[s-cars] VW R32

[keith-list at maddock.uzipp.com]

With all the talk about the R32, I grabbed ours out of the development
pool today to remind myself why it's such a rubbish car...

It only took me less than a half-block to remember!  And now 70km later
there is no doubt in my mind that I could never recommend this car to
anyone!

Plus:
 - Decent engine (but....)
 - "Tuner car" but with full warranty
 - Decent enough sounding exhaust (but...) (not as nice as 5cyl Stromung)
 -  Looks aggressive
 - Meaty leather wrapped steering wheel

Minus:
 - Seats look aggressive but don't adjust low enough or go back far
enough. (I'm 6'4")
 - Seat bottom bolsters are much narrower than back bolsters.
 - **VERY** jerky throttle control
 - Clutch incredibly light and devoid of feedback
 - Brakes touchy at first then mushy.
 - leather wrapped steering wheel is perhaps too big!
 - Steering feel is lacking (not that UrS is a star here though)
 - Suspension over-sprung / underdamped (common problem with Cooper S)
 - Exhaust is too boomy between 1-2k RPM (good if you want to attract
attention I guess)
 - Engine doesn't feel like 240hp  (doesn't feel as powerful as 3.0L 968
engine did)

Basically the whole car feels like it was tuned by a 15yo, and the result
is that the total car feels much less than the sum of the parts.

I haven't had a chance to drive the car faster than 100mph since it was
raining today and the last time I drove it was in Sweden in the middle of
the winter.  But talking to some colleagues that have driven it >100mph,
the car does not feel stable at all - a big difference to the Audi S3 that
we also have in the pool.

Having driven several examples of Golf 4 (2.3 V5 150hp, 172hp VR6 4motion,
etc), I think the Golf 4 is a pretty good car , but this is a really poor
example of the car.

It's no wonder some magazine picked a Golf 5 TDI over the R32.  I've also
driven the Golf 5 TDI (2.0L 150hp) and while not exactly an overwhelmingly
spectacular car, I'd also rate it above the R32...

Of course perhaps I'm being a bit tough on the R32, the last two cars I
have been driving over the last few days were a BMW 330i and my Opel
Speedster.  The BMW (even though its a 4 door) is a far better car from a
driver's perspective than the R32(doesn't feel any slower either). The
Opel, well, it's a pretty spectacular car from a driver's perspective
(steering / handling / brakes)  (being that it's basically a Lotus Elise
with a 2.2L Opel Engine and Getrag Gearbox but for half price) - but also
in a completely different category (not a good choice as a daily driver
for someone 6'4" and a bit noisy at any speed over 85mph)

Cheers,
Keith

keith at maddock.com    http://keith.maddock.com/

93 S4 (mit RS2 + BR upgrades) Portland OR
03 Opel Speedster 2.2 (Ring+Alp Tool + Daily Driver) Koblenz, DE
1/7 89 GTI  16V (Spare Ring Toy)  Nürburg, DE