[sstarrx3]

Originally Posted by iainb

LOL, not it doesn't.

If anything most people think the GTI is too boring/pedestrian looking. Which is probably why I've been seeing a lot more people in their 40s or older driving them lately.

I agree...also many 2er owners ARE racer boys. If you modify your stock car to make it faster and louder...you is a racer boy. Embrace it!!!

[OG///M]

Real problem with FWD cars with over 200hp

Transverse mounted engine moves with the front and back motion of the car when shifting which adds to the instability.

Engine mounts wear much faster than you'd think and modding or upgrading only adds to the NVH of the car.

You can't beat physics, a FWD over 200whp will start to be very hard to put power down.

I think for some applications FWD is beneficial but for handling and overall performance you just can't beat the physics behind it.

Read how bad the Nissan Nismo "FWD" race car did at Lemans.

This is my real opinion after owning a APR tuned GTI for a couple of years.

Trust me go with the RWD.

[RWDdrifter]

Originally Posted by ///M_Hoonigan

Real problem with FWD cars with over 200hp

You can't beat physics, a FWD over 200whp will start to be very hard to put power down.

I think for some applications FWD is beneficial but for handling and overall performance you just can't beat the physics behind it.

Read how bad the Nissan Nismo "FWD" race car did at Lemans.

This is my real opinion after owning a APR tuned GTI for a couple of years.

Trust me go with the RWD.

That's my opinion too, but I've never owned a FWD car, and I lack your real world experience.

During acceleration a car rotates backward around its center of mass, pressing down on the rear wheels and pulling up on the front wheels. So during hard acceleration FWD loses some traction and RWD gains some traction. In part I think that's why a Golf R is AWD rather than being a GTI with a Golf R motor.

FWD, RWD and AWD each have pros and cons. Here's an ad hoc summary as I see it. This is a generalization, and there are probably counter-examples for many of these points.

FWD
Pros:
- Better traction than RWD on slippery roads at zero-to-low speeds because more weight is over the drive wheels (e.g., 67% on front of FWD vs 47% on rear of RWD)
- Less total weight
- Less cost
Cons:
- Weight imbalance (e.g., 65/35 vs 50/50)
- Likely to understeer (GTI PP electronic diff compensates to some degree?)
- Acceleration may affect steering ("torque steer")
- Hard acceleration, given enough torque, likely to cause unintended rubber burning and wheel hopping

RWD
Pros:
- More likely to be well balanced (50/50) than FWD
- Can handle more torque than FWD (though less than AWD)
- Fun capability to steer through curves by using the throttle (controlled traction loss at rear wheels)
Cons:
- Additional drivetrain weight and cost
- Least effective traction on slippery roads
- Less overall traction than AWD

AWD
Pros:
- Best traction (for hard acceleration and for slippery conditions)
- More likely to be well balanced than FWD
Cons:
- Most drivetrain weight and cost
- No ability to steer through curves by using the throttle (a "fun" issue that matters to some people and that may not make any difference in winning races)

So I'm a RWD fan, but I might have bought an AWD 2er if I lived up North.

[Live4USMC]

I currently own a 2015 GTI and a 2015 M235i so I can probably offer some good advice. If the car will be your only car I would say 100% go with the GTI. The 2 series just can't haul crap. I bought a pressure washer in a relatively small box and tried to haul it home in my 2 series and I had to leave it and come back with the GTI to pick it up.

As far as driving dynamics the 228i is most certainly a step up but you will pay more for it. I enjoy driving both of the cars and I really don't mind the GTI at all. I enjoy the DSG transmission in the GTI quite a bit and I like the manual version as well.

Like i said before, if this will be your only car go with the GTI, it is just a ton more usable.

[den525]

Originally Posted by ///M_Hoonigan

Real problem with FWD cars with over 200hp

Transverse mounted engine moves with the front and back motion of the car when shifting which adds to the instability.

Engine mounts wear much faster than you'd think and modding or upgrading only adds to the NVH of the car.

You can't beat physics, a FWD over 200whp will start to be very hard to put power down.

I think for some applications FWD is beneficial but for handling and overall performance you just can't beat the physics behind it.

Read how bad the Nissan Nismo "FWD" race car did at Lemans.

This is my real opinion after owning a APR tuned GTI for a couple of years.

Trust me go with the RWD.

200hp? Lol

I owned a stage 2 mk5 gti Pirelli, which is heavily tuned. Yes that car struggled to put the power down especially in 1st and 2nd gear.

BUT we're talking over 360hp!!

All the more modern fwd cars such as the Ford Focus, mk7 gti, Renault rs275 (which I've owned one as well), new Honda type r etc. all put down a lot of HP to its front wheels all in the range of 300hp but they all have very modern diffs and there's close to no torque steer or lack of traction.

I still stand by my view that 99% of the population who uses these kind of cars just as daily cars, maybe a red light hero at times, majority of the time fwd or rwd or awd doesn't matter whatsoever.

Let's put it this way as well, majority of the drivers aren't good enough to drive a rwd car with a lot of power properly! They'll get into more accidents if they accelerate too hard around a corner and wrap it around a pole. Seen so many idiots accelerate hard off the light in the wet in their rwd car and fishtail their way to the kerb.

Anyways, I think both are good cars for intended purposes

[uberspeed]

Originally Posted by ///M_Hoonigan

Real problem with FWD cars with over 200hp

Transverse mounted engine moves with the front and back motion of the car when shifting which adds to the instability.

Engine mounts wear much faster than you'd think and modding or upgrading only adds to the NVH of the car.

You can't beat physics, a FWD over 200whp will start to be very hard to put power down.

I think for some applications FWD is beneficial but for handling and overall performance you just can't beat the physics behind it.

Read how bad the Nissan Nismo "FWD" race car did at Lemans.

This is my real opinion after owning a APR tuned GTI for a couple of years.

Trust me go with the RWD.

Having driven FWD and RWD I simply prefer the driving dynamics of RWD. I also had an APR tuned 1.8t with FBO and quite a few other goodies, putting down the power off the line was always a challenge to put it lightly and that was even with higher durometer mounts and a KW suspension cup kit. Torque steer was an issue as well. Granted, as mentioned, most of these concerns have been somewhat mitigated since then but I still prefer RWD. I realize these days I'm a lot less boy racer and in daily driving duties the difference is negligible, but I don't foresee myself going back to FWD.