This guys goal was to get the Evo side ways on tarmac. That's fun and all but that's not how you drive on a track especially an Evo.

 

u make a valid point there cuz i dont kno what corner that is and cuz im sure he didn't do more than one lap for his ****ty review... therefore all the tire marks might be many different cars approaching the same curve with a late apex entry... needless to say, the video shows him going a bit too far off the "ideal" late apex entry... the car was still going sideways after that last picture

good job noticing the tire marks cuz i surely ignore them lol... however!, his review still sux

 

That guy needs a swift kick in the teeth..... Than he could drive that VW home to momma!!!

 

<grin> I just watched the vid again. It seems like Jason is caught up in the Top Gear style of reporting that's taken over online car reviews. Everyone - from DIY Youtube reporting from Scandinavia to Automobile Magazine - is trying to be Jeremy Clarkson. The problem is, they're not Jeremy Clarkson and all it entails: The intelligence, the life experience, the automotive outlook, the plays on language, the writing talent, the philosophical reach, and on and on. In essence, Jason just isn't bright enough to pull this off.

 

Well...I'm not thinking much of this comparison. An Evolution is an unrefined fast car. I love my '11 MR. It's the only car I've had in years that I actually want to keep til it's so old that I can't find parts to fix it when something wears out. And mine's bone stock. I love the BBS wheels, the Bilsteins, the Eibach springs, the Yoko A-13 tires. Yes, the interior is an afterthought and it's ridiculously expensive. It has no insulation whatsoever, and mine is a base MR that doesn't even have much of a radio (no Rockford Fosgate here!), and you can hear the tires...and the wind...and the transfer case whining...and the intake...and the exhause boooooom when you let off the gas, but isn't that part of the car's personality? Like a Harley V-Twin's vibrating enough to shake your fillings out at a stoplight. That's part of the charm and we'd miss it if it didn't do that.

Plus...Evos corner like they are on RAILS. And it's the only automatic I ever had that engine-brakes itself. It knows exactly when I'd want to shift. Rare it is that I have to impose my will on this transmission, even when I'm being an idiot and hooning my way down some back road. I had this guy in a BMW 3-series trying to tailgate me in the twisties the other day and he lost it on a 90-degree right-hander that the Evo sailed through at about 50 without even screeching tires. Just get it to the top of the turn and mash the gas...that back end rotates right onto the proper line. Anyone can be a hero in an Evo. Even me!

 

dammm... spot on man.. I just watched the video one more time and saw exactly what you're talking about; he was indeed trying way too hard with all the insults and what not... and that's a Clarkson thing but the approach was just too whiney... like during the whole interview part you feel like telling him "ok we get it, you don't like the interior, now stfu and move on *slap*!"

 

I disagree. I think that his Clarkson imitation is fantastic. The only problem is that he's doing Kelly Clarkson.

 

I like Chris Harris on the youtube channel /drive. You can tell that he is having a good time driving the cars.

 

lol nice!

I think he was being overly harsh regarding the MR interior. It's the MR-T. It has full leather seats, nice trimmings, and aesthetically I think it looks pretty good. 40k car good? No, but definitely not 15k car crappy. I'd say it's befitting of a 30k car. The only problem is that some of the plastic is hard and you get rattles. All that aside, what's up with the Golf R not being able to have its traction control turned off? That blows

 

On a personal level, I don't know how much a non-deflatable traction control would bother me. It's not like I'm that great of a driver.

As I like to keep cars for a long time, this is what would bother me:

1. This is the big one, the one thing that would stop me from even considering the car - DI-driven carbon deposits. Just knowing that my car loses performance with every mile would kill any joy of ownership for me.

2. Seemingly inconsequential, mostly electrical bugs, faulty electronic modules. This would drive me up a wall.

3. Peeling/fading soft touch (interior) materials. They look and feel nice, but durability is not a strong suit.

4. A ~165" car that's spec'd at ~3400lbs. Say what?

As a point of personal disclosure, the GTI I drove off the lot on May 17, 1991 and owned for almost 18 years:

 

The Wolfsberg GTI is the only wrong-wheel-drive car that I ever really enjoyed driving. Given the rules, I would go so far as to suggest that anyone who is serious about rally (which almost always requires that you start in a FWD) should begin with a GTI/Golf/Rabbit of some sort.

 

 

Jason Cammisa is a bit of a Volkswagen apologist. He has been as long as I've been reading Automobile, which is unfortunate. He owns, drives, and is a fanboi of VWs. While that's ok as an enthusiast, it makes for poor automotive journalism for a rag like Automobile that should supply empirical evidence instead of sensationalism. I do think that the first part of his review reeks of dash molester moreso than car guy. I do tip my hat to him in that he was really fair and balanced about track performance. It's sad that VW neutered the US version and you can't disable the traction nannies, and I hope some aftermarket company is able to address this in the code, so we can enjoy this car as it was designed to be overseas!

I disagree that some people wouldn't shop both cars, or would hate one and love the other. I think they're both great cars, and would be happy to own both.

For those that keep saying the VW is heavier and V6, please stop. This is a 2 liter turbo four, and weighs less than our car. It's a truly great car, just is saddled with too much stop-fun programming for the US market.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with you, sir. Nothing holds a candle to an Integra Type R in my experience for a real track FWD car. The Wolfsburg GTI isn't even in the same zip code. Honda knows that the enemy of FWD is torque. So they make the powerband completely usable in a super light car that revs, has a proper helical LSD, and no traction control whatsoever. It's the closest thing to an Evo-lite that ever came to the states before the 2003 GSR, IMO. You can call it a bit garish, but it is the epitome of "because racecar", and is the only FWD that I can ever think of that is worthy of that title from the factory.

 

Good luck rallying that ITR, dude. tee hee (But, to be honest, that bit about the GTI being the "only" WWD that I enjoyed driving was a lie. Not only have I enjoyed autocrossing some Hondas [ITR and RSX], but the Mini is a freaking blast. Stop ruining my hyperboles.)

Returning to the thread-topic: that the "review" not once mentions that the AWD systems in Evos and Golfs are apples and oranges is a bit of a let-down. One is a highly advanced Ferguson; the other is the latest-generation Haldex. The reviewer should have expected the difference in handling.