Golf r/ Scirocco R

[chan61922]

Hi guys I’m actually a die hard BM fan, but had a few golfs in my early boy racer day as you do lol slight dilemma atm struggling to find a correctly priced, specced, year and colour e9x m3 and getting slightly itchy fingers to get behind wheel of a new motor. The golf r in particular has my attention I think if I were to leave bmw either the R or a S5 are strongest contenders. My question is..

Does the scirocco have a 300ps version like the golf r? All I can find are r line equivalent diesels and older models which push out 260ish? Would any recommend these? Has they the quite a fair bit cheaper than the golf variant, don’t quote me on that only been looking breifly, but if that is the case, why?? I think they look the part, really aggressive and love the wide body illusion it gives. Are the older models any good has they are really reasonably priced, old has in 12/13 plate? Any one remapped there’s? What sort of figures were U seeing? Was the power fully useable? The upper limit of my budget is at 17/18k, I would really love the m3 but looking at 08/09 models for that money and I can’t really see much resale value when I come to see after a few years? I don’t know, tempered with a vw at the same time. Would love a S3 but too small and common and too expensive, rs3/rs4/rs5 just out the question unless I went for an older model. S5 also a strong contender but again for the budget would prob be an older 4.2 version rather than the 3.0t.

Any input appreciated

Cheers

[va1o]

The Scirocco R is based on the older Golf Mk5/ Mk6 chassis and can't accommodate the Haldex 4Motion system. So it's limited to the 260PS version of the 2.0 TFSI and won't match a Golf R for performance.

I would say for £17-18k the Mk7 Golf R is easily your best buy. The MQB chassis is significantly improved on the older PQ35 used by the Scirocco. It's an almost unbeatable all rounder with incredible performance whilst being very usable/ practical as a car. At it's best with the DSG gearbox.

This one looks well priced for the Hatch - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Or if you'd consider the Estate you get a lot more for the money - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

You also mentioned the Audi S5 but I'm not sure they're worth bothering with in that price range. I owned the older 4.2 V8 FSI and found it more of a Grand Tourer than performance car. Moved it on pretty quickly as the running costs couldn't really be justified!

[chan61922]

Cheers for your input mate, so basically the scirocco is no match compared to the golf? Been checking a few more since I last posted and I really do think they look part, think the newer ones pack 280ps, but perhaps your right, I’ll probably regret going for it rather than the golf, not heard one bad thing about the golf. Think I need to get myself to a dealer and try and test drive them both and see what the hype is about! Cheers for the links also, u fortunately I wanted a 3 door, not old enough for a estate just yet lol I think I’d go with a approved used model from a dealer tbh, just for peace of mind Incase things go pear shaped, Can see this type of car attracting a lot of heavy footed, spirited young drivers (including myself lol)
I thought the s5 might of been abit lively and fruity? can imagine it weighing a fair bit though and being very nose heavy?
What’s running costs on a golf r like for a lot of town driving in London, and occasional motorway blast? Lots of dual carriage way driving? How would it compare to a m140i say?

[Adrian E]

I've driven a Scirocco R, and own a Mk7 GTI Performance Pack and an S5 Sportback, so feel reasonably equipped to respond

The Scirocco R is great fun, and if you like how it drives and can live with the older platform, crack on and enjoy it. It is much smaller inside than the Golf - we didn't buy as it's the only car my son's been in the back of that's made him physically sick! The back seat is quite cramped and there's little in terms of window area. I can't recall if adaptive damping is optional or standard - worth finding one with it, as it makes town driving more pleasant. I'm fairly sure it's standard on the R. Don't mix the R-Line and R - one is a trim level, the other the halo model.

We bought the GTI as wanted a cheaper to run car, and we've got the S5 for 4x4 duties. It gives an easy 30mpg. The comparable BMWs do seem to be better on fuel, on the whole, than the VAG offerings.

The S5 in V8 form is not a sporting drive, as per the post above. It's not that quick but it drinks like a rampant alcoholic! The v6t engine is more sporting in nature and comes with flappy paddle box (the V8 is an old generation ZF 6 speed tiptronic auto) but it's a bigger footprint car from the size class above.

Have yet to drive a Golf R, but I'm tempted to replace the S5 with an estate R (but i am old enough that estate ownership does not bother me - at one point in time we were a x2 estate family when we were doing up our previous house!)

