Very Big Surprise

[CTRnutter]

Wow what a Saturday! Well my brother, cousin and I drove up to Dudley (Extreme Automobiles) to collect his Mk 5 Golf R32, whilst he was in the comfort of my Rocco my cousin and I took it in turns in driving his Westfield up which he used as a part ex. (yes we are nutters and torrential rain is no fear factor lol) was a bit hairy pulling away at round abouts as the car is currently setup on Toyo R888's.

On the way up it was nice to see a fellow rocco owner a lovely looking Black one on the M6/M5 albeit I was driving the westfield at the time. Anyway to cut a long story short, and the bit you are all probably waiting for, how does the 2.0 TSI Rocco compare to the 3.2 V6 Golf! I'm not going to start talking speeds ahem* but lets just say this was a very thorough test indeed!

I think I might actually have to retract my previous statement that I made about the Pirelli!!!! In a word the R32 couldnt shake the Rocco, I know this because I was the one driving the Golf and my cousin was following in the Rocco, in fact at low end the Scirocco has the edge only when we started to reach very interesting speeds did the Golf start to make any effort to pull away and then it was at the edge of running out of steam! we tried this at varying speeds and different gears. I'm assuming that because these were rolling speeds the rocco had no traction issues, thus the extra 50 bhp the R32 has is eaten through transmission losses on the 4 wheel drive system.

The big grin factor though the R32 has is an amazing noise at low end acceleration speeds, its gurgles and rasps away and it is intoxicating, but as of ease of access the Rocco is far easier to get in and out of the back, although that might just because my brothers car is fitted with the big ol' Recaro bucket seats, also it gave better fuel consumption!!!!!!! Thant the Rocco now I'm guessing thats because the Rocco's turbo was on full swing for a long time.

I'll load up some pics a bit later

Anyway once again great service by Extreme Automobiles, and I thoroughly recommend them to anyone, Back in mine and my brothers jap days with Evo's, and now in our German day's

[noj66]

That's very interesting to read.I've owned lots of 'sporty' cars (mainly VW) over the years,most recently a new shape Audi S3.The power advantage over the Scirocco (60 bhp or so) is not that obvious.I thought maybe it was just my perception,and the fact that between the Audi and Scirocco i owned a diesel BMW Alpina D3.Glad to hear someone else pleasantly surprised by the 'rocco.

[CTRnutter]

That's very interesting to read.I've owned lots of 'sporty' cars (mainly VW) over the years,most recently a new shape Audi S3.The power advantage over the Scirocco (60 bhp or so) is not that obvious.I thought maybe it was just my perception,and the fact that between the Audi and Scirocco i owned a diesel BMW Alpina D3.Glad to hear someone else pleasantly surprised by the 'rocco.

None of us expected it and I really thought the R32 was going to walk all over it hence why I jumped into the drivers seat, and I really worked the R32 right on top of the limiter. but I just couldnt shake the Rocco, I was in some respects dissapointed for my brother, but the other factors are the R32 isnt using a turbo, thus its smoother and it did feel very well planted, it feels bigger but side by side the Rocco is noticeable wider at the back and lower.

Both fantastic cars, and we turened heads all the way home, still can get that noise out my head

[wigit]

i did 400 miles this weekend so now finally run in and able to exploit it, it does feel more rapid than it should do not sure if the exhasut note tricks you or the fact you feel lower to the ground, what amazed me was how comfortable it actually is and eats up the miles without fuss, played with the acc on the motorway which really does show up the differences in damping settings on a consistent road surface, also impressed with the levels of rear end grip, its a true all rounder, needless to say i am not missing my old a3

[wigit]

the closeness may well be due to weight, r32's tip the scales at a portly 212-220 kg more than the scirocco depending on dsg/non dsg, also the manual versus dsg may also come into play (scirocc dsg closes the gap on the manual r32 in terms of accleration), gtis are around 30-60kgs more depend on the engine output

[CTRnutter]

the closeness may well be due to weight, r32's tip the scales at a portly 212-220 kg more than the scirocco depending on dsg/non dsg, also the manual versus dsg may also come into play (scirocc dsg closes the gap on the manual r32 in terms of accleration), gtis are around 30-60kgs more depend on the engine output

this is true but I was nailing it in the R32, didnt miss a gear and had it in the correct gear throughout, the thing I did notice was how well planted the golf was, it was very reassuring! where as from behind watching my cousin the Rocco looked a bit bouncy!

Either way they are both very different cars, and the golf feels more grown up,