My VW GTI: What a car, what a performer!

By Contributing Editor Gary Lieber

Over the many years that I have been driving, Volkswagens have always been in my garage.  I learned to drive in a 64 VW Karman Ghia, and over the years, I have owned over 10 different models.  All have been a blast to own and drive.

My latest VW is the sixth generation Golf GTI, and for me, it is perhaps the finest and most versatile VW yet. 

The VW Golf is one of the most popular cars in the world, and the GTI is one of the hottest versions.  Mine is a 4-door version in the classic VW “Tornado Red” with the trademark GTI interior, black cloth with “Jacky” plaid inserts.

Stock GTIs come with one of the most advanced 2-liter, 4 cylinder, turbocharged engines available today.  This direct-injection motor is rated at 200 HP and 207 pound feet of torque in stock form, but I have tweaked the engine’s ECU to increase the HP to about 254 HP and 303 pound feet of torque.  While the stock engine really made the car sing, the ECU modifications have given this car a chorus of devils.  This car is fast, wicked fast, 0-60 5.5 sec fast!

All of that power is channeled through an exceptional transmission.  My car has a 6 speed DSG or Direct Shift Gearbox. The DSG is an electronically controlled, twin-shaft dual-clutch manual gearbox, without a conventional clutch pedal, with full automatic, or semi-manual control. In simple terms, it is two separate manual gearboxes, contained within one housing, and working as one unit.  Because it is computer controlled, a shift happens in milliseconds, and it has both performance and economy programs.  Features like launch control and electronic differential traction control also come standard.  The only downside to this transmission is that it is somewhat clunky when cold and at low speeds, and under light throttle it tends to shift into the highest gears as soon as possible for fuel economy.  This can sometimes be disconcerting when you need power, as it will often have an awkward pause when downshifting.

Because of the abundant HP and excellent transmission, driving the GTI is a dream.  Cutting and slicing through traffic is effortless.  The transmission comes with paddle shifters, so when you want to go quickly, just click the paddle shifters down to get on top of the torque curve, push the Fast pedal, and you are there.  While I also own a Porsche 911, I prefer the GTI for its nimbleness, and power.  My GTI is every bit as fast as the 911, and still manages 32 mpg!

The GTI is the car of choice when going on a trip.  Unlike the Porsche, the ride is compliant and never harsh.  You can drive the GTI all day and still feel relaxed when you are done.  When you drive a sports car like the Porsche all day, by the end of the day you are exhausted.  The GTI’s suspension gives the car a “rides on rails” feeling but is never jarring.  While the stock suspension has minimal body roll, I upgraded the roll bars with thicker ones to give the car almost flat handling in the curves.

The GTI is a very practical 5-door hatchback.  The front seats are heavily bolstered with all sorts of adjustments and are very comfortable.  The cloth seat faces are cool in the hottest weather, and come with bun-warmers for those chilly mornings.  The rear seats have plenty of room, even for my 6 foot 5 friends.  Plenty of leg and headroom makes the rear seats comfortable for touring.   The rear cargo area holds 15.2 cubic feet, but with the rear seats folded down, the cargo area jumps to 46 cubic feet.  Our GTI is perfect for camping, with all of our gear fitting easily inside, and room on the roof with cargo rails to carry our bicycles too.

The comfort and convenience features of the GTI are comparable to cars costing many thousands of dollars more.  My GTI has an advanced radio that includes navigation, Bluetooth integration, iPhone, iTunes, Pandora streaming, as well has HD and XM satellite radio.  It also will play DVD movies through its large, bright, high definition touch screen.  A Rest-of-World (ROW) only option that I added to the GTI was a rear backup camera that uses the radio’s display.  The camera is hidden in the rear VW logo, which pops open when the car is placed in reverse, exposing the camera.   All of the radio controls as well as on-board computer controls are accessible from the steering wheel, and a small display in the instrument cluster provides line of sight navigation, phone, and media information, so driving distractions are kept to a minimum.

Since the GTI is a world car, there are many convenience functions that are disabled for the US market for one reason or another.  One of my investments was the on-board diagnostic software VCDS from Ross-Tech Inc.  This software emulates the factory diagnostic testers, and allows me to modify the car’s settings as well as do testing and repair, as necessary.  With VCDS, I enabled many ROW functions like being able to roll up and down the windows with the remote key fob, and to set the emergency flashers to turn on when the car is in a panic stop.  There are a whole host of customizations that are available through the car’s computers, and it is quite fun to poke around and discover them.

The exterior of the GTI is customizable, and the VW Tuner crowd has done some amazing things with the GTI.  I chose to customize my GTI in a very subdued and subtle way.  I chose not to lower the GTI, as it is already .5 inches lower than a stock Golf.  Instead, I added larger 235/40 18” tires mounted on 8” wide Audi RS rims.  This gives the car such a very aggressive look that it sometimes provokes the spirit of the Rice gods.  I have the steerable bi-xenon lighting, and painted the front grille and fascia body color to give it a unique look.  At the rear, I swapped out the US-spec taillights for a set of ROW GTI/Golf R LED taillights.  The change in appearance from that mod is striking.  The last thing I modified was to replace the incandescent turn signal and other lighting bulbs with LED bulbs. 

Did I mention that the car is reliable?  Earlier in the decade VW went through some tough times with reliability.  I am pleased to report that my GTI has been the second most reliable car that I have ever owned.  In over 25K miles of driving, the car has been close to flawless, with no major warranty repairs other than to fix a few niggling rattles here and there.  VW has definitely got its manufacturing mojo back with this car!

