Was going to trade my 172 for an R32, then I drove one!

[speedynz]

I've always loved the MK1 Golf R32, great write ups for chassis and engine and lovely muscular looks coupled with a 237bhp snarly V6 tucked under the bonnet.

Thing is they are like hens teeth over here as only 32 of them are in the the country. Anyway one came up for sale recently and my local VW/Renault dealer phoned me to let me know and to take it out. It was advertised as 2004, one owner, low miles, mint condition and priced at $47,000 (16,000 pounds). I was very excited and expected to be a bit blown away by this thing but I just wasn't.

We had a good run in it (my dealer is great and really egged me on) it was quick but subjectively not really any quicker than my Clio, it was cultured, very well tied down and super confidence inspiring but it just wasn't $30,000 better than my 172. I would have had to trade my car + the $30,000 for what is an old model Golf, albeit a very good one.

Got back in my Clio and just loved it, there is not a single thing wrong with my car (2001 MK1) it's in its prime, incredibly quick and very together and I can't think what could replace it.

 

[Bezza4]

Surprising. I have thought about one as my gf (well ex gf as of y'day) works at VW, so was hoping for a bit of discount. But yet to drive one, so can't comment.

To be fair I didn't expect it to be much quicker than the clio, just better built with the pace.

 

[Jones]

I was thinking about changing mine recently and i cant think of anything i want to replace it with its a cracking little motor

 

[C-CUP]

I have to completely agree I test drove an R32 about 2 months ago and just couldnt get excited about it, clutch was soft gear change to long and the steering just way to light - just felt all wrong - again couldnt wait to get back to my old car - there was no way i was swopping my car +10k - i drove the A3 3.2ltr after that and was told if i found the R32 to sedidate then Id never like the A3 - but i actually prefered it, definately more responsive.

 

[j1400]

Having been out in a R32 at the ring, all I can say is understeer bardge, damn fast though, but I foudn that you had to plough in to a corner understeering then power on to sort it all out with the AWD, and the body roll :| that had uprated ARB's on it too. But that was stepping out my 205 track car, so for a road car not bad. nice to look at but I wouldn't want one.

 

[Jo3y]

Are they all Mk4 R32's you're talking about? Never been in one myself but love my Mk5 great upgrade from the 172. Like you've said though not a huge amount in them up to about 60 odd but after that the Golf would hammer the Clio.

I doubt any car will feel as responsive as the Clio or as fast, it's a great little car, that said if I came to a corner in the golf and the clio, apart from the slower speed ones the golf would be going in and comming out faster. Think they might have sorted out the steering and understeer for the Mk5 cause it's great. Gear box takes a lot of getting used to, finally smooth after a month of jerky gear changes, then there's the sound.. vid over here and the top gear reveiw Kept up with Al's scooby quite well which was surprising as well(clio'sweren't too far behind either).. anyway, getting a little defensive as expected if you don't like it why not try the Meggy as an upgrade on the clio, suposed to be slightly more tame but not to the same extent as the R32, it would have been my second choice of car after selling the Clio

 

[Ad]

^ cough cough Ad... lol

VAGs are not everyones cup of tea, Im just not sure how anyone could think the R32 is not quite a bit quicker than the clio, with the more power comes the ease of driving fast... where as you always have to be pushing the clio to get the most, just my 2p worth.

I love both R32s and tbh, would be happy with either.

 

[Jo3y]

^ cough cough Ad... lol

VAGs are not everyones cup of tea, Im just not sure how anyone could think the R32 is not quite a bit quicker than the clio, with the more power comes the ease of driving fast... where as you always have to be pushing the clio to get the most, just my 2p worth.

I love both R32s and tbh, would be happy with either.

Lol sorry mate, was just reading a post by Al and got you mixed up

 

[Ad]

I about a ft and half taller and dont have laurel in tow... lol...

 

[tommyboy]

I wanted to get an R32 MK4 next year but at 14k for an average one... and 5k for a mint ph1 172... I know where my money is going.

 

[Ad]

^^lol I dont disagree, but then the gold will be roughly at least 3yrs newer as well

 

[tommyboy]

^^lol I dont disagree, but then the gold will be roughly at least 3yrs newer as well

True. Depends what your looking to spend and what your after really, Im going to track the 172 when I get it.

 

[Ad]

ph quicks are great value at the moment as are 172 cups. If and when I look to release some money out of my cars, Id have one in shot..

