New VW R32 has an H6...
 

I was in the local VW dealer sunday looking under the hood of the new R32 and a salesman came out. The engine didn't look like a V6, so a friend and I were looking fairly hard at it... Sales man comes out and says it's a slant 6, but it dosn't look like that either... then he bets me $100 that it's an H6 (WTF:confused: he just said it was a slant 6) so I tell him that only 2 companies build H6 engines and I own 2, that's not an H6... He insists it is:rolleyes: so I go lookin for a 3.0 subaru, but he just goes inside, VW, Subaru, and Cadies are all on the same lot... We finally decided it was an offset inline 6 marketed as a V6. Anyway, my buddy gets to test drive the R32 while telling the salesman about his BMW M6 :cough...BS...Cough: and his Carerra :choke...cough...choke: while I sit in the back, it was awful... Sweet cars though, I'd love one for a winter car, AWD 6 speed 240hp :)


Edit... Too bad it's 12 years behind the SVX :(

Those VW R32's are interesting little pocket rockets and Road & Track got a low 14 second 1/4 mile. The interior is sweet but I don't care too much for the hatch styling of Golf's...

Your friend has good taste... (in fictitious cars ;) )

-Chike

:confused:

Do you really not know what the R32 has? It's the same basic layout 15 degree narrow angle V6 (VR6) that they've been using for the last dozen years or so... just improved on with modern tech.

Of course, I wouldn't expect the salesman to know what it has either... I used to be one and most of the ones I knew were idiots.

Knowing their cars
 

Back in May a VW dealer tried to sell me a diesel Bug with the new "direct shift transmission"

(....available now in the 6 cyl Audi TT, but not in the VW line....yet)

It had one of those "manual automatics" :rolleyes:

Don

I know they call it V6, but since it's so narow that it has a single head and it is laid out like an inline 6 with all the exhaust outputs on one side VS a conventional V6 with half on one sine half on the other, all the spark plugs are close to in line in the VR6 and it apears that intake ports are all on one side it is more of an offset slant 6, the offset allowing for a shorter engine that is still narrower than a V6.


http://www.auto-innovations.com/site/images/vr6-2.jpg

They are neat little engines, I will give them that... And they sound great when they are opened up on the exhaust end. Heard a few on the Autocross track.... Great rumbling growl....

Car & Driver in their short take on the car, mentioned that it was ready for the AutoX circuit with no modifications and would be competitive with stock Evos and STIs despite the power disadvantage...

Seems like VW really sorted out the suspension tuning on that R32! The big blue brake calipers are really cool looking too!

-Chike

It did quite well on the Top Gear track, but not up with the STi

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/powerlaps/page_2.shtml

Nice link! Those power lap times were a cool way of comparing various different cars...
Looking at the results, the R32 did extremely well when you compare it to other cars lower down on the list - heck, it tied with the SL 55 AMG and beat out the Volvo S60R and Ferrari 575 Maranello!

Mercedes McLaren SLR - 1.20.9
Ford GT - 1.21.9
Ferrari 360 CS - 1.22.3
Porsche GT3 RS - 1.22.3
Murcielago - 1.23.7
Zonda - 1.23.8
Koenigsegg - 1.23.9
Noble - 1.25.0
Gallardo - 1.25.8
Lotus Exige - 1.26.4
Chevrolet Corvette - 1.26.8
Porsche 911 GT3 - 1.27.2
TVR 350c - 1.27.5
BMW M3 CSL - 1.28.0
MG SV - 1.28.6
Mitsubishi Evo VIII - 1.28.9
BMW Alpine Z8 - 1.29.0
Mercedes CL65 - 1.29
Alfa 3.7 GTA - 1.30.0
Subaru Impreza STI - 1.30.1
Aston Martin DB7 GT - 1.30.4
Audi S4 - 1.30.9
Porsche 911 turbo - 1.31.0
Vauxhall VX 220 turbo - 1.31.3
Honda NSX Type R - 1.31.6
BMW M3 - 1.31.8
Nissan 350Z - 1.31.8
Mazda RX8 - 1.31.8
Ford Focus RS - 1.32.2
Lotus Esprit V8 - 1.32.5
Audi TT V6 - 1.32.7
MG ZT - 1.33
Noble - 1.33.1
Mercedes SL 55 AMG - 1.33.2
Volkswagen Golf R32 - 1.33.2
Volvo S60R - 1.35.0
Ferrari 575 - 1.35.2
Alfa 147 GTA - 1.35.6
Lotus Elise - 1.35.6
Aston Martin Vanquish - 1.36.2
Renault Clio v6 - 1.36.2
Honda Civic Type R - 1.36.5
Saab 95 hot aero - 1.37.9
Mazzer - 1.38.0
Bowler Wildcat - 1.39.4
Bentley Arnarge - 1.40.8
Overfinch - 1.44.0

-Chike

nice to see the current list of lap times... I have the Top Gear video of the Volkswagen R32. They said that it is a nice little car that is really fast... But it just doesn't want to slide like the EVO and STi do... They said that it wasn't all that fun... :rolleyes:

IMHO I think it looks really cool :)

What's really cool about that list, is that in the top 20, all the cars cost 50K+ with the exception of two - the EVO and STI.

Now that's impressive! :cool:

-Chike

I like how the EVO out did the 911 Turbo... :):)

Yeah that is amazing. I actually couldn't believe the Mercedes SLR was #1. Have you seen a pic of that thing? The car looks beautiful, but it has a ginormous nose and small little passenger cabin. Didn't look like the most track-worthy car IMHO...

-Chike

Actually the one car that surprises me on how well it did is the Corvette. I would not have expected to see that thing beat 1:32

It wasn't just a Corvette that they tested, but the 405hp Z06 with the revised Nurburgring tuned suspension...

-Chike