Underrated cars with potential?

OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
38,205
Location
OcUK HQ
For sure, but cost to power ratio lol if there ever was one....I had a race with a mapped R and the guy was amazed at how well my car did, I was passing him on the inside under wide throttle (they weigh going on for 2 tonne). I walked all over him on the straights let alone the corners and breaking. He had no chance on acceleration and his car was all over the place when it came to the twisties. My car with all mods is going on for £6,000 with everything done to a high standard by myself, It's not even close to the £ of some high end 'hot' hatches.

That DSG is a nightmare waiting to happen btw. It's a strange hybrid between an auto and a manual with an auto dual clutch, which leads to massive ball ache later on down the line (you cannot control how much the clutch bites) then take into account the hydraulic oil changes and VCDS upgrades etc.


Golf R is under 1400kg, its not 2 tonnes.

The DSG is also very solid, people have more issues with the manuals as VW put weak clutches in them which slip with anything much over 350lb/ft whereas the DSG can handle a lot more. Don't really hear of anyone having issues with MK7 and MK7.5 DSG.

A MK7 and MK7.5 stage Golf R are very quick cars, if you were walking one you were doing very well, especially a MK7 DSG as they are much quicker than the manuals and a huge amount quicker than the MK6.

I took mine to Pod and without LC it ran an easy 12.2@120mph on stage 1 on shelf map. I had it custom mapped afterwards and same car, same mods ran 11.7@123mph, I really doubt you'd be anywhere close to that even in terminal speed to be honest, but be happy to be proven wrong, bring it to the POD meet. :)
 
Associate
Joined
7 Jul 2009
Posts
599
Golf R is under 1400kg, its not 2 tonnes.

The DSG is also very solid, people have more issues with the manuals as VW put weak clutches in them which slip with anything much over 350lb/ft whereas the DSG can handle a lot more. Don't really hear of anyone having issues with MK7 and MK7.5 DSG.

A MK7 and MK7.5 stage Golf R are very quick cars, if you were walking one you were doing very well, especially a MK7 DSG as they are much quicker than the manuals and a huge amount quicker than the MK6.

I took mine to Pod and without LC it ran an easy 12.2@120mph on stage 1 on shelf map. I had it custom mapped afterwards and same car, same mods ran 11.7@123mph, I really doubt you'd be anywhere close to that even in terminal speed to be honest, but be happy to be proven wrong, bring it to the POD meet. :)
Have to agree, if you were pulling away from a mapped golf r when you only have 250 bhp i would expect your car to weigh less than 1000kg.
The ea888 engine can return 370bhp from a stage 1 remap.
 
OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
38,205
Location
OcUK HQ
I thought the Kerbweight was over 1500kg?

Not 100% sure but I think they are around 1400kg, whether they are 1500 or 1400kg they are bonkers quick, when these things are doing high 11 quarter miles miles with 120 terminals shows they are damn quick and as they are around 360HP they cannot be that heavy.
 

IC3

IC3

Soldato
OP
Joined
3 Dec 2011
Posts
9,830
Not 100% sure but I think they are around 1400kg, whether they are 1500 or 1400kg they are bonkers quick, when these things are doing high 11 quarter miles miles with 120 terminals shows they are damn quick and as they are around 360HP they cannot be that heavy.
How much were you planning on getting out of your Golf R power wise, before you sold it?
 
Last edited:
OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
38,205
Location
OcUK HQ
How much were you planning on getting out of your Golf R power wise, before you sold it?

It made 370HP & 390lb/ft I spent £1200:
- ECU Tune & TCU tune: £750
- Catted Downpipe & panel filter: £450

Which gave those results, 12.2@119 at Pod without LC. Never got a run with LC, but another R, same mods ran an 11.7@123 with LC. In short the DSG and Haldex make them seriously quick cars for very little outlay, I guess you could say the only issue is you need LC to get the serious quick times which you don't tend to use on the road as you feel an idiot sat there with the car going brap brap brap and not every LC launch is guaranteed to launch. Sometimes it can bog, other times its like being catapulted. My 0-60 was around 3.8s without LC which was easily repeated and with LC was very low 3s area, so it makes quite a big difference to the acceleration and there is no limit on how much you can use it, but I am sure it adds some extra stress launching around 3500rpm compared to just stomping it from idle. To be frank not much if anything could live with it from a stand still without LC and even upto triple digits an R8 V10 could not pull away from it, was only into triple digits the R8 disappeared into the distance.

As you can probably gather, the Golf R seriously impressed me and the newer MK7.5 is even better, more efficient DSG and a 7th cog for motorway cruising.

If I had kept it, I would have fitted cheaper decat downpipe, intercooler which is good for 400/400, or might have just gone with the hybrid 470 kit, but you then sacrifice some initial acceleration and drive ability in favour of top-end roll on performance.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2018
Posts
1,087
Location
Southampton
I've seen a Volvo club at Silverstone destroying everything else on track (imprezas/evos etc). Pretty funny to watch :D. Never really gave them much consideration before I saw that.

T5D5 probably, they're the high performance Volvo club, they're got some pretty impressive figures on their cars.

Mahoosive potential those turbo Volvo engines! Some variations of the T5 engine can approach 500HP on stock internals I think? The older 4 bangers can be pretty crazy too.

Obviously this isn't on stock internals but I love it... :D

fT1CoXvl.jpg

Think that was circa 190MPH...

I had the S40 saloon version, stupidly fun to drive with stock 200hp, 0-60 in under 7 seconds and a shove in the seat that made me smile every time I went out in it.

Mine had heated leather seats, xenons, cruise control and cost me £1100 4 years ago with 130k on it. I upgraded the intercooler, lowered it, full 3" JT tuning exhaust on it and had the engine rebuilt by Tim Williams with forged internals ready for 400+bhp, then some women cut me up and slammed on her brakes and that was the end of it. I miss it everyday!

2mdj5eo.jpg


23lbcrp.jpg


ayr4ap.jpg


Now have a newer fully loaded S40 T5 which is lovely, very linear power curve though, fast, but doesn't FEEL fast - Would swap it for my old T4 in a heartbeat!
 
Back
Top Bottom