I had a Mk5 GTI and have just bought a Mk5 R32. Which is better? It depends on what you want out of the car... I think I prefer the R32 as an everyday car and the GTI as a weekend fun car... I posted a review of my experience over the past two days of ownership (current mileage 750 miles
) and have pasted it below...
Well well.... the R32 is a revelation and the DSG gearbox is sweet as a nut
My take on the R32... - given that this is only the 2nd new car I have ever bought, I am a tad overwhelmed by the experience of both the GTI and R32... the previous record for the newest car I had owned was a P-Reg Mk3 8v GTI bought in 2004 and sold last year - nice cruiser but nasty GTI.
Anyway the R32Â…[/b]
Drive: Still running the car in. I am usually very strict about things like this and run in my previous Mk5 GTI textbook style and am doing so with this R32. However I couldn’t resist putting my foot down – although not to the redline – on a couple of occasions just to listen to the engine growl – absolutely gorgeous – and the acceleration. Compared to the Mk5 GTI, I have to say that the R32 seems more mature, refined and complete… it almost makes the GTI look boy-racish.
Looks: Not much to say really except that a Pearl Blue, 3-Door R32 looks the dogs test-icles
DSG: Now I am a die-hard fan of manual gearboxes and I have spoken out in their favour on several posts on this forum. However, I really feel that the DSG box complements the R32 perfectly. In fact for me a manual R32 doesnÂ’t make sense unless you wanted to supercharge the engine and put some serious amounts of torque and power through the transmission. Only a mad person would do that though eh Doc? - but a recent post by The Doc provides a link to a 550bhp Golf with DSG!
So a manual R32 doesnÂ’t make sense to me, period. As for the DSG box itself it is everything that I thought it would be and more. Everything I thought it would be, meaning all the good things I have read about it and more meaning that with the R32 I didnÂ’t miss the manual nearly as much as I thought I would. If you want to make efficient use of the engine and that 250hp, then DSG is the way to go. The only thing I find slightly annoying is having to press the break pedal when changing to D from N at, say the traffic lights or am I doing something wrong? It took me 2 hours in the car to realise that I didnÂ’t have to keep putting it in P-Parking mode everytime I stopped at the lights or in heavy traffic. 'Ah, so thatÂ’s what the Neutral is for' I thought as the realisation dawned upon meÂ…. :embarassed: :embarassed:
Also, in D mode I find that the car doesn’t move off as smoothly as a manual – it revs to around 15-20k rpm and then starts moving unless I apply more pressure to the accelerator in which case there is still a very small lag. Maybe I just need to get used to it.
Conclusion: Well I’ve got an Edition 30 on order – fully loaded except for DSG – and my experience with the DSG box isn’t enough to persuade me to add it on the list of options for that car. I still like the manual box even though I can’t imagine making as efficient progress in a manual GTI. But I still like the flexibility in terms of driving, familiarity and no fuss in terms of tuning that a manual provides.
On the other hand I liked driving the R32 with DSG so much that I don’t think I can do without it now – I’m hooked. So it looks like the Edition 30 will have to be a weekend car – as I always planned it to be – and I will probably end up replacing the R32 next September with another DSG car…
DSG =