 

[sh33n]

Did they not have any Mk5 GTi's in the showroom, haven't driven one of them yet, but they also have a good write up.

 

[eo52vug]

For the money i would buy an e46 m3 that will piss on any r32 ! 340bhp vs 250bhp both 3.2 mmmmm

 

[Jo3y]

For the money i would buy an e46 m3 that will piss on any r32 ! 340bhp vs 250bhp both 3.2 mmmmm

The new Golfs faster round the Topgear track than the new M3, don't know why when it's got so much more power.... but the Mk4 is a bout a second and a bit slower

 

[sh33n]

I wanted to get an R32 MK4 next year but at 14k for an average one... and 5k for a mint ph1 172... I know where my money is going.

Borrrinngggg, you talk about buying every car that is ever mentioned.

Only the other day you said this:

Is there are car out there you're not considering for your next car? :clown:

Clio's

German or Jap for me. I've got a while till I get hold of my next car, so why not consider many options.

Currently, if you must know

Golf R32 MK4/2.8 V6 4MOTION MK4
Civic Type R (but I'd always want the JDM Championship white model :dapprove: )
DC5 Integra
BMW 330ci
Nissan 350Z GT4

 

[ozzie]

my mate had an R32 for about a year and a half. they are brilliiant cars I have to say. but it depends what you want from a car. upto about 80 it won't be much quicker than a clio and arguably less fun to drive. also it will drink a lot more fuel. those are the downsides.

on the upside: they have lots of power and torque on tap in every gear and you really notice the how easy it is to drive at pace with a 3.2 rather than a 2.0. also they have sh*t loads of equipment. my mates one had full leather interior, satnav, bluetooth, cruise control, climate control and probably loads more. they are comfortable and well built and also very safe. (they have airbags everywhere) as a motorway cruiser it is far better than any rs clio for comfort and pace. the best thing it has over a clio or ctr for that matter is the all wheel drive. i've never been so fast around corners and roundabouts in any other car, including scooby's (my own personal experience) also you can still give it some in the wet. i've raced him a few times and in the wet i've got no chance.

all round it's a better car than a clio but if your looking to get something much quicker and more nimble than a clio you'll be disappointed. what about a golf gti?

 

[Chris n nic]

I love the R32...tbh looks wise I prefer the mk4 but the mk5 is growing on me. I know that my Cup is quicker than one to over a 100 (was b4 and will defo be now) but it is a similar thing to the V6 clio...more to it than just speed. Maybe in the future I'll get on but not for a fast thrilling ride but a nice, smooth reasonably quick car.....worth it for the noise alone lol

Chris

 

[Dan@SJM]

Borrrinngggg, you talk about buying every car that is ever mentioned.

Only the other day you said this:

Is there are car out there you're not considering for your next car? :clown:

Clio's

German or Jap for me. I've got a while till I get hold of my next car, so why not consider many options.

Currently, if you must know

Golf R32 MK4/2.8 V6 4MOTION MK4
Civic Type R (but I'd always want the JDM Championship white model :dapprove: )
DC5 Integra
BMW 330ci
Nissan 350Z GT4

:lolup:

 

[martynh]

Heard a MKV R32 (or is it R36?) getting hammered across a roundabout, sounded amazing! Would deffo look at getting one if I had the money but the Golf GTI makes it look too expensve imo.

Would certainly consider a PH-quick if I needed a 2nd car, great VFM.

 

[Jo3y]

Heard a MKV R32 (or is it R36?) getting hammered across a roundabout, sounded amazing! Would deffo look at getting one if I had the money but the Golf GTI makes it look too expensve imo.

Would certainly consider a PH-quick if I needed a 2nd car, great VFM.

Nope R36 isn't out yet, didn't realise they were releasing one until after I'd bought mine :dapprove:

Was it last night mate? I was driving down to my Mum's for Christmas down in Brighton, could have been me

 

[ozzie]

I love the R32...tbh looks wise I prefer the mk4 but the mk5 is growing on me. I know that my Cup is quicker than one to over a 100 (was b4 and will defo be now) but it is a similar thing to the V6 clio...more to it than just speed. Maybe in the future I'll get on but not for a fast thrilling ride but a nice, smooth reasonably quick car.....worth it for the noise alone lol

Chris

i don't think a standard cup is quicker than an r32 to 100. i'm quite sure the golf would be pulling after 60. when you said yours was b4 do you mean when it was std?

