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Written by JST
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Friday, 27 February 2004 |
At the VW dealer tonight, while looking at Jettas, I spied a couple of
R32s and asked about them. The deal on one had just fallen through, so
the salesman let me take it out.
What an interesting car. It's quick--not blindingly fast, but faster
than the published numbers I've seen would suggest. The seats are have
the most extreme lateral support I've ever encountered in a road car.
It's like sitting in a catcher's mitt.
The exhaust note is very loud. Running through the gears, it's almost
entrancing. The VR6 has a very unique exhuast beat, and the raspy duals
on the R32 enhance it nicely. At speed, though, it drones a bit.
The steering is nicely weighted, with decent feedback. It's better than
the steering in any of the other Golf IVs I've driven. Obviously,
there's no torque steer. The Haldex AWD is FWD most of the time, but
the transition is seamless and there's none of the driveline snatch
that the WRX sometimes hints at.
I dug this car. It's interior sits somewhere between a standard GTI and
an Audi S4. The handling balance is superb, and while it crashes over
bumps perhaps a bit more than it should, it feels better than a GTI has
any right to feel. Driving it imparts a sense of occasion similar to
what you get in the M3, although in comparison its clear that the R32
is a tarted up economy car. Still, while it doesn't have quite the
performance numbers of the STi or Evo, it's a hell of a lot nicer place
to spend time, and are you really going to miss that extra slice of
performance on the street? I understand why you would get this instead
of the seemingly better Japanese cars.
In fact, I was very tempted. But the high demand means non-competitive
residuals and profit packed into money factors, which translates into a
lease quote that was disturbingly similar to what I pay for the M3.
Couple that with the fact that I already have one stupidly expensive,
ridiculously focused German sports car, and I had to say no.
But I may regret that.
Originally posted on carmudgeons.com.
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