RAJ27

Fellow petrolheads,

Thinking of picking one of these up in April.

GTI (5 door) will have DSG and the rest more or less standard. Feels a bit more planted than the MK5 and prefer the looks in and out. Having said that the MK 5 going on 6 years old has aged very well.

R32 (5 door) again with DSG and as second hand who knows what the spec will be.
4wd grip, last of the V6 R Golfs and that noise

The dealer (here in Aus) said that the GTI will be a better buy as it's newer, new car warranty, lighter, better on the juice and will be easier to sell on.

He also said that the R32 MK4 was such a step up from the MK4 GTI that it became a cult car. The MK5 R32 wasn't a significant leap up and isn't that much more desirable or that much faster than the GTI.

Confused....thoughts?

Thanks

Jay

Andy M3

go for the gti, or wait a bit and get the R20?

stilover

R32 has the Character, but isn't much faster than the Mk5 GTI. The GTI is a better balanced car, but the R32 has the wet weather grip. Evo Mag would take the GTI over the R32.

The Mk6 GTI is IMHO very over priced. For a decent specced one, you're looking at nearly £27-30K. Only 10bhp more than the Mk5 GTI.

Personally out of your choice, I'd go Mk6 GTI and get it chipped.

or........... Buy a last of the line MK5 GTI, save thousands, and get that chipped.

If you're thinking of MK5 R32, who about a second hand Audi S3? Faster, better handling, better badge, and will hold it's value better.

Either R32 or S3, I'd say get one with the Bucket seats.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Golf GTi-R

stilover

Mk5 Golf GTI edition 30.

zippy!

iTrader: (1)

i work for vw and have to say i,d have the mk5 r32 with all the toys, the really nice leather interior and blue and white l,e,d dash lighting which looks great! im not a fan of the new shape tbh but if you wanted to go into nerdy power figures not many people know this but the mk5 gti edition 30 is actually faster than the r32 by about 5 to 7 bhp!

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

I drove an R32 a few years ago with a view of swapping my daily hack GTi for one. Apart from the R32 feeling a lot more planted than the GTi there was no real difference.

I would go for the GTi all day long, it just makes more sense.

mamoon2

Do you mean the Golf R20? No such thing as a Golf GTi-R

austinwrx

I looked at the mark 5 r32, before my impreza.

bought the impreza as its slightly faster and 100% reliable unlike vw.

said it before on here, been a big vw fan but reliability is shocking.

had a mk 4 golf, bought from vw, 9 mths old. try 35 trips back under warrenty in 18 mths.

never ever again.

RAJ27

Thanks for the replies/suggestions.

I've heard that the MK4 was a shocker on all accounts and VW upped the ante and moved things on for the MK5. Bit the like the Mercs in the back 10 years back.

The R20 here in Aus will cost around 35 grand sterling and that's basic as. Also VW have reduced the bhp by around 10bhp because of the heat here I kid you not.

If I was to get a new MK6 Gti, how can I remap it without invalidating the warranty?

austinwrx

surely you can get some lovel rice burners, being a lot closer than to the land of the rising sun, than us here in pommie land ????

Matteeboy

The mk4 was utter pants except for the R32 which I had for a year - VW must have worked some serious magic on it because it handled about 57575783020 times better than the other mk4 range (including the V6 4Motion), sounded great and looked pretty good. The mk5 R32 was too similar to the GTi - 250bhp vs 200ish for the mk5, 240bhp vs 150 for the mk4. It also looks a bit odd with that chrome grille and horrible rear pipes and wheels. However it's still a decent car but I do think the edition 30 GTi is a better bet.

Not tried the mk6 GTi but it sounds good - if a little duller than the mk5.

RAJ27

Jap cars don't float my boat any more. Interiors are still ****e/ body work tinny. Would never get a Scoob or Evo considering how much fuel they use. Had a Scoob classic STI V5 but never again will I get a Scoob.

Tech wise I think the Germans are just leaps ahead at the moment (bar the R35). Twin Turbos doing mid 30's mpg, DSGs, very very rapid diesels etc etc.

Back in the 80's/90's Jap cars had stuff like electric everything, 4 wheel steer blah blah, but now the Europeans have caught up and pissing all over the Japs in terms of tech imo.

The Jap cars are mainly driven by 'bogans' (the Aussie equivalent of Chavs) with big exhaust, dump valves etc. Not into that anymore.

djmisio85

Actually, a few years ago I saw a silver golf with a Pulsar GTI-R bonnet vent grafted onto the bonnet.... along with GTI-R badges This was in the Alperton/Wembley area

NotoriousREV

No such thing as a Golf R20 either, it's just called the Golf R.

RAJ27

Ordered a 5 door carbon silver Golf GTI with DSG today, really happy with the car and love the looks. Just have to wait 6 weeks for delivery lol!

