130i vs other hatches

[akash]

yeah but take into consideration no mater how good a BMW was Clarksons would have still hated it. If you follow every episode you could have noticed he disliked BMW with a passion. Up until recently he had a change in attitude.

And with good reason.

BMW has slacked on their quality in recent years (interior trim peeling) and crazy pricing for extras (you have to admit).

Have you watched his episode on the E46 M3 CSL, he simply loved that car even with the "flappy paddle" gearbox. He loves the BMW engines, the gearboxes, but as an overal package there are somethings that we as fanatics have to admit BMW still needs work on.

If he hates a car with a passion its Porsche not BMW. But watch the episode yourself and decide.

 

[AdiS]

That TopGear shoot out was between the 130i and the R32, not the GTI. Clarkson cited many of the same reasons I did as to why the 130i is an excellent drivers car.

Further, Clarkson's opinion in general should be taken with a grain of salt. He often imparts a lot of true wisdom which people can't relate to (without experience the cars in the same way he has, and as many), but he also talks a whole load of inconsistent crap - which is entertaining, and thats the point of Top gear. I love it

Rule of Thumb - don't use Top Gear as a motoring journalism benchmark. Rather read Evo, and/or Chris Harris.

 

[akash]

That TopGear shoot out was between the 130i and the R32, not the GTI. Clarkson cited many of the same reasons I did as to why the 130i is an excellent drivers car.

Further, Clarkson's opinion in general should be taken with a grain of salt. He often imparts a lot of true wisdom which people can't relate to (without experience the cars in the same way he has, and as many), but he also talks a whole load of inconsistent crap - which is entertaining, and thats the point of Top gear. I love it

Rule of Thumb - don't use Top Gear as a motoring journalism benchmark. Rather read Evo, and/or Chris Harris.

Yes I am corrected it was a R32.

Based on a shoot out senarios competing in the same class the BMW is a better driver (fun sideways car), but the R32 won overall in common sense stakes(In Clarksons opinon).

I cant remeber which car won the 1/4 miles drag test and track test.

AdiS can you recall which car won those test?

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Here is a very nice article about the G5 Gti v/s the 130i done by Car Torque. Pics can be seen by clicking on the link.
http://www.cartorque.co.za/0354.htm

VW Golf GTi vs BMW 130i Broadcast date : 19th March 2006

We’ve made no secret of the fact that the Car Torque team is seriously smitten by the Golf GTi. We’ve run one as a long term test vehicle for a number of months now and still feel it’s the pick of the bunch of cars launched in 2005.

The BMW 130i, however, comes to this shoot-out on the back of a rather mixed reception to the original 120 models launched just over a year ago.

Part of the controversy surrounding the one Series is its packaging. BMW believes that a true driver’s car has to be rear-wheel-drive. It’s a policy from which they’ve never shifted, although where that quite leaves the Mini Cooper S – also built by BMW – is not quite clear.

But the fun is in the driving of the beast – especially now that it’s got 195 kilowatts of "real" BMW power.

There again, there’s a whole generation of drivers out there – those that have cut their wheelsmanship on the likes of Citi Golfs and Toyota Tazzs – that have never really got to grips with rear-wheel-drive.

The GTi is a front-wheel-drive car, which means that it’s basically an understeering car. Too much speed into a corner and the front wheels drift out. Back off the throttle and the nose simply and safely tucks back into line.

Price and status differences not withstanding, both cars are classically formatted for the sporty driver.

Both are fitted with nose and tail sporty add-ons, optional 18 inch wheels and ultra low profile alloy wheels, and racy tailpipes.

But we aren’t too concerned with visuals here today. It’s all about on-track performance, the way the cars handle and how quick they are in terms of outright speed and handling.

For a front-wheel-driver, the GTi has amazing chassis balance.

It’s grip levels are extremely high, its progression into understeer so gradual that it doesn’t spoil the fun unduly.

So what’s this fascination with rear wheel-drive, with oversteer?

Quite simply, there’s a greater sense of achievement in dealing with oversteer. When the rear tyres step out there are two ways of dealing with the situation.

One is to lift off the throttle – and usually this tucks the tail back in. The other, fun way to do it is to stay on the throttle and turn into the skid, also known as countersteering or applying "Opposite lock".

