R32 now sold, looking forward to the next car

[Tinytim]

The MKIV R32 has now gone so hope to be in an ED30 soon.

Anyone else on here gone from an R32 to an ED30?

Regretted it? or Never looked back?

[MAT ED30]

I did and would never go back to an r32

[Oli]

Me also,  but I had a 335d, S3 and RS4 in between. Then I sold the ED30, got another 335d, then Porsche 997 C2S ( which I still own but is up for sale), and have just purchased my wife another ED30.......

Apart from the lack of traction in the wet, the ED30 is the better driving car, better balanced, more agile and much better mpg.

[simonp]

Out of curiosity; were both mk5 R32s? Supposed to be quite a different beast to the mk4...

[MAT ED30]

Nah I went and got a mk5 r32 with the buckets for a few hours from Vw and it was nice to drive but the mk4 felt a bit more hard core as such but they both felt heavy sods

[simonp]

It is a heavy old bus! I suppose the main draw of the GTI is the tunability, though?

[Oli]

I've had both mk4 and 5 R32s.  The 4 definitely felt more special but the 5 had DSG!

[sub39h]

if it were my money i'd probably have stuck with the R32, reason being that you would have lost money on selling the R32 (especially with the used car market as it is) and then you'll lose money again buying an Eddy

don't get me wrong, the Eddy is a gorgeous car, and i fell in love with one myself. i do think on balance it's a better car, but not by enough to justify the expense. only reason i bought an A3 instead of an Eddy is because i didn't want an "old shape" car, so to speak.

in standard form the R32 is faster too, and i know it's heavy but the vast majority of that weight is because of the 4WD system (which itself is an advantage), and not the engine. an S3 only weighs 90kg less than an A3 3.2 for example. and the noise  . plus with the 2.0T being on boost at higher speeds it's probably no more fuel efficient than the VR6

it'd be a very tough choice for me
 

[Oli]

But sometimes you've just got to change!  In fairnesss, unlesss it's wet, the ED30 is the quicker car and even then it's only off the line the .:R is quicker, and the fuel economy is a mile apart.  The noise and 4wdcwere the only bonuses of the .:R over a GTI - I'd prefer an S3 over an R32 now, even though the steerings a bit dead, but I found that adding stage 2 helped the feel.