One Epic Road Trip and a Polo TSI

THE TORQUE POST

Power: 88 KW

Torque: 160 N.M

0 to 100 KM/H: 11.2 s

Motor: Turbo Inline 4 1.2 L

Gearbox: 5 speed Manual

Someone once told me that the best way to get to know a car is to take it on a epic road trip. So I decided that I should combine my love of travel and cars and take my own car on a road trip from Jozi to Cape Town, the long way round.

My road trip started on a cold Tuesday morning at about 06h00 when I set off direction Kimberly, my first stop on this epic journey. It was the start to me finding out more about my car and what it can and can’t do.

Starting on farm roads, the suspension suffered and the ride was rough and the whole car was vibrating but this changed the moment I got on the road. The ride turned smooth and the handling became amazing.

The 1.2 turbo four pot makes the right amount of power and is quite and doesn’t intrude into the cabin at all.

The road trip started the next morning in Kimberly at minus two! It was freezing! But to the polo’s credit, it started right away without fuss, but the revs did spend a minute at about 1000 RPM to warm up.

City driving was awesome in the car making for quick traffic light take offs and the ability to overtake minibus taxi’s and slower drivers. It is also small enough to get into tight gaps and make a break for the that turn off.

Highway driving is a dream. It returns around 4.9 to 5.0 L per 100 KM at 120 KM/H and when the road allows, 130 KM/H is more than possible. The only negative is, if you are driving at 100 KM/H you are going to have to downshift to overtake, but from 115 KM/H the turbo is there and you just put your foot down and off you go.

I stopped at Augrabies that Night to explore the national park and the waterfall that lies with in it (Side note: if you want to go further into park, pick up truck or 4x4 needed). Indeed worth a visit just to see it!

The last part of the trip involved driving on dirt roads and again the car suffered. The suspension is not set up for this, and the car is way too low for the roads. When the horrible dirt roads were over, I was blessed with driving Nirvana! Back roads that had more corners than a race track and they were fast corners at that.

The car handles like a dream through the corners with barley any body roll and the car cornered super well. Some corners allowed me to power through with out downshifting and some needed me to downshift.

All in all, the car is the perfect little car. Great in the city and great on the open road. My only regret? Not going for the Highline which is 112KW compared to my Comfortline which is 88 KW (Side note: Normal comfortline’s are 66 KW but I bought mine from the dealer with 88 KW).

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

TL;DR:

Good: Low consumption, handles well, punchy

Bad: Avoid ANY kind of Dirt road.

Next weeks Edition: I explore Dapper Coffee in Bree Street Cape Town which offers coffee and the best back drop ever.

2018 Golf 7.5 R

THE TORQUE POST

Hello and welcome to The Torque Post!

My name is Chris. I got into cars at a young age and have been hooked ever since. I grew up around many types of vehicles from pick-up trucks to tractors and from Mercedes to VW.

End of last year I moved to Johannesburg and that’s where my love of cars took off to a whole new level. I was introduced to track racing and car meets, which I was never brave enough to attend. I was also lucky enough to get a gig translating articles from German to English for Motor Magazine.

Anyway, enough of me and let’s get into this week’s article! As promised: THE GOLF 7.5 R

POWER: 213KW

TORQUE: 380 N.M.

0 TO 100 KM/H: 4.6s

MOTOR: TURBO INLINE 4

GEARBOX: 7 SPEED DSG

·       Data from Cars.co.za

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Volkswagen Driving Academy High Performance Driving Course in which I was able to push the R to its limit.

The academy is based at Zwartkops race way which is located in Centurion, Gauteng. It boasts a Skidpan, Kart track and a 2,8 Kilometer race track that has a hairpin, straight, chicane and an uphill and downhill. It is also the slowest track in South Africa.  

The day started on the skidpan in we got to explore the cars handling. Let me say it handles like a dream in sport mode, but the moment you put it into normal mode and suspension relaxes, it does not handle well at all. It kind of wallows a bit and struggles to put down power.

Driving from the meet up venue to the skidpan in normal mode, I discovered that everyday driving would be hell in this car. The suspension is rock hard and does not absorb any of bumps on the road and sends the shock wave right up the spine.

The Golf R uses a Haldex system to send the power to all for corners. It is however, front wheel drive biased and only sends the power to rear wheels if it is needed such as when it starts to oversteer or understeer.

The second part of the day and the part of the day which I was looking forward to the most was the track driving experience. Let me say that the car is amazing on the track! The suspension, chassis and engine are set up for this!

The car corners like it is on rails and pulls away like a cheetah who just spotted its dinner. The acceleration is amazing, and the quick shifts (curtesy of the DSG ‘box, quickest in the business) make sure that there is power on tap for when you exit the corner and need the power to chase down that lap time!  

The exhaust note is something that come with an age restriction! The system burps and snorts and sounds angry even in normal mode. Put it into race mode and the exhaust valves open and then the noise is something that is ungodly!

At the end of each of these weekly reviews, I will give each car I review a rating out of 5.

So what would I give the Golf R?

4 OUT 5

Now this next section is for those of you who don't like reading a such a long Article or, I'll give the benefit of the doubt, don't have time in todays fast paced world:

TL;DR:

Good: Race mode, chassis and suspension

Bad: Not a good daily car

Keep an eye out for next weeks post about my Road Trip from Jo'Burg to Cape Town in a 2015 Polo 1.2 TSI Comfortline.