hello people, so this is where youve all gone!

Subject to finance i'll be getting the RS back by the end of the week.

But :lol: ive seen a rather nice 4x4 estate which i must admit has taken a shine to ME. Its a grand cheaper but has 19000 miles on the clock.

As ever im finding it hard to choose. :twisted:

What do you think :?:

Steve VRS OR 4X4

Easy.

vRS. We had no problems with the 4x4 on the wet yorkshire roads so the 'extra grip' argument that they are always on about is of no consequence.

vRS rocks...

oh go on then....

Personally I think the vRS is the best perf setup out of the garage in the VAG range for real money ie <30k. However it depends on what and where you drive.

The roads this weekend were picked for quiet and flowing reasons, it was a very good leveling ground where no one type of vehicle had the upper hand. (There were odd points but on the whole v balanced).

If you like A roads and M-ways vRS, twstie B's I'd say 4x4, ask Huck about Thursday's, some roads a fwd car will never keep up witha 4x4 and of course vice versa.

I was very very tempted by the vRS, VERY tempted. But I want/need the practicall nature given to me by the estate, thus 4x4 defaulted. I also have the odd foray into Wales, Scotland for winter activities, so again the 4x4 option got an extra tick.

It really is down to preference of driving. The 4x4 gets you a few extras like washers, arm rest etc etc, but you loose the vRS seats ie side airbags.

Huck I think has a good grasp of the vRS weak points from following Ian and I + various subaru's. I cite Huck as I know the before and after image. The 4x4 will need chipping to make it as quick as it needs to be coming out of the vRS, it's no slouch and can quite easily be pushed on stock, but to get a real smile a new chip is the best bet.

One last point the winner in what would you trade your RS in for poll was a RS with 4x4. I think Huck got quite along way down the make a 4x4 into an RS road. I am of course a happy driver of a 4x4.

Unless of course you have a WRC, that then covers all.? :bup:

Colin is pretty much spot on, as thats the case I made to him before he bought his

The "estate factor" is an easy thing to blame for going for a 4x4, but when there was talk of an RS estate I thought long and hard, and decided would not swap my 4x4 for one.

The "extra equipment" is another thing that you can lay blame to, but discussing the WRC RS (as I know of a couple available) decided I would not swap for that, so equipment is not such a major factor.

At the end of the day it's the drivetrain, and the ESP, that just work so well together, factor in the totally independant suspension setup and (personally) I prefer the feel of it. With a 4x4 you can tackle long and flowing *or* tight n twisty, it really won't suffer either way. I feel the shorter gearbox is more suited to fast road driving also, as it can get away with laying down more power earlier, having the traction.

The RS is a great car, and priced as such, but I'm glad I spent the extra and went for the 4x4, for me it's the perfect balance of comfort, control, traction and fun, plus there's nothing like the satisfaction of knowing no-one would guess it's as quick as it is.

There is another point in favour of the 4x4 (Hatch and Combi) - they have 151mm ground clearance versus 119mm for the RS. That extra 1

Whats the fuel consumption like.Im in town ,stop /start and the RS was'nt

great.

Steve

4x4 is heavier on fuel than the RS.

Brochure figures for mpg as follows for 4x4 followed by RS:

Urban ---------- 23.3 -- 26.2

Extra urban --- 39.8 -- 44.1

Combined ----- 31.7 -- 35.3

The overall fuel consumption of my 4x4 Combi over some 2800 miles is 31.29 mpg. That includes 500 miles carrying a large roofbox, and a fair amount of use of the Climatronic this summer. That is relatively heavy compared to the 26 mpg I achieved in the 20,000 miles I owned a Senator 3.0 CDi 24V auto.

Not bad, maybe a tad more than the RS pushing on, but no different on long journeys etc.

The haldex will only send power where needed, in the dry cruising it's basically FWD, so no difference. It's a very intelligent system that sends power elsewhere if there is 15degrees of slip rotation on any wheel.