Hot hatch battle: BMW 130i M, VW R32 DSG, DC5 Type-R, etc.

[ActiveAero]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2hNmnyvE2J0&search=R32%20Integra

Don't mind the S204 STI. It was a camera car.:P

Some of you might have seen it but I figured it was cool enough to post. Not to mention I have a question. The BMW 130i in the video is supposed to be the M version with the 265hp motor. Are they just that slow or what? I figured it was going to mop the floor with everything.

[Anderson]

Its amazing how the type r battles through the field up until the last corner. I see that as a drivers race. If Tschuiya woulda kept it straight outta the corners and not over-driven the car, I thnk, he would have easily walked away from the Honda. I don't even know what happened to the R32 though. All of a sudden it drops two places? They should have a big network competition for each class. Like Fifth Gear vs Best Motoring vs Car and Driver. Each team has two drivers with two different cars in each class from their home markets. That way there is no bias when it comes to the cars. Best car/driver combo wins. That would be fun.

[VDUBNDizzy]

Didn't watch it all, but the new Mk5 R32 should actually be an R36 and that's an Audi A3 3.2, notably heavier than the VW versions. ;)

[Amnesiac]

S204 is such a random choice for a camera car.

[adam p]

Um, the VW is an R32 - there are rumors AMERICA will get the 3.6L, but nobody has it yet

[VDUBNDizzy]

*Maybe* a few years after that we'll see an R36 based on the new Golf VI/facelift and we'll naturally do our best to try and coax VW into offering what the majority of you want.

- jamie (VWVortex)

Sorry, I was mistaken, didn't realize they has commited to the 3.2L VR for Mk5's as of June 06.

[ActiveAero]

Its amazing how the type r battles through the field up until the last corner. I see that as a drivers race. If Tschuiya woulda kept it straight outta the corners and not over-driven the car, I thnk, he would have easily walked away from the Honda. I don't even know what happened to the R32 though. All of a sudden it drops two places? They should have a big network competition for each class. Like Fifth Gear vs Best Motoring vs Car and Driver. Each team has two drivers with two different cars in each class from their home markets. That way there is no bias when it comes to the cars. Best car/driver combo wins. That would be fun.

Well the Type-R pulled a significantly faster lap in the single lap time attack and had a faster in race lap than the BMW even with the Type-R having to deal with race traffic the entire time. That wasn't what I was really talking about though. I was just noticing how slow the BMW seemed on the straights. Yes it was faster than most but it sure was struggling to pull away when it got a chance.

I think the R32 was just biding it's time after having a great launch and eventually succumbed to a push in the corners on the later laps due to being a fat pig. VW needs to give that car some balls. It's $32,000 "high performance" hatch with a VR6, AWD and a fancy tranny losing to the cars it did is a joke. For that much money and all the fancy engineering it shouldn't even be a contest.

[VDUBZ]

skewed results since it's a jap car on a jap circuit




J/k...wouldn't want to tick off anyone.

[ActiveAero]

skewed results since it's a jap car on a jap circuit




J/k...wouldn't want to tick off anyone.


One of the best motoring drivers is the editor for a Porsche magazine and they generally tend to be very favorable to other cars. They seemed to love the new GTI and adored the C5 Corvette. IMO they are about 10x less bias than Jeremy Clarkson.

That being said of course there will always be differencse with different drivers since not all of them are equal but they are all at least professional enough to get a general idea of the cars performancen IMO.

I was actually impressed with the R32 right off the bat but then that faded away as the laps progressed. It still is a well handling car and posted lap times as good or better than most of the cars in the test but for the price it and the BMW should have been walking away from everything in that test regardless of small differences in driver talent.