VW Golf R32 ... advice please
Discussion
MSTRBKR said:
Mk4, 5 or 6?
No Mk6 R32, I don't think anyway.Assuming its a Mk4, you'll be lucky to see even remotely reasonable MPG. 25-30 motorway and 20-25 town, but probably more as you'll want to floor it everywhere to hear the noise they make.
LPG conversion- not much room in the back, as the Haldex transfer box takes up a fair bit of space. Would require making holes all over it. Won't work on FSI engines (is the Mk5 R32 the later FSI or the earlier 3.2? I cant remember...). I'd avoid and get a cheap diesel instead if your worried about fuel costs.
Assuming you mean a Mk5, I'd be surprised if there's much room for a LPG tank. The boot floor is already a little higher in the R32 than a normal Golf due to the 4wd gubbins. And only a space-saver spare, so not much roon in the spare wheel well for the tank.
I don't think I ever saw 30mpg out of mine, even on a long steady run. Remarkably, my e46 M3 is better on fuel and, with its extra 90bhp over the R32, is much more fun.
I only kept mine for three months before swapping it for the M3. It was nice but just not special enough for the fuel / insurance / purchase / tax etc costs (in my opinion, obviously).
My advice is not to get one without a warranty. In the three months I had mine it needed new coil packs, a new flywheel and clutch and the self-levelling xenons stopped self-levelling. And mine was a 58 plate car with only 4,000 miles on the clock when I bought it. In the three months I owned it, it spent at least 3 weeks with the dealers. Just not good enough, in my view.
So in summary, my view: nice car but just not nice enough. But each to their own!
I don't think I ever saw 30mpg out of mine, even on a long steady run. Remarkably, my e46 M3 is better on fuel and, with its extra 90bhp over the R32, is much more fun.
I only kept mine for three months before swapping it for the M3. It was nice but just not special enough for the fuel / insurance / purchase / tax etc costs (in my opinion, obviously).
My advice is not to get one without a warranty. In the three months I had mine it needed new coil packs, a new flywheel and clutch and the self-levelling xenons stopped self-levelling. And mine was a 58 plate car with only 4,000 miles on the clock when I bought it. In the three months I owned it, it spent at least 3 weeks with the dealers. Just not good enough, in my view.
So in summary, my view: nice car but just not nice enough. But each to their own!
qureshia said:
no way to LPG - why ????
Why not? He can drive a great V6 for the same fuelling cost as diesel.I converted my BMW 330i sport saloon. It was great. Performance was great (mildly down on torque when on lpg but still did it's indicated 150mph. The only real drawback for me was range or lack of it due to the small tank I fitted in the spare wheel well (40l tank and I was getting 20mpg the way I drove...)
Like said before though - I don't think you will have any room for the tank in an R32 unless you give up all of the boot? If you are willing to do that then it will be an interesting car...
I briefly toyed with the idea of converting an M3 but could not find anyone anywhere who had ever converted one. I certainly didn't want to be the first in case there was some sort of problem. Plenty of 3.0 engines had been done before me so I was confident in getting that done.
Try googling to see if anyone in Europe has converted the R32 engine to run on lpg - more likely to be have done to a R36 passat or a 3.2 Audi A6/A4 because of the space issue but are they not the same engines? (apart from the R36 obviously).
I see you are looking at MK4.
I ALSO considered a MK4 Bora V6 4motion because of the huge boot and the fact they were cheap as chips.
Not as fast as the R32 or showy but will make an interesting and very cheap to buy and run sleeper in comparison. I am sure that with the change some suspension mods can be made to make it feel and handle more like and R32?
I ALSO considered a MK4 Bora V6 4motion because of the huge boot and the fact they were cheap as chips.
Not as fast as the R32 or showy but will make an interesting and very cheap to buy and run sleeper in comparison. I am sure that with the change some suspension mods can be made to make it feel and handle more like and R32?
Dino D said:
Try googling to see if anyone in Europe has converted the R32 engine to run on lpg - more likely to be have done to a R36 passat or a 3.2 Audi A6/A4 because of the space issue but are they not the same engines? (apart from the R36 obviously).
R36 motor is based off the FSI 3.2 VR6. Audi 3.2 is a totally different engine, a standard V6 rather than a VR.ManOpener said:
Dino D said:
Try googling to see if anyone in Europe has converted the R32 engine to run on lpg - more likely to be have done to a R36 passat or a 3.2 Audi A6/A4 because of the space issue but are they not the same engines? (apart from the R36 obviously).
R36 motor is based off the FSI 3.2 VR6. Audi 3.2 is a totally different engine, a standard V6 rather than a VR.My father has one, and I have driven it fairly extensively. I can only echo all the above comments though. My one comment is that 90% of the throttle comes in about 10% of the pedal movement, which makes it seem faster that it is at first! A remap helps quite a lot apparently.
rob1234 said:
ManOpener said:
Dino D said:
Try googling to see if anyone in Europe has converted the R32 engine to run on lpg - more likely to be have done to a R36 passat or a 3.2 Audi A6/A4 because of the space issue but are they not the same engines? (apart from the R36 obviously).
R36 motor is based off the FSI 3.2 VR6. Audi 3.2 is a totally different engine, a standard V6 rather than a VR.My father has one, and I have driven it fairly extensively. I can only echo all the above comments though. My one comment is that 90% of the throttle comes in about 10% of the pedal movement, which makes it seem faster that it is at first! A remap helps quite a lot apparently.
Tom H said:
Well thanks for all the advice now it's make my mind up time
I had a mkV R32 for a week (bought from VW and then sold back to them) I was glad to get out of it tbh, even ignoring the electrical fault. The car is too heavy and underpowered IMO. MPG wise, for stop/start town driving we didn't get over 20/21mpg. On a mway run I think we got it up to about 26/27. It uses too much fuel for what you get back from it.
Insurance is also comically high as they seem to be VERY popular with the car thieves.
Buy a GTI instead
Less cost, better MPG and as fast, if not faster in real world situations.Also, what ever version you go for, buy one with the later RNS-510 touch screen satnav already fitted. Anything else is absolute s
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