Golf R32
 

I didn`t realise these were 4wd until now and I`ve seen one I fancy :norty: Anyone have / had one?

Depends if its the mk4 or mk5 m8, if its the mk4, You'd be better off gettin a 1.8t gti. the R32s arent very tunable. 240s the standard bhp. takes a lot of money to get them running decent bhp. whereas a 1.8t will see you from 150bhp/180bhp (in the later ones) upto 220ish stage 1 for around 200 quid. stage 2 ur lookin at 250/260bhp upwards. i had a mk4 gti before the scoob runnin 222bhp and 290 lb ft torque. itd keep up with an R32 no problems. power to weight an that. but dont get me wrong i still do like the R32, mk5s even better

The rasp on the R32 is unbeatable :)

It`s a mk4. Not too fussed about tuning it really. I don`t use the 340 I`ve got with my STI :lol1:
The one I`ve seen is an ex VW demo car and it`s got every extra on it. Just fancy a change as I`m p1ssed off spending every penny on the Scoob. It`s one of these or an E46 M3 :cool:
Indeed :norty:

Lovely cars, not all about the power. They are pretty tame but worth owning for the sound alone.

When you say 'every extra' has it got the wing bucket seats? They are a must on a mk5

Yes mate :thumb:

I normally hate GOLFS , but this one looks nice.

As long as fuel and tax isn't an issue, they are great cars. Quick, solid and very smart looking in my opinion.

Isn't that rather expensive? I thought you should be able to get the newer model for that price by now?

God I hate bonnet bra's.

Looks a very tidy example though.

Does look tidy. Held its value better than the scoobt at least.

That said:

Really? I suspect not. Legal font perhaps but legal plates nae.

5t.

Perhaps a little bit high for what it is, but you'll not get a decent newer one for much less than £10k, I wouldn't think. My uncle offered me his 58 plate with 20k on the clock a few months ago for £15k!

Of course fuel and tax aren`t issues......I`ve got a Scoob :lol1:


Nope...nearer £10k mate

I assume they just come straight off. Functional but very fugly :nono:

I had a mk4 R32 before i had my scoob... I could not fault it, I owned it for just under 2 years and it was a solid reliable car. I had a catback non res milltek and the noise it made was something else. I only sold it as i wanted something more tuneable, and the only way to go with the R was a supercharger or turbo conversion which was big money. They are not constant 4WD but use a Haldex system, it isnt adjustabale on the MK4 but is on a MK5.

I sold mine just over a year ago I think it sold for about £8,600 with around 50k and all the extras from the factory.

Chris

Had both.......won't comment any further :Whatever_

Oh right, didn`t realise that. How does the Haldex system work then?


:lol1: Fair enough.

haldex system cuts the 4x4 in as the ecu detects wheelslip it is a very smooth setup which tbh you don't really feel it comeing in or out.
you can get a uprater haldex ecu so it cuts in sooner and split the power more equal.
http://www.hpamotorsport.com/haldex.htm

Ahhh, right, thanks :thumb: That makes sense even to me :lol1:

i had the mk4 2.8 4motion which i supose is the forerunner to the R32, yes it was a nice car and as has been said above sound bloody lovely with a miltek system fitted.
the power was ok but never gonna be the same as you scoob but its a nice lazy power if you want you can just chuck it in 6th and it will still pull you along very well.
yes they do like a drink if you are heavy with the right boot around town but on a long run i could get 32-35.
one of the best cars i have had for long runs very comfy and at the end get out feeling nice and relaxed.
only drawback i found is its typical german yes its very good but they do seem to lack any soul/character by that i mean you can get out of one scoob and into another and it will feel diffrent but get out of one golf and into another and its just the same

I think an R32 with a supercharger would bea pretty perfect car. they don't feel the 230bhp. My mrs' brother had an Alfa GTV 3L v6 at the same time I had my R32 and his felt quick whereas the golf didn't.

I'd like a mk5 with the dsg and the wing buckets with about 350bhp, that'd be nice.

I just get a bit twitchy owning n/a cars. I had a Clio v6 and that was similar to the golf in regards of the power. Awesome sound and amazing ownership experience but couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

I own a Mkiv r32 as my 'toy' car, different to my bugeye wrx wagon in everyday.

4 wheel drive with a std haldex controller felt a bit understeer/front wheel drives. Replace with a blue updated controller and is probably the best mod I have done.

I have kw v3 coil overs and neuspeed upratede ARB's and it handles very well.

Got a defatted miltek exhaust with non res centre pipe and the noise is only beaten by some super cars. Had mine for 3 1/2 years now and was going to sell it to get a Porsche 996 but am struggling to let it go.

On the flip side these aren't overly quick cars, mine has 290bhp which is about as far as you can get without forced induction. Power is instant though and is still good fun. Trouble is they are heavy motors, about 1600kg I think so a golf gti can give it a bashing.

Are a few supercharged ones around, usually Vf based, though a lot of people seem to move on from these and the supercharger does seem to be a bit problematic from what I have seen.

Been in a 475 bhp turbo and it was awesome, a few turbo motors are popping up now but this sort of power is about your limit on the gearbox.

