SRX

http://www.carscoops.com/2015/05/awd...ubaru-wrx.html

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

STi all the way, that Golf looks about the same as something your mother would take to the shops.

Matteeboy

Naaahh, M135i

Barxy

Golfs are so boring i can never understand how a petrolhead can enjoy them?
I tried to like them and bought a MK3 GTI as a run around once... Tried really hard to like it.... Bloody hated it. And they got more boring with every new design. Yawn.

PhilWrx100

Yup the golf looks nothing special and doesn't drive like anything special, based on they're comments. STI is the winner in my book
The golf looks boring, just another German machine.......

kennyc

iTrader: (1)

What else is out there as good as an STi for £30k?

S204Darren

BMW M135i

neil-h

Nothing, it's simply not possible.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

You bought the worst Golf that was ever made, the one that should never of been a Golf GTI. It was probably the 2.0 8v model as well.

A Mk2 GTI 16v, now that is a/the Golf.

BlitzEY

Saw a brand new Golf R in the car park today and had to look twice to check if it was in fact an R it was so understated.

Although I do sometimes like the sleeper look, it just didn't suit it. I'd much prefer an RS3 or STi.

Matteeboy

Indeed!

Flat4x4-again

iTrader: (1)

Suggest you drive a Golf R or Audi S3 with the same platform and 300ps engine.

I totally get what you say about the looks - but that's deliberate. I used to have great fun with a remapped Skoda Octavia mk1 estate 1.8 T and an original Legacy Turbo exactly because they shouldn't go as fast as the way they looked.

I had an S3 for 10,000 miles as a company car and it gripped, turned in, steered, rode and performed really well (sub 5 0-60 as standard), it even sounded ok in sport mode.

The Golf R is a great car in all weathers (M135i plus a slippy road isn't for me), but it isn't a Subaru.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Problem is, it looks like grannys shopping cart that met with a German and exploded into all sorts of hideous bavarian lines.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Not anymore, they have had a price hike.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

I would argue that the Mk 2 big bumper 8v was the better all round car. That's because I had a few

Flat4x4-again

iTrader: (1)

Golf R = a great Q car or unmarked police car. Coventry used to run a grey Mk 5 R(32) as an M6 motorway patrol car around junction 2 & 3 - no-one saw it coming! Shock and awe

S204Darren

Just bought a white 3 door one brand new, picked it up on monday.Mine was around £33000 with auto gearbox and a few other goodies so if they have a had a price hike it isn`t by much.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

I see your point, I had a couple too. Much more fruity at early revs due to the digifant ignition, but out on the A roads, nothing could beat a valver.

Or do what I did, first conversion 2.0 8v, next one 2.0 16v ABF (digifant - probably the best set up for a Mk2), then a G60 (for a week) and then an Audi S3 BAM with nos....which eventually twisted the chassis and the car went to scrapyard in the sky

hill79

I had a mk3 8v GTI, brilliant build quality and comfort but it felt like driving a baby hippo. didn't keep it long.

I have to say I don't mind the look of the Golf R, it's subtle and (with the possible exception of the r32) that the way 'hot' Golfs have always been. Those wheels though... EW!

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

The build quality was horrendous, hence why most have rusted away into oblivion ...but for the time when they first came in at 1992, the interior was far beyond others in that price range, and the colour concept Recaros where just lovely. Shame it was as you quite rightly said, a hippo!

hill79

I should quantify, I came to the Golf after owning two Corrados ('89 Valver and a '93 VR6) - by comparison the build quality was practically futuristic

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Did you not like the Corrado? My dad had two VR6 Storms over the years, and I thought they where storming...although tear jurking when the cam chains needed doing.

The 89 Valver, pre big bumper was a bit 'raw' shall we say...but I would still say the build quality of the Mk2 and Corrado was far beyond that of the MK3..we are talking 'build' quality here, not 'finesse or finish''?

Ive owned no less than ten Golfs in my life, and the Mk3's where always the pitts

hill79

I loved the Corrado, you had to punish the 16v to get the most out of it but even with only 130(ish) BHP it was loads of fun, the VR was a different beast and the bigger engine came with some pros and cons, being heavier at the front pushed you in to understeer a little more often if you weren't careful but it went like stink, bags of low down torque and sounded amazing. Sadly the handbrake failed (no, really) and it rolled down a hill.

When I say build quality I suppose I mean the mk3 felt better put together inside, but then it was a more modern design. The Corrados weren't bad per se, but the mk3 was newer and felt like a step up in terms of quality - kind of like the step up from a Classic to a Newage Impreza, you could argue for days over which is the better car overall but when you sit in a classic and then a newage the progression isn't huge, but it is obvious.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

I agree, the VR6 was a great lump..but was just too heavy..the Corrado should of been all wheel drive, or rear wheel drive at the very least, I think if that had happened, the car would of become much more of an iconic car than it is.

Yeah thats what I meant, the finnesse of the interior was far improved, but the actual build quality was extremely poor in the Mk3..I believe it was the time that VAG started making their parts weaker to sell more, because before that they where just bomb proof and parts sales where low, after that, they began to break all the time. Its partly one of the reasons I left VW's behind....and coming back to Audi Black Edition, im not really that impressed with their newer incarnaitions either

Bomb proof japanese tin rocket anyday!

hill79

'back in the day' (2004 ) there was a chap who converted an 8v Corrado to a 24v, 4wd beast of a thing in his garage. His build thread is still up on the corrado forum (http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=11013) and is a pretty interesting read, though a lot of the earlier photos have long since vanished.

Anyway, we digress - Back on the original subject, given the choice I'd opt for the WRX over the Golf R but given the *money* I'd buy a Widetrack Blob and spend the change on making it perfect

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

I have mine rechipped by the original AmD guys when they where Oxford way just off the A34. In fact I used to get parts for their G60 Wolfsburg Edition Golf from the local VW garage in as I lived in Germany at the time.

The 8v taught me a valuable lesson in car DIY work. Read a manual before taking mounting bolts out of the started on a PB engine Mk2 Golf, it's hold the chassis to the engine block. The engine will rotate forward if you take it out without support and will make you sh*t your pants if you are underneath the car.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

New stock with tweaks are coming, is yours the facelift model announced in March? And for £3k more than a new STi you could buy a runaround or a fair condition Newage.

Lunchmoney

Yep, the MK3 was baaaadddd.....

I owned several Mk2 and Mk1 GTIs and they were all fun to drive.
I've driven a Mk5 GTI and it just felt boring...

I used to love Golfs, but now they are just reasonably fast cars with no spirit.

XDevil666

Did it come with

S204Darren

Of course