First off, I don't think that the 2.5 actually is half of the Gallardo's V10, what I've read seemed to indicate it was more closely related to the old Audi I5 than to the Gallardo's V10. Also, keep in mind that Audi has been seeling a 5 in Europe for close to a decade, so I'm guessing (atmitedly) that this is really an evolution of that older
5, not half a Gallardo's V10.
Secondly, while the 2.5's 170 Ft. Lbs. of torque is very pleasing to see, I'm a little thrown (like some others seem to be) as to why it's only producing 150 horsepower. 160-170 horsepower seems more inline with where this engine *should* be considering that it's more expensive than Nissan's Sentra SE-R VSpec, which makes 175 horsepower and 180 Ft. Lbs of torque without the aid of FSI or the fifth cylinder.
Lastly, I'm not really sure why this new engine was neccesary. It seems to me that the 12-valve 174 horsepower VR6 (or simply a de-tuned version of the 24 valve version) would have been the better choice. More horsepower and more torque from an existing powerplant that VW was already tooled up to produce, and that wouldn't have needed much time or money put into development and road testing.
In any case, I know that the Jetta's performance will be *close* to that of the Sentra SE-R and probably equal to or better than the performance of the Sentra 1.8, the Civic EX and the Corolla LE.