Stig's Lap Times in the VW Golf

[NewGolf]

Anyone spot the mistake where they state the car has an extra 20Bhp at 227, surley they mean 30? See, the Stig cant even do maths.

I bet in real life he drives a Vauxhall.

Or a BMW 330 convertible.

Ewwwww 

[k4ith]

hah the stigs problem was he drove a white one, they aren't fast enough.You need a better colour.
The Vtec is a good engine you just need to know how to drive it to get max benefit.

[NewGolf]

Had it been a black one, with 17" wheels there would have been no understeer at all and lap times of 1.30.00.

Oh and the Stig would have been so impressed he'd have stole it and changed his race suit to black so he'd match!

Got a bad hangover here so apologies if I'm talking crepe!

 

[Hurdy]

Doh have they done the performance day then Hurdy?

Rob

The Performance Tuner GTI shootout one? yes.

[scotgc]

I came from an Ep3 premier eidition type r to a standard Mkv GTI, The GTI is much better to live with under everyday driving conditions.
But i do miss that VTEC roar on those little country roads it did put a massive grin on your face and the EP3 had independent rear suspension which made it a cracker of a hot hatch! 

[KentBladeboy]

Guys, great little car the GTI is, whoever tested the cars is spot on, what spoils the GTi is understeer, weak brakes under high loads and bodyroll.  And to fix that lot is expensive. But as a day to day car its very good. Was at Brands for a track evening this week, and a MK4 R32 standard run rings around a Mk5 GTI, again chronic understeer and spongy brakes being the main culprit

[R32UK]

I am convinced further that the Stig is a former (or even current) touring car driver. Tiff says the same kind of stuff about the CTR.

but after reading all that my conclusion is........... I will keep my R32 knowing that its still the king!!

What was it the stig said about the R32.. "very impressive"

[Phil mcavity]

shame the R32 isnt the fastest production golf   

[telboy]

Guys, great little car the GTI is, whoever tested the cars is spot on, what spoils the GTi is understeer, weak brakes under high loads and bodyroll.  And to fix that lot is expensive. But as a day to day car its very good. Was at Brands for a track evening this week, and a MK4 R32 standard run rings around a Mk5 GTI, again chronic understeer and spongy brakes being the main culprit

Bottom line is, VW wanted to make an everyday gti that could have a bit of spirit that you could use to learn about track day driving. In everyday driving an R32 wouldn't run rings around an ed30. I have seen so many track events where the std gti is up against some very lively 4 wheel drive competition and often keeps up with and beats the majoirty on most occassions. To make the test in question really fair, they should upgrade the brakes and suspension settings on the ed30 to the level of the rest of the cars, (or have them all with brembos and correct track suspension) then we'd see just how good the ed30 is. I wonder if the Seat had the brembo upgrade which gave it the extra advantage

Overall, if you want your car to race around tracks, then you need to invest in some serious kit, if though like me you need your car to be balanced and do more than 30k miles a year, then you need to stick pretty much with what the standard settings give you, the perfect balance.

Now that the S3 will be available as a five door (no news yet on the dsg version), I would have to say that would be the better out of the bunch?

I have a few R32 mkv's around my neck of the woods, who often find it funny to try and ride my bumper, they then realise they can't keep up once I've dropped a cog or two, especially now I have 307bhp If you know how to use the power, you can guide your car around a track just as quickly as any R32 and at that point I'm the one still smiling when my car is averaging 33mpg!

If you search hard enough you'll see many a track race between the gti and other hatches and there is so little in it most of the time, some they win, some they don't, however the underlying comment always reads, the gti is the one they all want to drive home in

[KentBladeboy]

Telboy, simple point I was making is that the standard setup of the GTI gives far too much body roll and too much understeer, agree that the general setup is OK for everyday driving, but as soon as you push on, then the above issues come into play, followed by average brakes, the brake issue is easy to overcome with some decent pads and little money, but curing the other 2 is expensive, and this is not about track driving, its general setup, and it dont matter if you have 200 or 300hp, its always there.