Golf VR6 or Golf GTI-TURBO?
 

My baby has to go -my1998 2000 turbo.Therefore thinking about VR6 or GTI-TURBO. ANY FEEDBACK WOULD BE GREAT IN RELATION TO HOW THESE CARS, perform,handle,mpg. cheers

My Fiancee has a 94 Golf VR6 and it's a great car, hers has done 105,000 miles from new and even with spirited driving it can turn in 30mpg with ease.

The VR6 would be my choice for noise alone but the turbo is more tuneable. On the rollers with only a K&N 57i it put out 177 bhp and it has had the suspension and brakes modified on it which are a good idea on them.

The brakes on the early ones can be rather scarey to say the least :eek: I changed that by putting late 288mm discs on from a late VR6 :cool:

I don't know much about the standard turbo to give you a comparison I'm afraid :(

If you want to know anything else then ask away :D

see here ;)

Have you considered a Corrado VR6. Far better than both the golfs. I found my old one very practical due to the hatch and fold down seats. Not quite as much space as the golf but depends on how you intend to use it.

I've just bought a Golf V6 4motion... I really wanted to keep the 4wd and got to say I love the car!

Tuning can be done by the guys at AmD - they can take a stock 4mo (204bhp 199ft/lbs) to about 230bhp & 220ft/lbs for about £400.

The turbo is always going to be more tuneable, but the V6 smoothness is hard to beat.

Look her for more info:

http://www.uk-mkivs.net/forum/default.asp

There's a supercharged VR6 for sale on passion ford forum, 275bhp IIRC.

Awesome :cool: Turboed ones are well :cool: too!

Go for the VR6 - i recently bought one and they are a competent package overall - and for a little money you can turn them into something special - sort the suspension out (not as bad as many journo's made out when new) and fit a exhaust, filter and remap and youll be at the 200bhp mark with something that can be chucked round corners.

Spend around the £1500-2000 mark and you can fit a turbo kit or 'charger for some serious grunt - around 250-260bhp for the 'charger and 350 for the turbo - try doing that on a 1.8t for any length of time - the VR was built to be blown:) .
Did i mention the noise - they sound glorious at full chat - i have a 'quiet' Miltek system and it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up:) ..

Pete.

My mates just bought a '97 VR6 highline and its a great car - sounds stunning when accelerating hard, but on the downside the performance really isnt anything special at all. You'll find it really slow after owning an Impreza Turbo.

I had a GTI Turbo for a year or so. Slow as hell (150bhp).

And most people wouldn't even have known it had a turbo either. Not a GTI, more of a motorway cruiser - very good at that.

Computer always said 30mpg on a motorway run at about 80. Bit more on a longer run with some A-roads thrown in.

Handling pants. Its not actually that heavy but it feels like it.

I had a golf v6 4motion for about a year before my scoob. I really liked it, it was fully loaded with leather recaro interior etc. Lovely v6 engine but as other people say it's more of a cruiser. If you like to up the pace then you really need to sort out the suspension.
I'd certainly recommend it, even if it was a bit thirsty - although less thirsty than the scoob.

Agreed.

Is the first pic a before and the rest of them after mods ;)

PMSL :lol: The mark 2 got written off and the vr6 is its replacement :cool:

I'm really confused here, 'cos my 4mo has great brakes and corners really well... I can't understand why people say that they are bad...

Mind you, now I think about it - maybe this is part of the £3K's worth of extras that this car is meant to have... hmmmm..

(anyway - it's a damn' fine car, go get one :) )

you obviously know SWEET FA about the 1.8t

Agreed but easily rectified - unfortunaltely vw just tried to make it apeal to a cross section of people instead of making a more specialised product
so you have to do that yourself

I would buy a 20v turbo personally :)
Though the VR6 sounds nice, it is not that powerful, and to tune it to any decent level costs a lot of money, much more than it would cost to tune, a frankly more reliable 20v turbo engine to the same level, which can take 300bhp+ on stock internals.
The weight of the VR6 engine also doesn't help in the understeer/braking stakes either :(

The VR6 was (and still is) a great engine in it's day, but in this day and age, taking into account age, reliability, running costs, tuneability value for money, it would be the 20v turbo for me, though probs in a Cupra R and not a Golf :norty:

Ah - i like inteligent replies:idea: ,
Actually i know plenty about engines in general and to get 350+bhp out of a 1.8T (which i havent said is not possible) will require a hell of a lot of boost pressure and CFM to achieve not to mention a different turbo as the stock unit will not supply the airflow for anywhere near those levels.
I dont care what you say but to achieve that level of power i know is possible but for how long will it last??? - 20,000, 30,000 miles............
Coming from a Saab 900T16S which i built with my bare hands with 8 injectors, water injection, MSD BTM, MF2 injector driver, TD04 turbo,Front mount intercooler i think i can comment on this matter - ie i know enough about turbo's and displacement and VW's which ive owned for years......
Thanks for the friendly and constructive reply.

