday service tomorrow, see you there
Update.
Noticed my old supercharged R32 was sold again on ebay recently. I've been in contact with the last 2 owners after me so wonder who has it now???
Back to my car. Both front wings have now been replaced under the 12 Year VW anti-corrosion warranty - free of charge. It took a while to claim but perseverance paid off. Marshalls of Newbury if anyone is interested. They blended into the doors but not the bonnet. Overall im happy with the job, just needs a good detail now.
I've also had 2 new rear springs and control arms / bushes as one of the springs snapped. The cause - water sits in the bottom of the spring compression housing. Rubbish design as the water cannot drain out. My fully laiden road trip to France in the summer probably finished them off!
I'm still on the look out for a new grill, they occasionally come up on flebay but are usually damaged and you have to be quick.
I've noticed my Bluetooth has stopped working. Its a Kufatec Fiscon unit which is a VW approved aftermarket solution, it worked really well with the RNS510 and multi function steering wheel. I'd like to keep the OEM look. So I took it to the original supplier and installer and they reset the system. They warned it was probably fitted about 8 years ago when the car was new and that a reset may not last...Well it didn't, so i'm looking at £250 for a replacement module which can be connected to the existing wiring and microphone.
This is next on the list as its annoying not having Spotify. It also gives a handy additional display on the highline computer showing oil and water temps, voltage, digital rpm and boost/psi if you had a charged / turbo set up!
Also due a main service which im booking in as I type as its hit 85,000 miles.
Noticed my old supercharged R32 was sold again on ebay recently. I've been in contact with the last 2 owners after me so wonder who has it now???
Back to my car. Both front wings have now been replaced under the 12 Year VW anti-corrosion warranty - free of charge. It took a while to claim but perseverance paid off. Marshalls of Newbury if anyone is interested. They blended into the doors but not the bonnet. Overall im happy with the job, just needs a good detail now.
I've also had 2 new rear springs and control arms / bushes as one of the springs snapped. The cause - water sits in the bottom of the spring compression housing. Rubbish design as the water cannot drain out. My fully laiden road trip to France in the summer probably finished them off!
I'm still on the look out for a new grill, they occasionally come up on flebay but are usually damaged and you have to be quick.
I've noticed my Bluetooth has stopped working. Its a Kufatec Fiscon unit which is a VW approved aftermarket solution, it worked really well with the RNS510 and multi function steering wheel. I'd like to keep the OEM look. So I took it to the original supplier and installer and they reset the system. They warned it was probably fitted about 8 years ago when the car was new and that a reset may not last...Well it didn't, so i'm looking at £250 for a replacement module which can be connected to the existing wiring and microphone.
This is next on the list as its annoying not having Spotify. It also gives a handy additional display on the highline computer showing oil and water temps, voltage, digital rpm and boost/psi if you had a charged / turbo set up!
Also due a main service which im booking in as I type as its hit 85,000 miles.
Up to 91.5k miles now, all going well. I need to get the front consol bushes replaced as things have got a little loose up front. VW quoted £550 to do this Vs a specialist at £275 so will book it in with the latter soon.
Otherwise not much to report. We have just come back from a week long holiday to France, this time Brittany, the car performed brilliantly but did highlight the need for more space given we have an 11 month old. By the time you put a travel cot, buggy and suitcases in, it doesn't leave much room for bringing back other essentials like French wine! The plan is to replace her old focus tdci at some stage with an estate such as e90 bmw 330d or C6 Audi A6 avant 3.0 tdi, I like the Le mans spec. That way the r32 can be kept and used for shorter trips rather than my daily and I can use the diesel wagon for longer work trips and family duties.
Mini petrol head number 1
In other news I see my old supercharged r32 is on eBay being broken for parts following more engine issues, seller advising no compression. Oh dear...
Otherwise not much to report. We have just come back from a week long holiday to France, this time Brittany, the car performed brilliantly but did highlight the need for more space given we have an 11 month old. By the time you put a travel cot, buggy and suitcases in, it doesn't leave much room for bringing back other essentials like French wine! The plan is to replace her old focus tdci at some stage with an estate such as e90 bmw 330d or C6 Audi A6 avant 3.0 tdi, I like the Le mans spec. That way the r32 can be kept and used for shorter trips rather than my daily and I can use the diesel wagon for longer work trips and family duties.
Mini petrol head number 1
In other news I see my old supercharged r32 is on eBay being broken for parts following more engine issues, seller advising no compression. Oh dear...
Nice one Simon 
Regarding the bushes up front , look into Superpro Anti Lift kit, these will really tighten up the handling up front.
For the price of what VW charged you , you could get the Anti Lift kit and the Superpro Ball joints which add camber and really help grip up front mid corner!!
Regarding the bushes up front , look into Superpro Anti Lift kit, these will really tighten up the handling up front.
For the price of what VW charged you , you could get the Anti Lift kit and the Superpro Ball joints which add camber and really help grip up front mid corner!!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff