Comparison Tests
A few months ago we rounded up five fleet-footed economy cars for a comparison test we glibly titled "Desert Foxes", ahead of the previous-generation GTI but behind the now-extinct Ford SVT Focus. What held that Si back was a lack of soul and driver involvement owing to dull electric power steering and wimpy all-season tires. Compared with the Si's that preceded that model, it almost seemed as if Honda were holding back on the fun. Making things worse was the fact that other markets outside the U.S. had a Civic Type-R that boasted a stiff chassis with serious performance tires, a more menacing exterior, and the 197-hp 2.0-liter shared with the Acura RSX Type-S. We felt as if Honda had sent us a bag full of stems and seeds while the rest of the world got the "kind" stuff.
The other entry in this two-car tournament is the fifth-generation GTI. Since the second-generation 16-valve GTI, there has been a kind of GTI drought. The powertrains didn't disappoint (except for the GTIs with the punk-ass 115-hp 2.0-liter), but VW dumbed-down the suspension settings on gens three and four, ostensibly to create a more luxurious, grown-up GTI. We were left wanting. The new GTI seems to have learned from those missteps and perhaps from the excellence of the limited-edition 20th-anniversary GTI and the ballsy R32. VW has now brought to market a serious chassis complete with sticky performance tires. Making the most of the willing underpinnings is a 197-hp direct-injection 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, an engine that enlivens Volkswagens and Audis alike and is a torquey, relaxed alternative to the high-revving Honda mill.
Instead of dragging back all the cars from the "Cheap Speed" comparo, we've kept it simple by pitting icon against icon, top seed against top seed. Since both brands inspire a passionate following, fans of these cars have probably already made up their minds. So this comparison will likely invite more bashing of C/D in the loser's online forums (and probably in the winner's forums, too). For the first time in anyone's memory, we have a tie in the "gotta have it" column. Usually, we have an instinctive idea of which car is going to emerge the winner in a comparison test before we tally the scores. Not in this comparo. We had to wait for the ballots to be counted before we knew which corner could celebrate.
