2006 Volkswagen Golf R32 (Mk5) | Review
Andrew Noakes drives manual and DSG-equipped versions of Volkswagen's fastest Golf.
3.2-litre V6
There’s no chance of that accusation being levelled at the R32. Volkswagen’s newest hot Golf boasts no less than 247bhp from a revised version of the 3.2-litre narrow-angle V6 that it shares with a variety of other Volkswagen group products, including the Audi TT and a significant in-house rival, the A3 quattro Sport. Like those Audis, the Golf R32 deploys its power through either a manual or a DSG automatic gearbox and a four-wheel-drive system controlled by a Haldex coupling, which uses a hydraulically-activated multi-plate clutch to transfer drive to the rear wheels when the fronts start to spin.
Pile on enough revs before side-stepping the clutch from a standing start and you can feel the front wheels spin momentarily, but after a brief chirrup from the Michelins the Haldex system sends the excess tractive effort to the rear wheels, where it can be best utilised. So despite its ridiculously porky kerb weight – at 1,590kg, the R32 is heavier than a Mercedes E200 – it’s said to achieve the 0-60mph sprint in just 6.5 seconds.
DSG - a must-have option?
And the DSG auto box, a £1,300 option, shaves another three tenths off that. Add the DSG-equipped car’s better official fuel consumption figures and lower CO2 rating, and the auto starts to look like a must-have option. DSG, the Volkswagen Group’s Direct Shift Gearbox, made its debut in the previous generation R32 in 2002, and has since been adopted elsewhere in both the Audi and Volkswagen ranges. Effectively it’s two manual gearboxes put together, one providing ‘odd’ gears (and reverse) and the other providing ‘even’ gears. The input shafts of the two geartrains are concentric, the ‘odds’ shaft running inside the hollow ‘evens’ shaft. Automatically-controlled wet clutches determine which shaft is in use, and the unused one can independently pre-select a gear ready for the next gearchange.
Upshifts are lightning fast and all but imperceptible, and the system uses ABS sensor data to avoid gearshifts mid-corner. Downshifts, complete with a pre-programmed throttle blip, are more noticeable but still remarkably smooth. DSG’s default ‘D’ mode behaves just like a conventional automatic, while the ‘S’ mode delays gearchanges until optimum revs to maximise performance. In addition the driver can move the shift lever left to select a Tiptronic sequential-shift mode, or gearchanges can be activated using paddles behind the steering wheel. According to Volkswagen it’s a system which ‘counters the arguments of automatic sceptics’.
In some ways it does, but what it doesn’t do is live up to another Volkswagen claim – that it combines auto convenience with ‘the driving qualities of a manual’. In the DSG-equipped R32 the gearbox is convinced it knows what you want better than you do: even in manual mode, if you floor the throttle it changes down to ‘help’ you. In the manual R32, I could attack a winding road in, say, third gear, lifting off or braking for a tight bend or where visibility was poor, and that pokey V6 would haul us out of the corner or away from the hazard smoothly and swiftly with the throttle wide open, but no need to change down.
On the same road the DSG-equipped car insisted on changing gear each time, even when I’d told it not to by selecting a gear manually. Even ambling along in auto mode the DSG transmission was far keener to change down and get the revs up than I was in the manual car. I suspect this trigger-happy gearchange strategy would mean the auto R32’s overall fuel consumption would be greater than that of the manual car, whatever the official figures say, but our time with the R32s was too limited to tell.
Seriously fast
Whichever gearbox you choose the R32 is a seriously fast machine from A to B, whether your route takes in motorways and A-roads or unknown, unclassified country lanes. Point its nose into a corner and the R32 responds keenly, only succumbing to mild understeer under serious provocation. The ride is suppler than on many a car of similar performance, and mid-corner bumps and surface changes are taken easily in the Golf’s stride.
But there’s a hint of body float over transverse ridges and hump-back bridges, as though the rebound damping isn’t all it should be, and an enthusiastic driver would wish for more feedback from the over-servoed brakes or the electro-hydraulically assisted steering. Torque steer, though, is barely detectable.
It’s easy to be impressed by the R32. The cars we saw looked supremely well built inside and out, and sounded fantastic from the outside (if less exciting from within). That multi-valve V6 has an appealingly smooth, linear delivery which provides rapid motoring without a lot of fuss and commotion. The chassis is for the most part supple and silky, grip is prodigious and traction is never in doubt. The interior is efficient and comfortable, even more so if you specify the hideously expensive optional leather Recaros.
But there are plenty of accomplished rivals out there – not least Audi’s A3 quattro Sport, which is just £500 more. Hatchback opposition also includes BMW’s more powerful but more expensive 130i M-Sport and the much cheaper Ford Focus ST, Vauxhall Astra VXR and RenaultSport Megane. Volkswagen is hoping to steal customers away from such delights as the Nissan 350Z and Mazda RX-8, and might also tempt the odd Impreza or Evo buyer to switch.
One thing is certain: the £25,000 decision just got harder.