This is how you get those big, smokey, grand-standing powerslides.

At the Reef the Golf’s two-litre turbo motor sees it lose just 5 per cent of its coast-level power. Whereas a naturally-aspirated engine like the BMW’s straight six loses 17 per cent of its coastal urge.

If you do the calculations, the BMW weighs in with an effective 161 kilowatts, while the Golf has 140 kW at The Reef.

In addition, according to Car Magazine’s independent tests, the BMW is a somewhat surprising thirty kilograms lighter than the Golf.

Even at sea level, the extra 38 kiloWatts of the BMW’s 3,0 litre six-cylinder engine only gave it a three-quarter of a second advantage over the GTi, according to Car Magazine’s benchmark 0-100 tests.

But on top speed it’s no contest. At least at the coast. The BMW runs to its rev limiter at 250 km/h, whereas the Golf tops out at 225.

We would expect the Golf to be quicker on top end in the thin Highveld air, because of its turbo assistance and wind resistance being such a factor in top speed running, possibly achieving 230 or even 235.

The motor is not nearly as acoustically charismatic as the BMW’s, but in some ways it’s more pleasant in day to day driving, not as incessantly urgent.

The Golf engine is quite conservatively profiled, with maximum power achieved at a mere 5100 rpm.

The 280 Newton metres of maximum torque is achieved at a low 1800 rpm.

But in thin air, 1700 metres above sea level, you sometimes need to slide the clutch a tad to get off the line.

Despite the low power peak, power drop off is extremely gradual and this turbo motor revs to seven thousand with admirable smoothness.

We ran the two cars against each other in a couple of impromptu drag races at Wesbank, to test our altitude and weight calculations.

Being rear wheel drive, the BMW had an advantage off the line and the average time advantage to the Beemer was about half a second over 400 metres.

By sticking to the rear-wheel-drive format, BMW has ended up with a rather strange device. The north-south lay-out of the engine has dictated a nose rather on the lengthy side and rear seat space a bit of a joke.

By BMW standards, the cockpit is not that classy in terms of plastics and other trim materials. Yet it still pips the Golf on appearance because the Golf too is a little on the plasticky side when measured against previous models.

Yet the Golf is easier to live with on a day to day basis in terms of not only cockpit space, but overall ease of driveability.

 

[akash]

Quick question.

What car category would a 135i fit into? Its not a hatch back but it is small enough. Its has a boot like a sedan but its not as big as the other sedans out there.

Stupid question i know.

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Remember the Hatchback 135i is coming....
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28957

 

[E30 Freak]

imp:
I would STILL not buy the Golf, just because of the quality of the bmw, and the rear wheel drive, and the fact that every 2nd @-hole owns a Gti...

'The G5 Gti sold more units, than all the other G5 derivatives put together, so there are more G5 Gti's out there than any other golf in that range.

Hey I am an @sshole that owns a G5...LOL (but true)

Wrt to the quality, the golf's have excellent build quality, esp the interior & that why they were better than their competitors in the hothatch brigade

It cannot compare to the howling 6 of a Beemer.

When I had my 4dr M3 a certain drug merchant in my area had an R32 & one day I was on study leave & got him on the road...he bought a Beemer after I was done with him! HAHAHA

 

[Coisman]

imp:
E30, I have driven the golfs, my friend worked at VW Hatfield up until 3 weeks ago, he now stayes in England...

...anyway, I agree, its one of the best in the segment, and if I was to chose and the bm wasn't an option, It would be between the G6 and the A3.

 

[mr t]

Also, the 1 series has NO rear leg room after an averaged size driver has made himself comfy. I've driven the G5 GTi (and R32), and let's just say that there's a reason why every A-Hole has one. They are brilliant cars, for relatively little money.

I suppose it's exactly what AMG driver's say about M-Cars. Every 1 has one. But once again, they are excellent cars and thats why a lot of folks buy them.

 

[Bayn46]

The GTI's are great cars, and definitely have a bit more to give in the interior department than the Ford and Opel guys.

What I can't comprehend is how much they have jumped in price, I just wouldn't want to spend that kind of cash on such a little car. That being said, most car prices have jumped to crazy numbers.

