Encountered a Volkawagen R32 on twisty and tightly curved mountain Highway 36 between Lyons and Estes Park tonight. The R32 in the hands of the driver we encountered was a good competitor, who handled his vehicle well at high speeds. We raced over a 6 mile stretch. The SRT-6 was more than equal to the task at hand. The SRT-6 had power to spare in the straighways and more straight-out torque and dig, and was also superior in high-speed turns. The R32 is quite a car, but was trounced. I was impressed by the R32, but more so by the mighty SRT-6. I love my car.

 

VW finally attempted a car with performance and it ended up costing $30k for a car that still couldn't break 13's

 

The R32 sure does handle well, though. And the output of the non-turbo, non-supercharged engine is impressive.

 

A friend of mine had an R32. It barely makes 200 whp and my old GTI 1.8t with exhaust, intake and tune, stomped on it at the dragstrip. They due handle quite well with the all wheel drive. Just stay away from any with an HPA turbo system, they haul butt! I saw a few of them in my GTI days.

 

R32 have a laugh, i used to eat them in my 1500cc smart forfour brabus

 

Yeah I've always liked the look (exterior and especially interior) of the R32. However it's quite anemic on power, and for that it's quite overpriced.

Just look at drag times- the R32 is quite the slug.

 

check your heat exchanger pump, it may have failed.

 

My car doesn't appear to exhibit the sluggish behavior that I understand accompanies heat exchanger/pump failure. The problem with my "epic" kill of an unimpressive R32 was no doubt associated with driver failure (my own). I thought the R32 was pretty fast until I got past him. Most of the race occurred on twisty roads with 25 to 30 mph speed limits. The R32 was driven and was handled well. I noticed he often had to feather and drift through curves while the SRT-6 stayed planted on the road. He was driving that car at or near its limits.

 

My car is stock, except for the awesome Batman stickers provided by Andrew. I figure they add 10 hp. Next up: a mesh grill from SRT-6. More air to the intake, probably another 2-3 hp. Racer driving school -- probably will add another 20 hp.

 

Oh yes?
As a Brabus owner, I thought the R32 outclassed us in everything except cool?

 

The R32's weakness is its weight distribution. An experienced driver will know that hard braking into a turn will result in snap oversteer. Also, too fast into the corner will result in extreme understeer.

Other than that, the R32's AWD will give it an advantage in the typical way: more traction when accelerating out of the corner than a RWD car of similar spec.

 

I've owned both (currently own an SRT-6 roadster) and think it is wrong to say an SRT-6 is clearly superior in everyday performance to an R32. The SRT-6 is faster but not necessarily better in real world, day-to-day driving, at least in my experience owning both cars. In fact my R32 felt faster than my SRT-6 on the "butt" dynomometer. And the R32 will carry four passengers, has a real trunk, is much quieter and doesn't crash over freeway rub strips like my SRT-6 does sometimes. I also think my [new] 2010 GTI with launch control will take most any SRT-6 up to about 45 mph. Love the SRT-6, though, and while there may be better cars out there I agree that the SRT-6 is a true bargain at today's prices. Nothing touches it for the price.