SPECIFICATION | 2006 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R32 (Mk5)
Engine: 3189cc V6
Transmission: 6-speed man/DSG
Power (hp): 250@6300rpm
Torque (lb ft): 236@2500rpm
MPG: 26.4
CO2: 257g/km
Price new: £23,745
Price now: £5000 upwards
Copyright © Andrew Noakes 2006
Too big and heavy to be a 'Hot Hatch' in the true spirit of the thing and if you are putting it in the same league as a 350z well for me the 350 wins every time cause it looks a far more classy car for your £25k.
End of the day in my eyes VW are still determined to give the Golf an identity crisis.
Ali.
But after a couple of miles I was bored and despite the salesman going on about how amazing the car was that he was sorry that he couldn't drive one everyday I curtailed the test and drove back to the garage.
Not one for me
pbarlow003 said:
The DSG shouldn't change down in manual mode, only when the revs drop to about 800 i.e. about to stall! The only way it'll change by itself in manual mode is if you're at 800 rpm about to stall, or if you redline it
I have the Audi A3 3.2 DSG and if in manual mode it will change down, as you say, at very low RPM but also on 'kickdown' but to get kickdown you need to fully depress the throttle and then press some more to activate a kickdown 'switch'.
It will kickdown as many gears as neccessary to get max performance and the kickdown is faster than shifting sequentially as it can 'miss out' gears on kickdown; eg activate kickdown at 35mph in 6th and it will shift to 2nd but it does so by shifting from 6th-5th-2nd (or 6th-3rd-2nd?) it just needs to shift from one shaft to the other and (and back if neccessary) doesn't need to be sequential - But if you've got a 'lead boot' and just mash the throttle you may kickdown unintentionally and as you say it will only self-upshift if redlined.
So unless the VW is different to the Audi (which I doubt) then this comment about downshifting is wrong, assuming of course that it's being driven 'properly' but this might take some time to become accustomed to.
angrys3owner said:
I'm 99.9% sure the DSG gearbox was never available in the previous R32 and it wasn't the first car to be fitted with it, other than that seems like a good review, I wouldn't spend my £25,000 on one though!
I'm certain that the A3 3.2 was the first car available with DSG, followed by other A3s and then some VWs, The previous R32 never had DSG.
Code Monkey said:
I know it is not the only thing to review a car on. but 6.5 to 60, whats the in gear acceleration like, on the most basic of numbers it seems pretty slow. but then it is dragging that overweight fat boy body about.
As you say a lot of weight, plus 4wd, plus 2 gearchanges to get to 60 but, (if it's like the A3), it's best at the higher speed stuff and is very quick and smooth from A to B.
I live in the countryside and the roads are often wet and greasy, in these conditions there's not much that's faster, it's also a good Motorway cruiser, will do 155mph (limited) on the Autobahn - only downside is the MPG's not too great.
catso said:
to get kickdown you need to fully depress the throttle and then press some more to activate a kickdown 'switch'... if you've got a 'lead boot' and just mash the throttle you may kickdown unintentionally
Guess I have a 'lead boot', then.
catso said:
angrys3owner said:
I'm 99.9% sure the DSG gearbox was never available in the previous R32 and it wasn't the first car to be fitted with it, other than that seems like a good review, I wouldn't spend my £25,000 on one though!
I'm certain that the A3 3.2 was the first car available with DSG, followed by other A3s and then some VWs, The previous R32 never had DSG.
From a VW press release:
Wolfsburg, 22 November 2002
Volkswagen presents a world-wide technical innovation: the sporty and economical automatic gearbox “DSG”. This gearbox with integrated dual clutch will be used for the first time in the Golf R32. In the course of the year 2003, its use will be extended to other production series...
Digital said:
Lovely car, but 1590 kgs worth?
I wonder how much better (and lighter) it would be without the 4WD system, which isn't a full time system like the Subarus and Mitsubishis anyway.
The R32 is 254kg (!) heavier than the GTI. An Audi TT 3.2 is 150kg heavier than a TT 2.0, which suggests the V6 engine adds 150kg and the four-wheel drive system is another 100kg or so. Give or take a bit for differences in equipment levels between the cars.
DSG, by the way, is only a 20kg penalty.
Andrew Noakes said:
catso said:
to get kickdown you need to fully depress the throttle and then press some more to activate a kickdown 'switch'... if you've got a 'lead boot' and just mash the throttle you may kickdown unintentionally
Guess I have a 'lead boot', then.
catso said:
angrys3owner said:
I'm 99.9% sure the DSG gearbox was never available in the previous R32 and it wasn't the first car to be fitted with it, other than that seems like a good review, I wouldn't spend my £25,000 on one though!
I'm certain that the A3 3.2 was the first car available with DSG, followed by other A3s and then some VWs, The previous R32 never had DSG.
From a VW press release:
Wolfsburg, 22 November 2002
Volkswagen presents a world-wide technical innovation: the sporty and economical automatic gearbox “DSG”. This gearbox with integrated dual clutch will be used for the first time in the Golf R32. In the course of the year 2003, its use will be extended to other production series...
Correct, I've seen a German plated MK4 R32 with a little DSG badge below the R32 badge, don't think it was available in the UK though.
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