Yesterday (Sunday 6/13) I flew into Bakersfield and HPA got me over to Dubwars to pick up by finished twin turbo R32.
The upgrade took a few months and included:
Stage 2 turbo
Stage 2 transmission
Stage 1 brakes
Stage 1 suspension (though I had the suspension set to stock height)
Launch control
I also asked for a triple-mode power control to provide a selectable 330/450/650 hp option, but initially have a 'valet mode' switch to select 330hp or full boost.
Yesterday, I drove it down from Bakersfield to LA and then I've been doing a bit of driving around the LA area.
As background, I have been driving a chipped RS6 for the last few months, and before that had a BMW M3 SMG and a 2000 M5.
So, my first impressions are:
The craftsmanship is great. The car looks stock unless you peek underneath the hood or the skirts. The exhaust even looks normal.
My biggest concern was that it might be hard to moderate the power for city driving. When I test-drove the modified European R32 I had some problem launching without wheelspin. With the setup as it is now - either because of the complete package or due to some difference in the American vs. Euro version - wheelspin is not a problem. I'm quite suite I could enable launch control and drop the clutch t 5500 to do a 4-wheel spinning launch, but in normal
aggressive city and highway driving wheelspin is not a problem.
In 'valet' mode, the car drives great - while the stock R32 was fun to drive but seemed slow to me, with 330 or 340 hp (and some boost, which I can hear), the car seems as fast as an M3. 0-60 might even come in under 5 seconds because 1st and 2nd are strong if you rip through them with a hard launch and redline shift at 7k, and 60 comes at the top of 2nd with the gear set installed. I think 60 might even come in 4 seconds with a no wheelspin launch at full power, and a quick shift.
In the M5 and RS6 I find that I usually drive 75 or so on the highway and burst to 85-90 or so to pass, and when I go over 100 I usually quickly drop below.
In the M3 I found that I would often hit 110 or so passing, and wanted to go a bit faster. It just seemed that I wanted to top out whatever gear I was in, which meant 105-110 in the M3 for passing.
In the R32 I found myself going 80-85 and punching it well past 100 if I didn't watch it - and that was in valet mode.
In full-power mode, though, initially I was having trouble sensing the extra power. It was still fast but didn't seem as fast as the RS6.
Then I figured it out - the car seems to have limited boost below 3500-4000 rpm. Toggling the power doesn't change that. Once I went through half a tank of gas and started playing around, I
figured out that hitting the sweet spot by either being in the right gear at the right time, or by revving to 5000 rpm and dropping the clutch into the right gear, gets you better-than-RS6 performance, and I had no trouble passing at warp speed.
One other huge surprise: If you pound on it it gets about 18mpg (est) - still better than the RS6. But for highway driving they report, and I've seen, 30-35 mpg at 3k rpm for long stretches. People buying the TT upgrade might not care that much about it, or might not have the restraint, but even so it is very good compared to an M5, M3, or RS6.
Component summary:
The engine is great, though it seems much more S2000-like than I remember. Not that there's no grunt below 3500, but for spirited driving you need to keep the revs up. This is actually not bad, as it is not hard to keep the revs up on the highway, and having too much power down low would make controlled launches difficult for street driving.
The clutch is a high-cost component of the upgrade, and is rated to handle many 4-wheel-spinning 5500 rpm launches in first. I doubt I'll do that more than a couple of times, maybe at a track. The main benefit will be having a clutch that can handle aggressive revved downshifts.
Gearing/shifting: The short-shifter is great. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and both are all great with positive engagement and short throws. The only 'problem' with the install is that 5th and 6th grind a little going in - unless you shift slowly and really push the shift knob all the way to the right. HPA will be coming out to a car show in NY this summer so if we can't get it fixed before that, we'll need to get them to do that.
The brakes felt good, no trouble stopping.
The suspension felt good. The car felt as tight as an M3 with a ride that communicated what was going on but was actually less jarring then the M3 and at least as good as the RS6.
The clutch is a bit tricky. It isn't super-heavy but it isn't light, either. The release point doesn't have a ton of feedback, is sort of brief, and is really 75+% of the way up. For gentle driving it's best to not even give it much gas. I need to get used to it a bit more.
The exhaust is pretty damn loud, especially on city streets with buildings to echo off of. That can be good, or that can be bad :)
Summary:
What I was looking for was a good 2nd car for fun driving, as an auxiliary to the RS6. The R32 gives that, in a great somewhat stealthy package. With the mods the whole package was 65k or
so, which is not bad for a supercar with stock appearance and AWD. It's probably even what the new 400hp M3 will retail for, I'd bet.
For city driving, I still need to master gentle shifting out of 1st and 2nd. And it might be good to have a bypass switch to prevent exhaust-bypass at WOT at > 3500rpm, as it is loud enough to bring cops running (or WRXs, if that's your goal).
Next steps:
- Drive it cross-country to get more used to it
- Cancel the request for the variable power mode
- Look at an "exhaust-bypass" bypass for quieter city driving
- Put a car computer/stereo/nav/etc kit in
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