All in all, the GTI has turned out to be a practical, well-engineered and reliable car as well as a great value.  If you buy one bone stock and just drive it, or if you do what I did and modify and customize it to your tastes, you can’t go wrong with a VW GTI.

Grace's Graceful Sunbeam

I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief on TV last night for the umpteenth time. Not because it was one of Hitchcock’s best (it wasn’t) but because it featured one of the most beautiful cars of the period, a 1954 Mark I Sunbeam Alpine roadster, driven by one of the most beautiful women, Grace Kelly. It made me want to show you pictures of the 1955 Mark III Alpine I bought in 1989 and restored to match the car in the movie as closely as possible.

Lacking original paint chips for reference, I luckily found an excellent match for the original Sapphire Blue in the metallic blue for the 1989 Merkur Scorpio. Matching the fawn leather upholstery was no problem because Jaguar still used the same color.

Believe it or not, Sears still sold top kits.Ironically, Princess Grace would later die on the same road above Monaco she sped over in the movie, with Cary Grant riding white-knuckled beside her. She missed a curve and plunged down a steep hillside.

Only 3,000 of these special-bodied Sunbeams were built between 1953 and 1955 (an estimated 800 remain). Based on the Sunbeam sedan, it had an unusually roomy cockpit compared with other sports cars of the era. It also had the same comfortable seats as the sedan. More properly called a “gentleman’s” or “boulevard” roadster, it was very comfortable on long trips.

This is not to say it was a slouch, however. It was named for the famed rallies held in the Swiss Alps over icy roads. As a member of the Rootes factory team, Stirling Moss won two Alpine championships driving them.

Mine, especially, was no slouch. It had a 260 cu. in. Ford V8 and 4-speed transmission (also from Ford) extracted from a Sunbeam Tiger made during the 1960s. The engine even had Sunbeam labels. An Austin Healey 3000 rear axle was installed to handle the extra torque.

It placed first in class at the 1994 British Car Meet at Palo Alto, California.

If you’re still curious, Michael Lamm wrote an article about it and a stock Alpine (with a 2.5-liter four) in the September 2001 issue of Special Interest Autos, pages 48-52.

2012 Honda Si Coupe

I have enjoyed driving each version of Honda Civic Si coupe, especially the latest, for 2012. It is the most docile of all and offers the best combination of ride and handling.

Both the Si coupe and sedan have suspension mods to improve handling with respect to standard Civics, including stiffer springs and more robust dampers. Sis also benefit from electronic steering and a limited-slip differential. I liked the confident sense of road grip I got and the feel of the steering. It went crisply where I aimed it, even on washboards. I liked the well-controlled but comfortably compliant ride as well.

And, as unsporting as you might think I am, I like its larger, slower-revving engine. Yes, I appreciate the engineering prowess that produces an engine that can withstand 8000 rpm to reach peak power. But those high-pitched screams unnerve me. I feel like I am punishing the engine and pushing the laws of physics to the limits—and tempting fate. In the back of my mind I wonder if, just maybe, somebody on the engine line the day my engine was made didn’t torque some bolt to spec and the whole thing is going to go Ka-blooey! at any moment.

So call me a Nervous Nellie if you will, but I appreciate the new Si’s larger engine (2.4 liters vs 2.0), which produces only a bit more power (201 hp vs 197) but at a less nerve wracking 7000 rpm. Like the previous engine, it is made of aluminum and employs Honda’s i-VTEC double overhead cam system. Torque maxes out at170 lb-ft at 4400 (vs 139 lb-ft at 6100 rpm for the previous model) and stays essentially flat thereafter to lessen the need for constantly working the shifter. It was quite forgiving of which gear I chose over my hilly, twisting test route.

The only thing I didn’t like was the long time the engine took to slow after I removed my foot from the gas while shifting. I assume requirements for meeting emission standards made the lags necessary but they detracted from the silky six-speed gearbox. Thankfully, I adapted well enough to them after a short while.

EPA estimated fuel-economy is 22 mpg city and 31 highway. Unfortunately, it requires premium fuel.

Design

Honda’s designers have faithfully perpetuated the Si’s signature form. While still conservative, the coupe manages to look new and more refreshing than the even more conservative sedan. Creases have been added to keep it in step with today’s fashions. But they aren’t overdone. So they don’t look superficially gratuitous as they do on some cars. The mesh of the grille looks a bit crude, however; I prefer the grille and related details of the previous Si. The longer fastback roofline improves the shape as a whole (too bad it isn’t a hatchback).

The new taillights and other rear end details lend the car a more robust look without adding clutter.

Inside, the seats are handsomely-tailored. Instruments and controls are well-placed and come comfortably to hand or foot. The wheel telescopes and tilts.

The instrument panel is much more attractive than before, with a more serious business-like look rather than toy-like. Unfortunately it looks too much like the unyielding and unfriendly plastic it is made of; it needs a softer, friendlier look.

Front seats are especially comfortable. Rear seats are also attractive but subject to the usual constraints imposed by coupe architectures. Wheelbase of the Si coupe is 1.1 inches shorter than the sedan’s, which adversely affects the already scarce rear legroom. Front seats that automatically slide forward generously when their seatbacks are released ease entry and exit in back. Once in, however, adult passengers back there are forced to assume something close to a fetal posture. Headroom for a six-footer is also marginal. Small kids do better in back. Criticisms like this fall on deaf ears, of course, for anyone considering such a car. They would regard an Si coupe as primarily a 2-passenger car or, only in an occasional pinch, a 2 plus 2.