quattro Digest, Vol 9, Issue 67

[Larry C Leung]

First off, there were no "Rabbits" in Europe, only A1 Golf's or Golf Mk1

2nd, the 1976 Golf Mk1 GTi was quite a different beast than the 1983/4
Rabbit GTi. It (the Golf was lacking albit of the safety and conveinience

features included on the 1983 Rabbit, some of those features were added
by regulation, some by known US marketing tastes) weighed a mere 1700 lbs
by published reports, a typical 1983 Rabbit GTi weighed around 2200 lbs
(on racing scales at SCCA Divisionals, when working impound. The guys
in our run group were bored, so we weighed our cars). The Golf Mk1 GTi
also had a high strung cammy 1.6 liter motor putting out nearly 110 hp in
a
1700 lb car. By comparison, the Rabbit put out 90 hp out of it's 1.8
liter
engine, both had similar peak torques of just under 110 lb-ft, although
at
distinctly different RPMs.  So, not only did the Golf have a 20 hp
advantage, 
it weighed nearly 500 lbs less. So, it was nowhere NEAR as pathetic (as
Brett thinks) as the US GTi, which sadly, was one of the quickest cars 
availible in 1983 in the US. BTW, as I recall, a stock A1 Golf GTi could
do 60 in just shy of 7 seconds. Don't know of the quarter. Compare a new
1.8 T to a US Rabbit GTi, and there is NO contest. And BTW, nearly all 
of the A4 GTi's are 1.8T's (Ti, help here?) certainly over the last
couple
of years. So any 1.8T tricks to gain HP on these are readily availible,
so
it's not at all inconceivable that there are 200+ HP GTi's running around
out there. They weigh close to 3200 lbs, though, howere there are plenty 
of listers whom know how easy it is to gain torque and hp on boosted 
engines. So, if Dennis was able to hold off a modded 1.8T GTi, he should
rightfully be proud, they aren't THAT slow. 

LL - NY






> Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 12:38:58 -0600
> From: Ed Kellock <ekellock at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [urq] Commercial &?
> To: quattro at audifans.com, urq at audifans.com
> Message-ID: <ce8c9669040724113863321a53 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> So the original still beet the new bunch?  I'll have to see if I 
> can
> find that test anywhere because my '83 would barely do 0-60 in 9
> seconds.  I realize that's not the only criteria however. 
> Interesting.  Top Gear is a tv program right?  I wonder if they have 
> a
> website.  I'll check.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ed
> 
> On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:48:53 -0400, Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net> 
> wrote:
> > At 10:18 AM -0600 7/24/04, Ed Kellock wrote:
> > 
> > >  20 years ago, I'd
> > >be agog, but alas, VW was far too late in fleshing out the GTI 
> line.
> > >Sadly (not!) I was already thoroughly engaged in things Audi by 
> the
> > >time they really impressed me again with a GTI.
> > 
> > Top Gear did a quarter-mile comparison between all the current
> > european "hot hatches"- with a twist.  The lineup included the
> > original VW Rabbit GTI.
> > 
> > It licked the -entire- field, including the new GTI.  How pathetic 
> is that?
> > 
> > Of course, then Renault went slightly mad and released the
> > mid-engined Clio V6(I don't care that it's French, I don't care 
> that
> > it's RWD, I -want one-, it looks like a new 5 Turbo)...then Alfa
> > Romeo went completely bonkers (well, okay, not AR but Autodelta) 
> and
> > stuffed 325hp into the 147 by boring out the V6 to 3.7l.
> > 
> > Brett
> > --
> > "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
> > safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
> > http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
> >
>