Is the standard MK5 GTI fast enough?

[BobbyT]

my 290bhp Astra VXR handles fine, you just need to improve the springs and fit a rarb. job done 
 
not much will keep up, and not many people like getting whooped by a 'worthless' vauxhall 

Is the torque steer as present as everyone seems to say it is?

not at all, but then again i did stop driving with no hands a few years back. 

the car does follow the bumps in the road but this is more to do with the large 19" wheels. As long as you drive with both hands on the wheel the car is great.

I have a mate with a mo tune ST which is also a nice car, not as rapid as the astra as the engine is a little lazy. It is a thirsty beast too. My stage 3 vxr gets 36mpg on the motorway which isnt too bad. As for the Golf, if you tune them they are great cars but i never really liked the styling my self, thats why i went for the vxr but its not everyones taste i am sure 

You pays your money and all that.

[musicman87]

As above, it depends what you want. I look for a sharp drive - i live amongst a few great tight B-Roads and i like to drive at 7/10ths - at this pace the Golf is refined, balanced and i feel it really flows down the road. (If you have the manual, the pedals are perfectly positioned for heel-n-toe changes) - It has enough power in my opinion - and im not interested in top speed, anyone can be a straight line hero...

The Golf does everything brilliantly, i've heard the Focus has its flaws (can't get the drivers seat low enough) and the Astra is brutal with its torque steer (i do think it looks brilliant though)  

When i was buying my car, i considered the usual options (Renaultsport Megane F1 230 is a cracker too) but i'm certain i made the right choice.

Simple remap will take it over 250bhp and can go undetected by garages, therefore is there any need to tell insurance companies? In this tune it will dust the others and also the heavier 4 wheel drive Golf R32.

Mine is standard and for now, its perfectly quick enough for me.

[GeorgeJoshington]

Thanks for all your thoughts everyone.

I'm not at all bothered by top speed - I'm not looking for a track car so it's a moot point, really.

For my needs (mostly motorway miles) it seems I'd probably be happy with any of the choices! Golf sounds like a great all-rounder and the VXR sounds like it'd be fine for what I want! I must admit I'm slightly drawn to the more mental nature of the VXR - it's not something I'd need to live with everyday so I shouldn't think it'd get too tiresome.

One thing I haven't looked THAT much into is the security features of the choices - I live in town so it'll be on-street parking (sigh) but in saying that, there doesn't seem to be a lot of car crime around here. There's Audis and Carreras and fancy stuff everywhere.

[Stitch]

I've come from Lotus Elises into the Golf so gone from a car that is low 5secs to 60 to the Golf GTi's 7secs.

I have to say that I find the GTi perfectley adequate for 95% of the driving I do (in gear the Turbo/torque is excellent IMHO). It obviusly doesn't handle as well as the Lotus and I wouldn't exepct it to so given the GTi is a comprimise between performance and practicality, I think it does an excellemt job in standard form as mine is.

My own personal view is that the ST gives off too much of a boy racer image and so does the VXR, but to a lessor extent. That said, the ST is easliy tunable and some tunes even keep the Ford warranty.

As you say, top end outright speed is meaningless (no-one really does 147mph anywhere here in the UK on public roads).

I would aslo say not to be swayed by the alledged excellent Golf build quality - they are not well built and the Mk5 in particular suffers from interior quality issues in bucketloads.

I went through a phase of hating my Golf (because of the build quality and awful dealer response to problems) but on reflection realise that the car does a lot of things very well, is cheap to run and is not an in your face hot hatch that a chap in his 30's dopesn't feel a co@k driving!

Good luck.

[Steve30]

The ED30 is a class act, I know becuse I owned one and did 12k miles in the car loved every minute of it esp DSG. The other cars you mention in the thread are just a pile of rubbish compared to the GTI, worlds apart in terms of ownership and drivabilty or try R32, again an amazing car!!

[GeorgeJoshington]

The ED30 is a class act, I know becuse I owned one and did 12k miles in the car loved every minute of it esp DSG. The other cars you mention in the thread are just a pile of rubbish compared to the GTI, worlds apart in terms of ownership and drivabilty or try R32, again an amazing car!!

R32 looks nice but a little on the expensive side! I get the feeling that it would not be a cheap car to run...

I'll see if I can get a drive of an ED30.

[FamilyDub]

Well, the VED on an R32 is over £400 for a start...

ED30 is a good shout & more tuneable than a standard GTI.

[Steve30]

The ED30 is a class act, I know becuse I owned one and did 12k miles in the car loved every minute of it esp DSG. The other cars you mention in the thread are just a pile of rubbish compared to the GTI, worlds apart in terms of ownership and drivabilty or try R32, again an amazing car!!

R32 looks nice but a little on the expensive side! I get the feeling that it would not be a cheap car to run...

I'll see if I can get a drive of an ED30.

How much is the VXR to run? I just think if you can get a low milage ED30 you have the best of both worlds top motor!!

[GeorgeJoshington]

The ED30 is a class act, I know becuse I owned one and did 12k miles in the car loved every minute of it esp DSG. The other cars you mention in the thread are just a pile of rubbish compared to the GTI, worlds apart in terms of ownership and drivabilty or try R32, again an amazing car!!

R32 looks nice but a little on the expensive side! I get the feeling that it would not be a cheap car to run...

I'll see if I can get a drive of an ED30.

How much is the VXR to run? I just think if you can get a low milage ED30 you have the best of both worlds top motor!!

Yeah, the VXR will be a lot - something about the R32 screams 'higher servicing costs' than the others though!

I think if I can stretch to it then yeah, ED30 would be nice - it's just there's generally about a £3-4k price gap between one of those and a VXR!

[Steve30]

Don't do the vxr, you will regret  it ?? Just imagine your driving down the road and you pull up next to a gti ?? What goes through your mind is if only???