 

[martynh]

Heard a MKV R32 (or is it R36?) getting hammered across a roundabout, sounded amazing! Would deffo look at getting one if I had the money but the Golf GTI makes it look too expensve imo.

Would certainly consider a PH-quick if I needed a 2nd car, great VFM.

Nope R36 isn't out yet, didn't realise they were releasing one until after I'd bought mine :dapprove:

Was it last night mate? I was driving down to my Mum's for Christmas down in Brighton, could have been me

Was at Kingston Tescos in Milton Keynes so I doubt it, can imagine the golf being a nice way of getting down to Brighton.

Are they releasing an R36? I wasn;t sure if it still a R32 or if they'd upped it.

 

[RobHardyUK]

For the money i would buy an e46 m3 that will piss on any r32 ! 340bhp vs 250bhp both 3.2 mmmmm

The new Golfs faster round the Topgear track than the new M3, don't know why when it's got so much more power.... but the Mk4 is a bout a second and a bit slower

yeah the m3 had the old stig. a r32 wouldn't stay within half a mile of a well driven m3. my dads owned both (a mk4 r32 anyway). m3 is a different ballpark. Remeber - it weighs about the same, its rwd (so far less transmission loss), and its 100bhp up.

my own opinion, which is different to most, is that i prefer the mk5 r32, look really nice imo. there not that great at speed though. good in gear high speed performance.

 

[Jo3y]

Nope R36 isn't out yet, didn't realise they were releasing one until after I'd bought mine :dapprove:

Was it last night mate? I was driving down to my Mum's for Christmas down in Brighton, could have been me

Was at Kingston Tescos in Milton Keynes so I doubt it, can imagine the golf being a nice way of getting down to Brighton.

Are they releasing an R36? I wasn;t sure if it still a R32 or if they'd upped it.

Think one is comming next year ONly 0.2 secs faster to 60 and still limited at 155mph... details are still a bit sketchy though

 

[Chris n nic]

Sorry m8. I meant b4 it was like it is now but not standard. Had a blat up a massive hill. He had 2 passengers and I had 1. Foot down at about 70 and we came past then I hit the wall (not literally) up the hill (120)so he came past very slowly. Slowed at the top of the hill then again at 80 and I was really pushing him along.

In the cars current state (but with Full interior) me and my m8 had a go (his was Mk5 GTi with 5 hour remap trial of 260+) and from 50 -120 he pulled proabby less than 2 cars on me..again if we had carried on to silly speeds he would have detroyed me.

0-100 (i think) is around the 16-17 sec mark...I've seen std cups reviewed getting sub 17 sec 0-100 with a few miles on so they won't be far behind...obviously the R32 will keep going where the clio will start to fade but how often would you be doing those speeds

 

[Justin]

bit disappointing to read that because its one of the cars i was considering getting next

 

[Neil G]

Love the R32 but not the new one...it looks kind of odd with all that chrome s**t around the grille

 

[Jo3y]

Love the R32 but not the new one...it looks kind of odd with all that chrome s**t around the grille

That's why I'm glad I got the silver one

Blends in quite nicely, I preffer the looks of any other colour Golf MkV as a GTi over an R32 though, bloke downstairs from me have a Black GTi one and it looks Imense, still prefer mine though :rasp:

 

[Neil G]

Have to say that looks great in silver

The one I saw was a dark blue so the grille really stood out.

 

[Jo3y]

Have to say that looks great in silver

The one I saw was a dark blue so the grille really stood out.

Cheers, yeah the one I saw at the showroom was dark blue, loved the colour but didn't like the chrome on the front.. seen a dirty one since and know I've definately made the right choice

[EDIT] I do think the old R32's stand out a lot more than the new ones, look much more agressive I think like them both can see why you preffer the old one though

 

[Neil G]

I saw an 'old shape' R32 the other day in black and it looked very aggressive yet quite subtle at the same time....interior looked amazing.

I do think Audi and VW have got it spot on with their performance variants.

 

[Ian_182]

I would love one but the running costs are silly.
A well driven one will beat a clio

ian

 

[TheJesus]

love the looks of the Mk4 and Mk5's, but performance on the Mk4 was nothing special. My Willy with just a backbox and open IK could stick with them at anything under 100mph easily. Handling wise never driven one, only ever pushed one along the peaks and been held up, but thats more driver skill and/or road knowledge, but i'd bank on any RS new or old being a better handler. I suppose thats not all they are about though, where the Clio is much more of a 1 trick pony the Golf does it all and better in most areas... still, lovely cars just too slow for me...

