Golf GTi vs New Beetle Turbo

Just picked up some nice new VW brochures from VWA's head office in Sydney. Interesting to compare the current Golf GTi with the New Beetle Turbo, as sold in Australia.

They both have the same engine - 81mm bore, 86.4mm stroke, 1781cc four-cylinder with 9.5:1 compression and turbocharger. 110kW at 5700 rpm, 210 Nm at 1750 rpm. The only diffference is that the New Beetle has a 120amp alternator compared with the Golf's 90 amp. Like all new VWs, they both require 95 RON premium unleaded.

Considering only the manual transmission models, both have the same 5-speed gearbox with identical ratios. 3.300 for 1st, 1.944 on 2nd, 1.308 on 3rd, 1.029 on 4th and 0.837 on 5th. The diffs are different - the New Beetle's is 3.938, while the Golf's is taller at 3.684.

The Golf is 68mm longer and 11mm wider than the New Beetle, but 59mm lower. The Golf's wheelbase is 3mm bigger, and its front track is 5mm wider. Rear track is the same on both. The Golf has an unladen weight of 1256kg, which is 20kg lighter than the New Beetle.

The New Beetle has 70mm more front headroom, and amazingly, 64mm more rear legroom than the Golf. The Golf has 3mm more front legroom, and 26mm more rear headroom. The Golf's boot is more than twice as big as the New Beetle's.

As for performance, the Golf takes 8.5 seconds for 0-100 km/h. The New Beetle is slower, 9.0 seconds. The Golf also has a higher top speed - 216 km/h, compared with 203 km/h for the New Beetle. And the Golf is more economical - 8.3 L/100km City Cycle to the New Beetle's 8.9. The Golf does 5.7 on the Hwy, compared with the New Beetle's 5.9.

And the Golf is cheaper too - GTI 1.8T 5-speed is $41,946 on-road. The New Beetle Turbo 5spd is $42,976.

The colours and cloths are totally different, with the Golf coming from Germany and the New Beetle from Mexico. The Golf's are more conservative - no bright yellow or green paint colours that the New Beetle has, but the GTi can have black/red or black/blue cloth upholstery.

Now that is strange -
Golf is more economical and has higher top speed. - makes sense, it has the taller ratios

Golf is quicker - hmmm. Is something strange here or are they fiddlig the figures or is it soooooo complicated that i dont understand.

If it has the tall ratios i thought it would be slower - i mean there is jack difference in weight

I dragged a gti off the lights the other day Rich & killed him, he just shook his head & waved his arms in the air in surrender at the next lights.
What are u doing looking at these funny VW's anyway???
Jak

A VW superbug of course.!
regards
Jak

http://www.clubvw.org.au/images/goulburn0002.jpg



PS having said that though, I have been in a modified GTI with an exhaust , chip filter etc & it was a screamer!!!!


[Edited on 11-9-2002 by jakriz]

Yeah
I have heard that with a stage 3 (?) chip change and exhaust etc you can get 280 ponies out ot the turbo.

I have got 8.1 seconds 0-100 km/h with VBug aboard in my Turbo Beetle, and although he's skinny, I'm not. I wonder what a GTi would get if VW wasn't doing the measuring.

The coefficient of drag (CD) figure for the New Beetle is a pretty horrendous .39 versus about .30 for the Golf, so along with the lower weight, it is no surprise that the GTi is faster and more economical than the NB.

There is more rear leg room in the NB, but that's not the important bit - the rear headroom in a New Beetle is much less than the 2.6 cm difference like they suggest. I wonder where they took the rear head room measurement from.

The major difference in equipment is the DIS and climate control you get in the GTI but not in the NB.

I don't know what 280 hp means, but there are several out of the box states of tune for the 1.8t - 110 kW, 132 kW, 156 kW and 165 kW. Most of the tuners can turn a 110 kW to about 140-150 kW with just a chip. The Audi speed freaks on Audi World have dynoed 170 kW at the wheels on the TT, which taking into account 15-20% loss due to the 4wd setup means about 200 kW after serious $$$ mods.

The 1.8t FAQ:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=450388

320 hp at the wheel:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=487648

Andrew

Yes I thought some things didn't add up, which I why I posted the info. It comes straight from VW's own glossy brochures. Pop into your local VW dealer and get some - they may be worth something in years to come.

The measurements come from nice little line drawings in the back of the brochures, showing the car from front, back and side. Headroom is shown by lines drawn from the seat cushions to the roof, tilted back at an angle. The brochures say the Golf's front and rear headroom is 979 and 958 mm, while the New Beetle's is 1049 and 932. Hmm. In the drawing, it looks like the NB's rear headrests are touching the back window!

I forgot to mention that both the Golf GTi and NB Turbo have 16" wheels, which won't affect the performance comparison. An Eibach sports suspension kit is available for both, which lowers ride height by 20mm.

Anyway it's good that VW Australia is finally putting out nice brochures again. The ones from the '90s, that TKM and Inchcape and Ateco made, were crap.

They didn't have any Bora brochures when I was there, so I will tray again next week. Yes I guess the V6 Bora isn't as quick as a WRX Subaru, but at least the Bora will still be running in 10 years time. And unlikely to be stolen by ram raiders or home boys (yo!)

[Edited on 12-9-2002 by Phil74Camper]