 

[mr t]

True Story, Bayn46. The Fiat 500 Ferrari tribute is going to be R550k!!! FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND for a 1.4T that makes 125kW! Crazy I tell you.

 

[Drumzz]

Hi Drumzz, what mods did you have when you took on the g6's at the coast?

i was pretty much stock, just a k&n filter...

 

[Andy1GP]

No doubt the GTi Brand is a legendary one. Fantastic car to live with as a Daily. But then again so is a E46 M3. for 3 months I did 2000km a month with mine and I loved it! No seriously I loooved it. Only thing that grated me is that I was putting on precious miles on a lovely car that was eating away at it's value. Heavy clutch? sure that's why I go to gym right? It's not that bad.

Fact remains that when you sit in any BMW you feel like you're wearing a suit. Even if you're in plakkies and shorts. And that's priceless.

Not to mention that you have oversteer right under your foot :rollsmile: RWD FTW!

 

[Mike1]

My family is a huge fan of the GTI.

We actually have two of them, all bought new.

Mk5 : 5 years old with 34 000km
Mk6 : Few months old with 4000km

Mk5 is manual and Mk6 is DSG. My dad reckons the Mk6 is more fun than his 911 Turbo most days.

Easy, fun and effortless little beasts.

Mike

 

[AdiS]

That TopGear shoot out was between the 130i and the R32, not the GTI. Clarkson cited many of the same reasons I did as to why the 130i is an excellent drivers car.

Further, Clarkson's opinion in general should be taken with a grain of salt. He often imparts a lot of true wisdom which people can't relate to (without experience the cars in the same way he has, and as many), but he also talks a whole load of inconsistent crap - which is entertaining, and thats the point of Top gear. I love it

Rule of Thumb - don't use Top Gear as a motoring journalism benchmark. Rather read Evo, and/or Chris Harris.

Yes I am corrected it was a R32.

Based on a shoot out senarios competing in the same class the BMW is a better driver (fun sideways car), but the R32 won overall in common sense stakes(In Clarksons opinon).

I cant remeber which car won the 1/4 miles drag test and track test.

AdiS can you recall which car won those test?

Yea the R32 was faster around the top gear track, the 1/4 drag race was a dead heat. But it was done on a damp track, so I have a feeling that the 4wd of the R32 favoured it. I also think around other circuits, teh 130i would have the R32 in the palm of its hands.

 

[Yuvan]

yeah but take into consideration no mater how good a BMW was Clarksons would have still hated it. If you follow every episode you could have noticed he disliked BMW with a passion. Up until recently he had a change in attitude.

And with good reason.

BMW has slacked on their quality in recent years (interior trim peeling) and crazy pricing for extras (you have to admit).

Have you watched his episode on the E46 M3 CSL, he simply loved that car even with the "flappy paddle" gearbox. He loves the BMW engines, the gearboxes, but as an overal package there are somethings that we as fanatics have to admit BMW still needs work on.

If he hates a car with a passion its Porsche not BMW. But watch the episode yourself and decide.

LOL, thats true, he hates Porsche!

---

Personally I dont think there is anything wrong with the build quality of the Veedubz , im not a fan of VW but i do like thier cars, infact thier quality is much more superior than these Japs craps. While the GTi is a seriously good looking car, inside and outside, VW have yet to WOW its fans like how the old Golf1 GTi did back in the day.

Thier GTi's seriously lack in the way they perform compared to most, if not all thier rivals!!!

Thats my opinion!!

Other than that i wont mind driving a VW but i wont sell my Beemer to drive 1!!!!!

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Maybe my next car should be a Golf... :fencelook:

 

[KarshS]

why isnt anyone talking about the Cooper S? i had one and it was also damn quick....

 

[Coisman]

why isnt anyone talking about the Cooper S? i had one and it was also damn quick....

Nee man, A mini is a car for woman to drive in, not men!! :mmm:

 

[KarshS]

why isnt anyone talking about the Cooper S? i had one and it was also damn quick....

Nee man, A mini is a car for woman to drive in, not men!! :mmm:

LMAO dont say that!! i enjoyed that car.....I sure as hell showed a focus ST and G5 a thing or 2.....