Pete.

Haven't owned a golf, but currently have a corrado vr6, and there aren't any handling issues to speak of, it'll understeer if provoked, likewise oversteer, depending on how you adjust the throttle.....if you want to go around corners quickly, look no further, and that includes an unmodified impreza. I own one of these too, btw, so am qualified to comment. Thought I'd better say that before the more ' emotional ' scoob owners harangue me! My particular corrado isn't what I'd deem reliable though.

Theres a bit of confusion here isn't there? Are you looking for a VR6 golf, or a golf 4motion?

If it's a VR6, I'd agree with a couple of comments above - look at a Corrado instead if it's practical enough.

Go to Vw Vortex and see how many people are running 300-400bhp day in day out. A Revo'd golf 20vt will probably boost spike at 21 psi+. A big turbo conversion on the same car making 325-340bhp will prob boost spike at 18.5psi and sustain this to the redline so its using less boost pressure than a stnd remap in many cases. Stnd engine is good for upto 350bhp as it comes with a form of forged pistons as stnd. There no question 20vt everytime. Its got more potential for tuning, its newer, and its lighter. If you want 300bhp+ try these people www.jabbasport.co.uk.

I never doubted the ability to get 350bhp out of the 1.8t but my experience with small capacity turbo'd engines is even if they are built to withstand far in excess of there design limits - ie the 1.8t 20v you are still going to be on the ragged edge of reliabilty with 350+bhp day in day out - also i seem to recall its only the early lumps that can handle 350bhp and the later ones are around 320 without internal mods??....
Whichever way you look at it the 1.8T is going to beat the VR at the scales - no point in arguing that but tbh if its ultimate handling your after and your concerned about too much weight up front then why buy a front drive hot hatch - go buy something more suitable.
The VR6 can be made to handle speeds far in excess of what is sustainable on the roads and yes you might find its more prone to understeer in extremis but ill allow it that as it makes up for it in character and the noise - something that cant be said of the 1.8t..
Also there's the old saying - 'aint no substitute for cubes' in the drivebabilty stakes either - a car thats nigh on 3 litres to start with before turbocharging is going to be a far more practical proposition on the daily grind where you want immediate off boost power rather than having to row the gearlever to get up and go.
Basically its down to what you want and how deep your pockets are - yes its cheap to get big gains out of the 20Vt for a few hundred quid but over a certain level its going to cost you - turbo kits are available for the VR for aorund £2k - probably not much more than going to the next stage with a 20vt???......
All in all there both great engines - i just prefer the character of a big six rather than a small four - ive driven/owned enough of either to know what i like:) .

Pete.

Ayp engines late 2000 to 2002 make 330-350bhp on average. The last one done on a 02 car made 342bhp.

If its so easy to boost the HP of the 1.8 Turbo engine and be totaly reliable with it, then why did audi stick a V6 in the TT, why not just stick with the 1.8 and increase the boost????????????????????????????????????????????

the K03/K04 is a small turbo - alot of S3/tt'S/LCR are driving around with increased boost and running 260-280 bhp

to get over 300 you need to go big turbo conversion

??????????????? Why did Audi stick a v6 in the TT. Just to make a slower car than the 1.8t 20v i guess,

The question I was about to ask!

I have owned a Mk3 VR6 and a Mk4 GTI 1.8T (ran it standard for a bit then chipped it)

The 1.8T was a "nice" car, and once chipped, it was a "quicker nice car"... the VR6 was a totally different drive... I sold the 1.8T to get it. Loved the car - engine note, smoothness, performance and handling was so much better in the VR6. I'd recommend a late VR6 over a 1.8T any day. The Mk4 was dull to drive. Great to travel on the motorway in, but never put a smile on my face on a good run - def not the GTI the badge suggests

Mike