[chan61922]

Thanks for the input mate, interesting! I agree, I can’t see the scirocco being very spacious, esp with a baby seat in the back. literally just 2 individual seats. Not a huge deal for me as I don’t have any kids, but would be an added bonus to fit more than 2 adults in the back. What year is your gti? Why did you go for a gti over the r? Was it purely for running costs? Would you say there’s a big difference to the gti and r, I know you haven’t driven an r but maybe you researched the 2 beforehand. The gti does seem to be abit cheaper then the r and they look very similar apart from the 4 exhaust pipes, I’ve previoulsy Owed a gti only a mark 4 but that was very fun at the time that is, talking 15 years ago now haha I don’t particularly fancy a another petrol guzzler so I don’t think I’d go for a older v8 model s5, I think you must be right though i very rarely see s5’s about compared to s3’s. Do you have much knowledge of the newer 3.0t version? I do really like the presence of the s5, it’s smart and not too boy racerish, which I like. I can see a r getting a lot of unwanted attention particular from young kids up to no good! What’s the difference between r line and r? Is r line just a trim level ie s.e, sport, black edition? Not too familiar with how things are over at vag nowadays has I’ve been in BMW’s for years now currently on 5th. Is the touraeg r any good? I do quite like the idea of them too, never Owned suv/4x4 vehicle before. Had a brief look at them seems there 3.0diesels at 260ish ps is that correct or is there a petrol equivalent? Saying that I can imagine a petrol equivalent being very thirsty

Cheers

[Adrian E]

chan61922 said:

Thanks for the input mate, interesting! I agree, I can’t see the scirocco being very spacious, esp with a baby seat in the back. literally just 2 individual seats. Not a huge deal for me as I don’t have any kids, but would be an added bonus to fit more than 2 adults in the back. What year is your gti? Why did you go for a gti over the r? Was it purely for running costs? Would you say there’s a big difference to the gti and r, I know you haven’t driven an r but maybe you researched the 2 beforehand. The gti does seem to be abit cheaper then the r and they look very similar apart from the 4 exhaust pipes, I’ve previoulsy Owed a gti only a mark 4 but that was very fun at the time that is, talking 15 years ago now haha I don’t particularly fancy a another petrol guzzler so I don’t think I’d go for a older v8 model s5, I think you must be right though i very rarely see s5’s about compared to s3’s. Do you have much knowledge of the newer 3.0t version? I do really like the presence of the s5, it’s smart and not too boy racerish, which I like. I can see a r getting a lot of unwanted attention particular from young kids up to no good! What’s the difference between r line and r? Is r line just a trim level ie s.e, sport, black edition? Not too familiar with how things are over at vag nowadays has I’ve been in BMW’s for years now currently on 5th. Is the touraeg r any good? I do quite like the idea of them too, never Owned suv/4x4 vehicle before. Had a brief look at them seems there 3.0diesels at 260ish ps is that correct or is there a petrol equivalent? Saying that I can imagine a petrol equivalent being very thirsty

Cheers

You can get an adult in the back of the Scirocco - they just can't see much outside the car so depends on frequency and length of journey as to whether it's a problem for you or not.

Our GTI is a late 2015 (65 plate) and just hit 3 years old. We've had it 2 years now and bought it privately. It's very high spec, which was a major bonus over a lot of ex-lease options through the main dealer network with little or no options. I was coming out of an original Audi S8 so didn't want to lose every toy!

I wanted something 'fun' but practical, with significantly lower running costs than the S5, which we've owned for about 5 years now. The R hatch has a smaller boot than the GTI (the boot floor is higher in the R to accommodate the running gear) and I wanted the slightly more anonymous looks of the GTI to avoid the worry of parking it more or less anywhere.

I fully expect the R to be a totally different animal, and therefore to really want one if I drove it, which is why I didn't at the time of buying the GTI! I wanted to try an R estate recently, but was waiting for my driving licence to come back from DVLA after renewing my HGV entitlement and the dealer wouldn't allow me to drive it with an 'expired' photo ID. The boot is much longer so the fact the floor is higher isn't such an issue for us. I've now ruled it out because you can't specify a factory towbar for it and I want to be able to carry bikes on the back, like I do with the GTI. The GTI clearly loses out in traction terms - it's pretty easy to set the TC off if you're giving it the beans, even more so at this time of year when getting off the line can be challenging.

The v6t is a great engine in the S5 - not particularly nice to listen to, but it definitely sounds like a V6 when extended - the farts and pops on fast upshifts are suitably amusing, but this is more a result of the 7 speed DSG than the engine. On facelift S5s the supercharger is different and introduces stop-start, so it's significantly better on fuel than ours (which averages not much more than 20mpg)

Can't help with your other queries, I'm afraid.