Which totally random used car am I looking at today? 2 April 9, 2009
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , trackback9 April 2009 – Volkswagen Golf V5
VOLKSWAGEN’S Golf V5 is a Ferdinand Piech special. The father of the Audi quattro is a mechanical genius, who famously embraces anything that’s hard, technical or, seemingly, impossible.
Take the need to have an engine with a lower output than VW’s beautiful 2.8-litre VR6. You could, of course, make do with the 150bhp 1.8-litre turbo four-pot. Torquey, driveable and eager, it was hard to love but did a workmanlike job.
That wouldn’t do for Piech, though. Four cylinders, smooth as they are, simply lack the class of multi-cylinders. Yes, the V6 was a bit too juicy, but there was another solution staring (only him) in the face.
Chop a cylinder off the V6. Creating a 2.3-litre V5. From the father of the five-pot engine, it was like night following day. Production line efficiencies, shared components, lower development costs, bingo.
For everyone else, it was absurd. Odd cylinder numbers are naturally unbalanced. How the hell do you make that work in a vee, with three going one way and two the other?
With brilliance, methodology, determination, and a crankshaft that one wag said ‘looked like it had melted in the forging factory’, that’s how.
At launch, some griped it lacked torque, others that 150bhp wasn’t really an advance over the 1.8T. (VW later fixed this in part, with a 20V head that yielded 170bhp – nevertheless, this was still never a firebrand).
Everyone agreed, however, that the noise it made was utterly beguiling. Offbeat, both thrummy and warbling, it had character by the bucketload. And really was impeccably refined.
But, all that effort for an engine that wasn’t really necessary, didn’t sell in huge numbers, and hasn’t been replicated even by the Chinese? Only a man like Piech would see it through. He’s the Alec Issogonis of the 1990s.
Which is why I diverted from my Mini hunt to see how much Golf V5s today go for. £1895 is the answer. For a 150bhp Crème Egg of a gem, that’s smoother than Galaxy and tastier than even the freshest Chocolate Orange.
I adore them. I’d check the sump was still in one place, of course; the soft suspension and heavy engine meant ‘spirited’ motoring sometimes resulted in a loss of Castrol. But, for this sort of money, I’d have something very, very special indeed.
1.8T? Pah. THIS is the Golf you should be mothballing. I’m sure Piech has.
Volkswagen Golf looks to history for GRD inspiration
Comments»
Great review. I didnt know much about V5s till i test drove one. Then i bought it and set up the site http://www.golfv5.co.uk worth a look.
Great stuff, Martin – I’d defo advise people take a look. As, possibly, I will be, when I’m in the market for a family wagon…
I WILL own a V5 one day!
R.
[...] Totally random used car – Golf V5 [...]