Expect to pay about £5500 to about £7500 for a standard'ish one. Nearly all of them have had the std exhaust replaced by a miltek by now which the most popular exhaust for these.

Looked at link and that looks like a nice standard motor, don't get too carried away with extras and limited edition rubbish.

They came with either half leather, full leather or half leather/ half alcantara seats.

Extras which most have we're cruise control, some came with sat nav which is dated now and fewer came with a sunroof.

All I think have aircon, heated mirrors, dimming rear view mirror and heated locks and water jets. Also hid's on headlamp.

I think from all the help and advice I`ve received (via pm too :thumb:) if / when the Scoob does go it`ll be for an M3 rather than one of these....it`s a scratch that needs itching and I know Bm`s are far more reliable with a better build quality too :D

Good choice mate. I moved from a VW background to the jap side. I had a mk3 VR6, part of the VR6 owners club and drove plenty of V6 4motions, R32's, Turbo'd R32's and S/C'd R32's and none of them ever felt really refined.

They all felt like a modified car, obviously! The feeling and power delivery from the Impreza I've got now is like night and day! It took modifications to get the car to perform, handle and behave like something with that amount of power should.
As said above as well, they are lazy engines (the VR6 being designed to be a diesel motorway cruising engine initially).
So I think the R32 would leave you feeling a little lost and underwhelmed. The M3 would probably keep you more entertained!

:thumb:

Well, after 3 years of happy MKV R32 ownership, I'm look at something to replace it with.

And you know what? I can't find anything that fits the bill! Which makes the R32 a pretty unique animal IMO.

I'm not going back to 2.0 4pot turbos ever again. The lack of any-rpm torque and poor/delayed throttle response just makes me yearn for a big capacity engine multi-cylinder again. (So that rules out the Golf R, S3, scoobs, evos etc ).

It has to be AWD (sorry BMW)
It has to be a compact hatchback
It has to be a full manual transmission (Sorry RS3 - overpriced anyway)

So I guess thats credit to the R32. Its something that most other cars aren't, and that is being good all round (ignoring MPG), be it tottering round town, zipping through rush hour traffic, or blasting it on B-roads.

Funny really, as when I originally bought it, it was to scratch a itch left after my Monaro VXR and Honda NSX had gone, where I was left driving a BMW e46 325 automatic everyday that was insanely slow and dull to drive.

I tested a R32, and whilst not blown away by it, it was miles better than the 325. So I figured I'd buy it and swap it 6months or so down the line when I work out what fits the bill. Initial gripes was the over-assisted steering giving numb steering feedback, lack of outright peak rpm grunt and being a bit understeery (note - no where near as bad as a standard classic/bug/blob scoob though) and generally a lower sensation of speed.

That changed after getting rid of the Pirelli Rosso tyres on the front (useless) and hammering it on some well known B-roads and realising whilst it didn't feel as quick as my previous cars (NSX+Monaro+Scoob was the main comparisons), it actually was just as quick! It is a pretty well planted car, could be handled with confidence, whereas the scoob I'd slow down on the same roads becuase of the understeer or lift off oversteer/snap-back, and on some stretches I could never give the Monaro full throttle on anything but straight sections unless I wanted to leave a trail of black lines and tyre smoke :lol1:

Then back to the daily everyday rush hour commute...I had a usable boot - the Monaro/NSX didn't (can easily fit two petrol lawn mowers in with the seats folded, plus Ive had the odd Rover v8 engine in the boot). It could launch away from busy junctions without any drama (Monaro=Sideways+smoke) or risk of bogging down (325 refused to launch and Scoob was useless if the turbo was snoozing), Its rarely ever caught out in the wrong gear (unlike the Scoob or NSX) so usually ready to go on instant command of the right foot to zip into gaps in traffic.

The short gearing combined with the noise means its always begging me to plantthe throttle. Yeah, so motorway economy isn't great (3000rpm at 70mph in 6th...Monaro would do the same at about 1500rpm :lol1:), in town MPG is ok for this kind of car (totally down to how you drive it and use the gears :norty: ).

My biggest complaint is probably more to do with trim rattles (easily fixed with some silcone) and VW dealerships fobbing me off on a dual mass flywheel/clutch and screwing up the service due dates (in turn causing warranty issues with the flywheel and timing chain/tensioner), but thats another story; Its all fixed, so I'd rather concentrate on enjoying the car.

So yeah, looks like I might be keeping it for a while longer yet.....I talked to a BMW dealer on Friday about AWD (Xdrive) on the M135i as the German version has it as a option, but he doesn't know if they are going to sell it in the UK. :(

Interesting read pal :thumb:

It'll always be one of those cars that people slate. Usually gti owners who probably couldn't afford one. Bit like the clio V6 (which I've also owned) where you get people telling you their 2.0 16v is just as fast and it's 1/5 the price! Basically these people are totally missing the point. If half of them owned a clio v6 they'd cream their pants. Same as the R32 golf, the car is so much more special than a boring gti.

I very nearly bought a Clio V6. Very cool car. :cool: