We’ve got a couple of reviews that are on tap for Februrary that I thought you ought to know about:
- 2006 Volkswagen Golf GTI (DSG)
- John Cooper Works Cold Air Intake
- Supersprint Street Exhaust (MCS)
As always if you have suggestions for new reviews on MotoringFile just let us know!
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Here is a way to sum up the GTI (I just recently drove it twice)
-No LSD lots of wheelspin when accelerating out of corners.
-Suspension is nice and tight, but the car doesn’t corner as flat as the mini probably because of the higher center of gravity and the heavier weight.
-Build quality.. Mini wins here also. The GTI is decent but the mini just is that much better.
-The stereo is awful. The HK stereo in the mini is better.
-The mini cooper S will definitely hold it’s value more than the GTI
The only thing the GTI has on the mini really is the usable size. It’s interior is spacious.
I almost thought about buying one, but I would like to autox the next car I get, and I suspect the mini will still be able to beat the gti, but who knows.
That said.. I am still up in the air.
Please please please review the M7 AGS – there has been so much hype and no data.
As a recent VW GTI convert, I can tell you go for the Mini! Above 8/10s, a stock Mini is well beyond a GTI in almost every category except straight line power. Spec a factory LSD with your Cooper S, add a 15% supercharger pulley and rear swaybar, and you have a little beast that will run circles around even a heavily modded GTI in any situation that involves cornering. Not to mention the fun factor is greatly increased…
I think the new GTI is great, the DSG gearbox is awesome, its more practical than a MINI. And the pricing is good too.
Still, a MINI is just “cooler”, its got a style and an image thats hard to match.
I look forward to your review of the new GTI, but just keep one statistic in mind…
… 3308 POUNDS …
And that’s with the 6-speed manual and does not include the heavier DSG tranny. That is 700 lb.s more then a stock MCS, folks!
As a recent JCW MCS convert from a 2003 VR-6 GTI, I consider the weight of the Gen V model to be inexcusable.
My fully-loaded ’03 GTI with cast-iron 2.8L V-6 was 2900 lb.s, which was quite porky enough, thank you. So an ADDITIONAL 400 pounds for the lightest Gen V GTI is just stupid.
All preliminary reports I’ve read seem to agree that Gen V handling and body control are MUCH improved over the Gen IV, and I can certainly confirm that it really needed it. But it will always have that high-centered weight to carry around.
I thought about waiting until the GTI got here, to make a fair comparison with the ’06 MCS, but this weight situation (and the frumpy, TOO-Tall looks) was a deal-breaker for me.
The GTI is not 3300 pounds; that was a misprint carried over from the GLI literature. It’s actually a good 120 lbs lighter than that. vwvortex.com has pretty much blown the error out of the water.
Can’t wait to read the Motoring File take on the GTI. I’ve driven the GLI, to get my sneak preview. Didn’t lay my hands on a DSG though.
It was in the running for me as well, but then I remembered when the MINI line was announced that my first thought was: “This is what VW should have built as the next GTI. Small, light and nimble.”
When driving the GLI everything about the car seemed. . . well. . . Big.
Why don’t they just bring the Polo or Lupos over in GTI dress?
Looking forward to the JCW AIR INTAKE review. As I have ordered a 2006 MCS, that is due to enter the New York Harbor tomorrow, the 29th….YES!!!YES!!YES!!!!!
I have read lots of material both here, which I consider this the BEST information library for all things MINI..THANKS a MILLION GABE!!!!
So…when I finally am driving my new 2006 MCS…no name as of yet…I am open to suggestions!!! I will post my review of that first ride up and over the beautiful BLUE RIDGE MTS. of VA/WV. But, truth be told..I expect nothing but the best, as has been the case with my soon to be departed 2003 MC. And may I say to the person who ends of with “MABLE”, she is one of a kind MC, well taken care of and she has returned that care with many, many smiling tours over the past 3 years…Thanks again for MOTORINGFILE and the help it has afforded my MINI and my MSC to come!!!!!:-) 🙂
Great! Just in time too! I’ve been interested in the JCW CAI for a few weeks now! Great timing. Love the website Gabe, keep up the good work!
No need to review the JCW CAI – it’s fab! Just get it 🙂
Recently I have installed my JCW CAI to my non-JCW car with 15% reduction pulley, and added 380cc. injectors, colder spark plugs, Invidia catback, and upgraded my ECU to JCW ECU flash, and the car runs amazing. I previously owned an ALTA CAI, which was nice, but JCW has more quality, after 4500 rpm the hell breaks lose, again, not lot of sc whining, however a nice, quality sound. I am pretty sure these mods put me little over 200bhp, which is what i needed. I would recommend JCW CAI to everyone…
Supersprint exhaust is very pricey but real good quality, i guess they are running a special nowadays, i ordered header for my car, which will compliment my new Invidia cat-back.
I’ve owned all four of the previous GTI incarnations and let me tell you, the MKV GTI is just awesome. It kills the MKIV in every way.
But as a current MCS owner, I now have another vantage point. Like I said the new GTI is awesome; besides being faster, roomier, and offering the brilliant DSG tranny, I also think the GTI is better looking — simply because I’m not a fan of “cute”. However, the Mini’s interior design and handling — four years after its introduction — still own the segment as far as I’m concerned. I think that the new GTI is a worthy competitor to the Cooper S — arguably better in some ways — and I’ve really had to hold back from trading my car in and getting one. However, when the MKII Cooper S is introduced in less than a year, I think any advantages the GTI has — besides room — will be outshined once again. The new GTI restores my faith in VW and keeps the car on my radar, but I’m placing my bets on next year’s offering from the Bavarian-English co-op.
VW.com shows the curb weight of the 06 GTI as 2934# (with manual tranny, I assume). Still too heavy…….
I’ve own a MCS for 16 months and recently drove a friends 05 GTI with DSG. I can confirm what some of the other mini drivers are saying that the handling of the mini is second to none. My previous car was an Audi S3 with Quatro and the Mini with tweaked suspension and rear sway bar wins hands down!
I GTI has amazing low end torque, the DSG is fun to drive and certainly beats the mini’s rather dull gear box.
The biggest downer on the mini is the interior creeks and rattles that seem to appear all over as time goes on. some people have mentioned that the problem never seems to be totally fixed!
Overall i think both the GTI and the Mini are great cars and personal preferance is what separates them in the end.
Guys; don’t waste all your best material… the review isn’t even posted yet 🙂
gbuff – that’s the old US spec 2006 GTI. Not the new body style.
What’s amazing is the amount of respect GTI owners show to the MINI, at least on Vortex; the consensus in a MkV vs. MCS thread is that the MCS will outhandle it, full stop. Acceleration is, of course, another matter.
I have written something of a report of some pretty wild testdrive I enjoyed 3 weeks ago with the GTI…
A testdrive with the Golf V GTI: great!!! Finally I was about to drive the worthy successor of my little red oldie… But when I heard not me but somebody else was going to pilot, it was hard not to be disappointed… I tried to talk into the man, convince him to trade plates with my car, bribe him… But as nothing worked, I installed myself into the passenger seat and was mentally preparing myself for what I thought would be one of the most boring drives of my life, but to be fair: it was completely the opposit! 🙂 After 5 minutes from departure, we were already heading 230 km/h on the A12!! Then the road got twitchy and even there my driver, which was a professional by the way, really was pushing the car on the limit (and almost beyond)… But the car handled great and I can only confirm that what every decent car magazine has been raving about is correct: this car really shines in every situation!
So major driving dynamics, but as good as the Cooper’s? Well I think so but in a totally different way.
The Cooper handles very neutral, so with very little understeer. Whereas the Golf, partially due to its weight disadvantage up front, has got some initial understeer. But, just like its ancestor the Golf II GTI, it’s so easy to apply the weight of the car in your advantage, so you can make it slightly oversteer… This enables you to corner very fast and still maintaining control.
But the handling is not only very competitive, but o so accessible and o so rewarding as well. Rear wheel drive dynamics without the cons: I love it!
So when will I finally drive this bloody machine myself? Well very soon! People at VW have promised me a personal, thorough test drive is possible at Kortenberg, close to Brussels (Belgium). By the way, it’s very easy to get such a testdrive, just tell your local VW-salesman you want to trade in your current car for a GTI, and that, before you order one, you want to drive the real thing instead of one of these oil burners…
This testreport can be read together with some pictures (of my MINI as well) at smugmug…:
<a href="http://steven993.smugmug.com/gallery/1141309/1/53195737" rel="nofollow ugc">http://steven993.smugmug.com/gallery/1141309/1/53195737</a>