General Discussion

Looking to the future

With the GLI getting closing in on 130k miles I need to think about trading it in while it still has some value. I can’t complain with how well its been running, its been solid! But for the past few years I have been wanting something that gripped me way back when in 2003 and the want has stayed with me. It was the MK4 Golf R32 that a friend of a friend had.

Back then I knew only a little about cars but did have the modification bug starting to grow in me. I was always interested in seeing new things and hearing about whats latest and greatest in the car world for VAG cars. My best friend said he had a guy coming over that was bringing his new car, a Golf R32. I had no clue what this was but always liked the GTI and thought it was some special edition of it. Well I wasn’t too wrong, it sure was a special  but also a whole lot more. This thing was beautiful on the inside and even better under the hood. My jaw dropped when he raddled off the stats. He took us out for a ride and I was astonished with how fast we were able to go around corners and then he broke it to me that it also was all wheel drive. I was speechless, good looks, decent power, all wheel drive all packed in a lighter car that was very reasonably priced. Still way out of my price range at the time but totally obtainable if I got a decent job when I got older.

Well here I am, older with a reliable job. Not making as much as I would have liked but its doable. And now I think I can finally attain that reasonable dream car I have wanted all these years. Its going to be a bit tight on financing but I time over the next year to save up money to put down as well has the GLI as a trade in. Well maybe the GLI as a trading. The girlfriend surprised me the other day and expressed interest in trading in her car instead of mine and keeping the GLI for herself. It would be nice to still have it in the family but its more than twice the mileage of her car and potentially even valued more. So we will see.

Now onto the MK7 Golf R, if I wanted the MK4 I lusting after the MK7. The looks, performance and all wheel drive system have only gotten sweeter over the years. Some early information on it can be found here: http://www.vwvortex.com/news/volkswagen-news/volkswagen-golf-r-first-official-photos-and-information/

First off the performance:

  • 296 290HP/280TQ (Updated US Spec)
  • DSG 6-speed  trans (updated version of my current)
  • 0-60 in 4.9sec
  • New Haledax 5 with 4Motion AWD
  • 25MPG town 33PG Highway

The engine is out of an Audi S3 so I wont go into much on that. The all wheel drive system though is pretty slick. Here is an excerpt from the article posted above.

When operating under a relatively low load or when coasting, the front wheels are driven and the rear axle is decoupled, helping to save fuel. However, the rear wheels can be variably engaged in fractions of a second whenever necessary. This is done via the Haldex coupling, which is activated by an electro-hydraulic oil pump.

A control unit continually calculates the ideal drive torque for the rear wheels and controls how much the multi-plate clutch should be closed by activating the oil pump. The oil pressure increases the contact pressure at the clutch plates in proportion to the torque desired at the rear axle. So, the amount of pressure applied to the clutch plates can be used to continuously vary the amount of torque going between the front and rear wheels. If necessary, nearly 100 per cent of the drive torque can be directed to the rear wheels..”

There are also cool optional features which I not be getting like DCC

The DCC system adaptively controls the damper valves via a further developed and refined control algorithm. DCC takes input signals from wheel displacement sensors and accelerometers as well as vehicle information from the Chassis-CAN bus to compute these values and adaptively adjust the optimal damping force for every driving situation.

Although cool, I just don’t see the value in it for me. Along with the DCC is also a mode package which has preset profiles for “Eco”, “Normal”, “Individual”, and a “Race” mode. I will be flashing the car with APR so I don’t care about these.

Styling outside is nice and not gaudy, I not a huge “looks” person so as long as it looks respectable I am fine with it. I typically like sleeper style cars and this truly is one if you don’t know anything about the Golf R. Inside it looks very luxurious, with lots of glossy and brushed metal finished trimmed with carbon fiber for that sport feel. Will be nice to finally have an up to date car that I can connect my phone to.

Unlike the GLI I will be doing very little modification to this car, it’s basically done with everything I want. I will just be flashing the APR software and if it has any problems like the BPY 2.0t engine in my GLI did with the PCV system I will come up with a fix for those things. Though I am not expecting much since this engine is not a major overhaul and more of a modified existing engine that has been used for a few years. I may add a boost gauge as it’s a wonderful troubleshooting tool but im just not sure yet.

As for color im not too picky, the classic R blue has I have always loved but would be fine with other blue, grey colors. I will probably add a hitch for a bike rack and a boost gauge for troubleshooting but no suspension, intake, wheel changes this time. It’s already good in those areas.

As you can probably tell I am very excited for this car and will be making some sacrifices over the next year to save enough money to put down on the car so my monthly payments are not as bad. I’m sure I will post more about it as time gets close to its release and more information is released.