When you think about a compact, powerful, all wheel drive car, it’s difficult not to think of the Subaru STI. It is a car that has defined a segment for as long as anyone cares to remember. But the times they are a’changing, and in some ways, the STI just hasn’t.
Just a few years ago, this race would have been rather silly. But with the latest generation of Golf, VW has not only attacked the territory dominated by the STI, but is running wild.
The current generation Subaru STI has exactly the same power output as the model it replaces: 206kW. As we learnt in our Golf R feature film – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vsA8g9Pjow, the Golf 7 R has 221kW. But that is only in Europe where it’s cold.
Here in Africa where it’s hot, VW had to downtune the 2.0 litre, turbocharged motor to 206kW, lining it up squarely with the STI.
Both cars have clever all wheel drive systems and I have no doubt that the STI would be quicker around a track; its simply more hardcore and better set up for that purpose.
But in reality, most owners will need the cars to perform in a straight line, when pride is at stake at the traffic lights. And here’s the crucial difference: the STI is only available with a manual ‘box, while the Golf R can be fitted with DSG – VW’s double clutch gearbox.
And so we were very excited to put these two unmodified cars together on Killarney’s quarter mile drag strip. We ran the race multiple times and this was the closest result…
We’ll have many more drag race videos coming out over the next few weeks, featuring cars like the Mercedes CLS 63 AMG and the A 45 AMG, Audi S3 and VW Scirocco R. Make sure you don’t miss a thing by subscribing to our Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Carsdotcoza
If you are interested in a used VW Golf, see our listings here:
http://www.cars.co.za/usedcars/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-VII-2.0-TSI-R/
If you are interested in a used Subaru STI, see our listings here:
http://www.cars.co.za/usedcars/Subaru/WRX/
— Credits –
Written, Directed and Presented
Ciro De Siena
DOP
Warrick Le Sueur
Assistants
Mel Theunissen, Gino Lange and Daniel Finch
Edit
JJ Jordaan
— Thank you —
A huge thank you to the owners of the cars who made these videos possible.
Calificacion: / 5