Matteeboy

Carbon silver? Is that black, grey or silver? Assume mk6 then?

Should be fun!

mamoon2

The concept was called the R20 before all the official stuff came out but you're quite right it is the Golf R

RAJ27

That would be posh name for Grey lol. Yep Mk 6. Thanks should be good.

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/uploads/gti6_1.jpg

Matteeboy

You got those wheels too?

Very nice indeed. And easy to clean!

RAJ27

No went with the 17's instead. The 18's ride to hard and look slighlty too pimped for my liking. Always likes the Pirellis special edition 18's.

However, the adaptive chassis thingy lessens the ride harshness, but that too is another costly option

Kept the car options as basic as.

Matteeboy

Refreshing to see someone not instantly opt for huge alloys. It makes sense.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'm inclined to agree partly; except with the EVO mag and balance bit; Make up your own mind, do not rely on some poncy over opinionated journalists to do it for you. Thats how I ended up with a R32 and not a GTi. If I took EVO's advice I would have had a GTi...and would have made a big mistake IMO, considering the circumstances in which I drive.
The point I'm getting at is it depends on how one wants to drive their car and what road conditions they have to endure every day.

The GTi doesn't have the all-weather ability, doesn't sound that nice, and the only time it out-does an R32 is on a dry day. So seeing the UK's roads are wet/damp roads for most of the year, its a somewhat moot point. And thats where the balance bit comes in; guess what the GTi does in the wet? Yup, just like any other FWD car in the damp. With the R32 or S3, it doesn't matter about the road conditions, they still perform extremely well regardless of road conditions.


So, RAJ27, I think to help decide one needs to ask a few things;

Do you like to have good handling/grip and traction in the wet/damp?

Do you like to be able to quickly pull out of a junction on a busy high speed road and know one can pull away and accelerate hard in low gears without any concern or traction issues or ESP kicking in excessively?

If yes, you want a AWD; R32, or S3
If no, GTi, ED30, Scirocco etc.


Further questions to ask:

Do you like the the noise and instant throttle response of the VR6 engine?
Does poor MPG/high road tax bother you?

If yes for the former and no for the latter; R32. Otherwise S3, or Golf R


DSG or manual? Personally I don't like the DSG; especially on AWD VAGs as they bog down the engine when pulling away from a a standstill quickly. But I hate most autos, so its understandable. I like to stir a stick and occupy my left foot; its part of the fun of involved driving IMO. Smoeone who is more tolerant of autos may think differently though.

In all cases; the deep bucket seats are a must (so long as its not a 3door and nobody needs to get into the back ). Ok they are a little awkward to get in/out, but if my gran can get in and out ok, then so can you.

Matteeboy

Ali - good post. I've had three letters in Evo (I know - geek) questioning their testing/reporting of cars. They certainly do just spin stuff to try and suit themselves quite often.

The mk4 R32 was praised, won tests then shot down in flames at the end of term report - basically they just got bored of it and wanted the next new thing.
They harp on about big wheels ruining ride/handling then moan about 18" alloys on a hatch "not filling the arches" (like 19s would).
They praise hot Renaults no end but never mention the terrible reliability or dreadful dealers.


And a number of other things.

Think RAJ has ordered the car now - I reckon it's a good one but the R32 will always be that little bit extra special to me having had one for a year.

RAJ27

Lads.......I live in Australia in fact the Sunshine State lol......so it doesn't rain here...ok tell a lie when it rains it rains!! Most days are sunny as, so the traction issue isn't a real problem.

The Golf R will be nice, but over here with how crap the value of sterling is ....I reckon we could be paying around 40k-42k sterling!!! bloody shocking. Not paying that for a VW.

The MK5 interior quality is surprisingly poor when compared to the MK6, but that's my opinion. Bucket seats R32 stylee was never offered here as an option. They look stunning

Will always love that R32 sound, but it was just too heavy for me. BTW Never drove the MK4 so basing my opinion on the MK5.

Finally DSG...... the Australian's predominantly choose auto rather than manual....so 'one' word re-sale. DSG is the best compromise...... i hate 'standard' autos.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

There you go then; warm dry roads = GTI win


You are probably right about the trim on the MkVs. VW plastics have been on a downward spiral since the MkIII IMO. Especially with how the rubber wears off the door handles/window switches on cars used in hot climates (I've had quite a few rentals like this in Spain which despite being only 6months old looked very tatty). And I've had to get the silicone gun out to sort the odd rattle from poor trim fixings on mine. That and some warranty/dealer issues are all that mars an otherwise superb car.

One thing on the R32's weight though; I was musing at some tech specs the other day and found the new Golf R weighs MORE than a R32, yet it has a smaller engine and is mechanically very similar to the (lighter) S3. Strange that, as I swear I read somewhere that one reason for dropping the VR6 engine was to help save weight