I read this thread with interest. My wife and I test drove one a couple of weeks back, 5 door manual in a fairly basic spec. With the idea being to replace he ageing mk4 R32.
Both of us came away feeling quite disappointed, more so as time went on. It's the first turbo I've driven, so can't comment on whether it had significant lag or not as I have nothing to compare it to. My wife is no racer, but she commented it didn't pick up as well lower down the rev range, unlike her R32 which is quite free flowing. Sure when the revs hit the mid range it started to fly, but the way she drives wouldn't combine with the R power delivery at all.
Performance comments aside, for a £35k car with reasonable spec, and a car knocking on for £40k spec'd up, albeit before any discounts, it felt a bit, dare I say it, cheap. Biggest issue for us was the plastic used in the cabin. It was a dark grey and just stuck out too much, contrasting against the leather seats and the demonstrator had some scratches on the lower door cards which really showed up. Our mk4 has a much darker dash, if it's not black it's indistinguishable which makes a huge difference to the feel and doesn't contrast against black leather.
Wasn't fussed about the black headlining, made the car feel very dark in absence of a sunroof. I love a sunroof and don't know why so many people spec without? The "racy" engine note that comes through the speakers just felt a bit tacky, and I didn't care much for the handbrake switch. On the upside, rear legroom was massive even with the drivers seat adjusted for my position there was plenty of room where there is not in the mk4. This comes at the expense of the boot which is markedly smaller and quite frankly not big enough for us as the "practical" hatch option.
Furthermore, for the cash to change from our current mk4, I just couldn't justify the cost. It's a shame good spec mk5 r32's are hard to come by.
My bigger concern is how cars are changing. We have been fortunate enough to own a handful of solid performance cars which have all had NA petrol engines, and the power delivery of the R left me cold and I'm not sure if this is typical of a turbo. I understand changes are needed to improve fuel economy and emissions, and I feel one day I will have to bite the turbo bullet.
Feels like a nice V8 M3 saloon might be on the cards...
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