Hotrod... test drives

[RedRobin]

I did'nt notice a big lack of torque, but my initial impressions in the first week of swapping from a standard GTi to ED30 was less "zip" up to 3000rpm and more "umph" after 3000rpm    

....Many others report the same. It's down to the larger K04 turbo. I don't know if a remap addresses such subjects. Personally, much as I love the Ed30 and would certainly have ordered one if available in May 2005, I prefer to have my turbo power come in lower - Less liklihood of finding myself in license losing territory! Having driven a fair bit on unrestricted German autobahns, the Ed30 would be better suited but my modded GTI did everything I asked of her way up to 143 mph on the GPS (well, acceleration does drop off after 130 mph with the shape of a hatch!). Legal averages of over 90 mph on journeys are a real joy! Not quite so the 22 mpg though!

Driving in Germany is so much less stress free without constantly being on full alert for authority and you also find it so much easier to respect the speed limits where they apply - You don't feel as if you are under a thumb! Safer that way in my opinion.

[Hurdy]

In standard form the ED30 isn't sluggish under 3,000 revs, but the OFFICIAL stats show that the ED30 torque doesn't max till 2,200 revs, where as the standard GTI's max's at 1800 revs.

Compare the two standard curves in the PDF's below for the best comparison.

http://www.superchips.co.uk/curves/vw2lfsiturbo.pdf

http://www.superchips.co.uk/curves/VWGolfGTIEdition30.pdf

Bare in mind that Superchips have no real investment gain by altering the standard RR figures you can expect them to be a fair representation of both models.

                         GTI                        ED30
RPM          POWER    TORQUE     POWER    TORQUE
                 BHP         NM            BHP          NM
2K              60          215            66           230
3K              115        270            130          310
4K              147        263            175          305
5K              180        255            220          308
6K              196        231            243          280


So as you can see from the figures I have pulled from the graph, the ED30 should feel faster at any given increment. At 6k revs the ED30 still has more torque than the GTI has at it's max. In fact from 2,400 revs to just over 6k revs the ED30 has more torque than the max figure a GTI has. Similarly from 4,400 revs to the redline, the ED30 has more power than the GTI.

All the above has been done to simply show that the ED30 will feel more nimble than a GTI any where in the rev range what is meaningful

[RedRobin]

....Useful info, Hurdy.

Particularly interesting for me as my Stage1 Revo with mods delivers about 250 bhp and 400 Nm - Comparable with the stock Ed30, but turbo starts at about 1,800 revs.

[Pando]

I have always liked the power grunt having had M3's and Vr6's etc i wasn't sure i would like the gti before having a test drive. But within minutes i loved the gti, so smooth for a turbo car. Unlike the cossie and imprezza from years gone by.
One year later i still like it and so does the missus

Go for it get the GTI, it looks right

[hotrod]

Hurdy, thanks for the info ...reassuring... Hotrod