Wish I'd brought my car to the meet now to play with the Mk5 one and the Scooby!

 

[speedynz]

The R32 I drove (MK4) was, as I said, quick and impressive, it just wasn't that quick. I expected a deep chested ferocity that it simply didn't have. Independent figures quote these at 15.6 secs to 100mph (two people, full tank of fuel) and this particular example felt a little slower than that.

It was difficult to fault it in any area other than the huge price difference between it and my 172. If I trade my car + $30,000 I need a significant step up in performance and ability rather than minor improvements across the board.

On a performance per pound basis these little Clios are absolute giant killers but pose an issue at trade in time as to what to replace them with.

As an aside the silver Mk5 R32 (pictured) looks lovely (great idea to choose silver to hide the normally heavy looking grille) and is surely all the car that anyone would ever need.

The Golf R36, if it ever appears, should be very tempting.

 

[Jo3y]

The Golf R36, should it ever appear, should be very tempting.

Bit gutted they're releasing a better version tbh :dapprove: although I don't know how the extra weight of the engine with help it in the corners, may start understeering like someone has said the Mk4 did.

Don't know why VW have tried to increase the engine size on an already monster of an engine, they should have stuck a supercharger or turbo on there, no that would have been a nice upgrade

 

[speedynz]

The Golf R36, should it ever appear, should be very tempting.

Bit gutted they're releasing a better version tbh :dapprove: although I don't know how the extra weight of the engine with help it in the corners, may start understeering like someone has said the Mk4 did.

Don't know why VW have tried to increase the engine size on an already monster of an engine, they should have stuck a supercharger or turbo on there, no that would have been a nice upgrade

Jo3y, I've got to agree with that, It seems almost inconcievable that little hatchbacks will be available with V6 engines approaching 4 litres in size. Daihatsu's little Charade Gtti used to get away with less than 1 litre and still hit 60 in less than 8 seconds.

There is a lot to be said for the culture of a well tuned V6 and it needn't be an understeering dog (the MK4 that I drove had less understeer than my Clio) but the ever increasing weight of these cars needs to be checked.

I think that the days of lightweight, normally aspirated hot hatches may well be left behind unless we're prepared to downsize to the likes of the Fiat Panda 100HP - lovely little thing.........but would you? And I think that it's a shame.

Renault have stuck resolutely to normal aspiration with all Clio Sport models but the 197 simply isn't fast enough to satisfy most of us.

Most people want multi airbags, improved crash protection, higher equipment levels and better build quality but there is a price to pay.

How long before the Clio/Focus/Civic/Astra all have V6's under their bonnets?

 

[Jo3y]

Bit gutted they're releasing a better version tbh :dapprove: although I don't know how the extra weight of the engine with help it in the corners, may start understeering like someone has said the Mk4 did.

Don't know why VW have tried to increase the engine size on an already monster of an engine, they should have stuck a supercharger or turbo on there, no that would have been a nice upgrade

Jo3y, I've got to agree with that, It seems almost inconcievable that little hatchbacks will be available with V6 engines approaching 4 litres in size. Daihatsu's little Charade Gtti used to get away with less than 1 litre and still hit 60 in less than 8 seconds.

There is a lot to be said for the culture of a well tuned V6 and it needn't be an understeering dog (the MK4 that I drove had less understeer than my Clio) but the ever increasing weight of these cars needs to be checked.

I think that the days of lightweight, normally aspirated hot hatches may well be left behind unless we're prepared to downsize to the likes of the Fiat Panda 100HP - lovely little thing.........but would you? And I think that it's a shame.

Renault have stuck resolutely to normal aspiration with all Clio Sport models but the 197 simply isn't fast enough to satisfy most of us.

Most people want multi airbags, improved crash protection, higher equipment levels and better build quality but there is a price to pay.

How long before the Clio/Focus/Civic/Astra all have V6's under their bonnets?

Exactly mate, and maybe it's time for renault to put a turbo back into a small hot hatch just like they did with the Renautl 5... A Clio GT Turbo, now there's something that would get people excited

 

[G_F]

I wanted to get an R32 MK4 next year but at 14k for an average one... and 5k for a mint ph1 172... I know where my money is going.

You buying every f**king car arnt you

Get a grip lad.