« Reply #58 on: 23 July 2009, 16:51 »
I've had three 1.8Ts now and they're not that slow really. They are quite low revving but very flexible. They feel sluggish as the torque curve is very flat but their in gear performance is quite respectable.
If going by Clarksons comments on the Top Gear review, it actually sounds like he was rating the Pug much higher than the GTI but he was building it up to knock it down. He thought the Golf was a more balanced car overall. That's what a Golf GTI is supposed to be, it was never the quickest and never meant to be. VW used to have good fun poking competitors with that point in their advertising.
I'm no mk4 fanboy either. Preferred the contemporary Leon Cupra. Same chassis but just drove better. Cupra R that much better again.

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‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten