MK5 Sports Kit

[S11EPS]

I assume you're talking about the M3CSL?

That is a stripped out, tuned version of the M3 coupe, but it also features different materials for some of its body panels (carbon fibre roof for example) to achieve a lower weight.

This is an interesting exampe, because by buiding this car BMW has been able to undercut the pricing of its rivals, as this is pitched against GT3 porsche's and even the 360 Challenge Stradale, not just the M3 brigade.

VW wouldn't consider messing with the recipe for the current Golf GTi, so a stripped out version would have to be sold side-by-side to the standard car, as you suggested.

If less (equipment and weight) means more (money, as it does in the case of the BMW, its ?10k more than a standard M3) then what would the rivals to this stripped out GTi be?

The performance gains of the weight loss wouldn't be sufficient to move it into a different 'league' of cars, so it would be an (admittedly more capable) but horrendously expensive alternative to the rest of the hot hatches available.

Only if it were cheaper would it work, and the current fashion for manufacturers is to add more cost when stripping weight.

I'd have one though

[S11EPS]

One other point - people always slate the later generation of Golf GTi's for being saggy and overweight, but isn't that the case for a lot of the cars that have lineage into the 80's?

Using the M3 as an example, how different is the current generation M3 to the first incarnation? Its gained weight and is considerably less 'sharp' than the initial model. Its had to have 2 cylinders and 1000cc added to the recipe in order to keep pace. The next generation will be using a V8 of minimum capacity 4 litres.

Its not really fair to single out VW as the only manufacturer guilty of this 'watering down' as I said before, safety regulations at the time and consumer demands of standard equipment drive the final product design.

No doubt in 20 years we'll be looking at the Mk10 Golf saying, "What have they done, thisi is pants compared to the Mk 5"

[Cupra Turbo]

U could say the same about the Vauxhall Astra and the Ford Escort ... they all got heavier and fatter.