golf verses escort

European made/designed cars are generally stiffer riding than American. This supports the more sportier impression of European cars. I own a Golf and never believed I was being "beat up". The seats are full and supportive. The suspension is decent. The cage is solid and aborbs road jolts well. The tires on mine are H rated 195/60 14s. I suspect your Escort has softer15s. That would make some difference. The test drive would be the ultimate test.

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:54:53 -0400, splitload wrote (in message ):

You'd love the Golf TDI. It feels bigger and really is bigger than the escort. It has a firm, yet supple ride. It handles well, but soaks up potholes and railroad tracks quite well. Plus, you'll get real world mileage in the 40's, even on short hops in town. You can drive a TDI for hundreds of thousands of miles, that Escort will have bitten the dust by that time.

The ride will be much firmer than the Escort for 2 reasons.... first the ride will be firmer because that is how the car is. Second, your Escort has 4 blown struts on it... be honest, you've never replaced the struts on that Escort have you....

Best thing to do is go to the dealer and hop into a Golf, be it 2.0L or TDI and take it for a drive (both ride the same). TDIs are wonderful, my wife and I have on order a 2004 Jetta Wagen TDI.

Best way to answer this question is merely to go to the dealer and test drive one. I think you will find ride to be quite 'different' than your Ford, most definitely.

I went from a 96 Dodge Neon to a 99.5 Golf GLS 2.0 last August. The Golf is the best car I have ever driven, and is a luxury car compared to the Neon. The difference is unbelievable (in a good way).

Go test drive the Golf. When (if) you drive your Escort home, you will see it is the Escort beating you up. :) (at least that is how my Neon seemed after I test drove the Golf).

Please be advised that since it's a diesel the accelaration isn't the greatest.

I've been driving my '03 Golf TDI for a couple of months now (3200km) and found the only thing I don't like about it is said lack of acceleration.

Most of the time I don't notice it, but every so often I want to get from (say) 60km/h to 100km/h and it takes longer than I want. (Or perhaps I'm just being impatient? :)

Mine is a manual transmission so I can play with the clutch a bit to offset this, but the general limitation is still there.

(Though I must say, averaging 800km to a 55L tank of gas is very nice. Diesel prices (~CA$0.61/L) are also quiet stable here in Toronto, Canada relative to gas prices (anywhere from CA$0.58/L to CA$0.75/L.))

The 90-hp TDI will keep up with the 150-hp 1.8T to about -- what, 40 mph or so -- and no one accuses the 1.8T of being a slouch in the performance department. Not bad for an engine that gets almost twice the mileage out of a given amount of fuel.

That said, however, in at-speed situations where the car really has to _move_, I often find myself downshifting to around 2000 rpm, to find the torque peak. Diesels need to be driven differently than gassers.

sd

I think you'll like it. IMHO new VWs are actually sprung too soft for me, but my preference is for the optional sport suspension anyway. The standard suspension is supple and fairly controlled and rides very well without being harsh at all.