bmws vs new golf r

[pick333]

95% of the time I'm the only occupant of my car, so I like small cars, including my 135i. Therefore I plan to keep it at least another year. I'm intrigued,however, by two new cars--the BMW 235i and the Volkswagon Golf R (which has 292 horsepower, goes 0-60 in 5 seconds, and has awd.

I'm curious how you readers rank the 3 cars in terms of ownership desirability.

[3002 tii]

I considered a Golf R against the 135is. The R obviously has the advantage of the awd and 4 doors. Having owned a VW before I wasn't adverse to the brand by any means and I would say the build quality of any 2006+ VW is pretty solid. End of day though it seems like VW's are generally underpowered cars and you really need to throw on every bolt on from APR to get it to a decent point. I was tired of modding and wanted something fast and reliable out of the box

I knew rwd and snow tires would get me by in the winter (at least where I live) and I don't have any kids so 2dr vs 4dr wasn't a big deal. Also the 1-er was a dying breed among driver cars. After test driving it I knew the R would not replicate that same experience.

[..]

I believe the R is the better car for 3 reasons:
1) Better transmission - R is equipped with a Dual Clutch gearbox whereas the M235i xdrive possesss the 8spd ZF (which IMO isn't bad)
2) Forged Internals - I believe the R will have a built bottom end
3) Less Expensive - The 235i fully loaded is over $50k !!

[..]

Originally Posted by 3002 tii

I considered a Golf R against the 135is. The R obviously has the advantage of the awd and 4 doors. Having owned a VW before I wasn't adverse to the brand by any means and I would say the build quality of any 2006+ VW is pretty solid. End of day though it seems like VW's are generally underpowered cars and you really need to throw on every bolt on from APR to get it to a decent point. I was tired of modding and wanted something fast and reliable out of the box

I knew rwd and snow tires would get me by in the winter (at least where I live) and I don't have any kids so 2dr vs 4dr wasn't a big deal. Also the 1-er was a dying breed among driver cars. After test driving it I knew the R would not replicate that same experience.

Thing that annoys me about VWs is they are SO expensive to modify. Each part cost double the price of ours.

[Pig Farmer]

All I can say it that the Golf R shocked the hell out of me one day. I was sitting at a red light in the pouring rain. A white VW pulled up in the lane next to me. I just thought it was a normal Golf, or Polo, or whatever VW is producing these days (I haven't followed VW since I sold my 83 GTI a hundred years ago). When the light turned green, that car was gone... I mean gone! It was literally 75-100 yards down the road before I grabbed 2nd gear. It must have been tuned since it easily pulled a 4 second 0-60 on cold slick pavement. I was completely impressed with the way it put the power to the ground.

[Gray_Panther]

I like the .:R over the 2. I think it is just so cool to have a 2-door hatch with AWD and pushing crazy numbers from a 2.0T.

[PopsnBurbles]

I would take the R if it still made that amazing sound when they had an almost straight 3.2 V6 in it. I think it was the Mk V R32...idk my Golf's much but I know there's an amazing sounding one stock. When I asked the VW panel about the Golf R's after the one with the 3.2 regarding sound, they only gave me a sad frown and say something along the line of the newer car being faster.

[germ]

The R does not come with manual transmission. End of story.

[davis449]

Stick with BMW. I have heard, and personally witnessed, the horrors of tuning the new 2.0T's. Turbos blowing up everywhere. If you wanna see for yourself how bad it is, head over to audirevolution.net and see the carnage coming from APR tuned cars. They bash on APR a lot over there, but the bottom line is that the damage being caused to the new ones by just tuning software isn't and won't be limited to APR. Even the second revision of the turbos they (VAG) are using to replace the ones that blow with just stock HP aren't holding up well to being tuned. Yes, the numbers on the new ones are crazy, but just not worth it. This is coming from a guy who's owned heavily modded two 2.0T's (one FSI and one TFSI). All that said, sometimes I do miss my K04'd TFSI A3 Quattro. I have done to many a 135i what that Golf R did to you, Pig Farmer. I can also attest to how much more expensive it is to modify VW's...

[Vigilante375]

Originally Posted by germ

The R does not come with manual transmission. End of story.

Yes, it does so go re-check the facts. Might not be available now but it will have a 6 spd.

[gap]

Have you seen the R400 concept? Will probably be out in a year and looks like it
would not require any tuning. I love my 1 and it suits me, but if I had a family to haul around and I could only have one car the R400 would be at the top of the list.

[hau_nguyen91]

Originally Posted by germ

The R does not come with manual transmission. End of story.

Not true..

MT is coming.. per below website.

Shoves the performance envelope.

It’s no secret that the Golf R knows how to perform. But with impressive power that takes it from 0 to 60 in 4.9 seconds 4 and around the Nurburgring in 8:11, clearly it’s not holding back.

292-hp/280 lb-ft of torque
Turbocharged 2.0T inline-4 engine
4MOTION® all-wheel drive
6-sp DSG® auto (6-sp MT coming soon)

[IEDEI]

Golf R.

the 2-series is rubbish. I have a 228 loaner right now for the past few days and it's lousy.....lacks any connection to the driving experience. BMW really ruined the 1-series by releasing a mini-3-series.

[ShocknAwe]

Oh I'd totally go for the Golf R. VERY cool car. I'm actually really digging what VW is doing right now. Very nice vehicles coming out of that corp.

[doublevanosrc]

Stay with BMW they just feel better balanced than anything from VW.

[Nugget]

My previous car was a Audi S3 which is what the last gen Golf R was based on.
It was nice enough, especially once it was APR stage 2+, but the 135i is much more fun to drive.

[inFamousKicks]

Would go Golf R although the front bumper is hideous.

[z4mcoupe]

I had two R32s and most recently a 2012 Golf R. The older R32s have that glorious exhaust note but very expensive to make them go faster than factory power. Great all-around-cars though. I miss the R32 a lot.

The MKVI Golf R can put down serious power with a few bolt-ons. Mine had a downpipe, CAI, APR HPFP, and Stage II tune. It pulled harder than my M Coupe on a cool day. A set of snow tires made the Golf R such a beast in the winter months here.

That said, I sold the car due to interior build quality. One time in a snow storm, the driver door wouldn't shut close. So I drove 35 miles to the VW dealership in the storm holding the door with my left arm and shift/steering with the right one. Fun drive!

[Silenus]

Drove a previous generation Golf R, it was one of the best cars I've ever driven.

[Robmaster]

if I want a AWD 4-door Turbo car, I would buy a M135xi....

[dtla1]

Originally Posted by Robmaster

if I want a AWD 4-door Turbo car, I would buy a M135xi....

Not an option in the US.

[germ]

Originally Posted by hau_nguyen91

Not true..

MT is coming.. per below website.

Shoves the performance envelope.

It’s no secret that the Golf R knows how to perform. But with impressive power that takes it from 0 to 60 in 4.9 seconds 4 and around the Nurburgring in 8:11, clearly it’s not holding back.

292-hp/280 lb-ft of torque
Turbocharged 2.0T inline-4 engine
4MOTION® all-wheel drive
6-sp DSG® auto (6-sp MT coming soon)

Thanks for the correction. Can you please provide the link?