Posted on Friday 21 March 2008
The Golf R32 is by no means slow but the sheer number of tuning kits available for the torquey hot-hatch reveals there are a lot of people out there who disagree. The latest kit is from Germany’s ABT Sportsline, and although it’s not as nearly as potent as HGP’s 640 twin-turbo model, the new tuner R32 still packs some serious punch.
The ABT Volkswagen Golf R32 is powered by a V6 engine with 370hp (272kW) on tap. This is enough to propel the car from 0-100km/h in just five seconds flat, down from the stock version’s 6.2 second time for the same sprint. The new ABT model is also capable of reaching a new top speed of 270km/h.
The extra performance comes from a series of mild modifications including a custom supercharger, ECU upgrade and 19in alloy wheels.
I’ve driven the standard Golf R32 and I can tell you right now that the biggest problem with the car is not the power but the fact that it’s not permanent AWD. When will VW follow Audi’s example and make their cars have a 40/60% power ratio from the front to back wheels? Of course, it could then change depending on the traction at each wheen but I think that is a good starting point. Until then I couldn’t dream of having 370hp in that car.
The first thing that came to mind was torque steer…
Yeah I guess they couldn’t get enough traction to do better than 5 flat 0-60…
What are you guys talking about? I own a 2008 R32 and it is AWD. I’ve driven this car in rain and snow and never have I had a loss of traction and considering I live in Boston I’d say its a pretty good test.
Perhaps before talking at least know what you’re talking about?
Not sure what the other guys are talking about, but I can tell you now that it remains FWD until it needs the AWD traction. As far as I’m concerned that’s not as good as having fulltime AWD.
jezza; get an audi S3 then.
Jezza,
Like I said before, its good to know what one is talking about. Here is an article from an automotive magazine which states the Haldex system is 60/40 front biased but is AWD all the time.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/ar…ber=2