Quarter-mile The Seibon car is the lightest of the three, with carbon fiber body panels and manual transmission. That, plus its additional power from the Injen intake and exhaust, gives it an easy victory. It launches the hardest and never looks back.
The stock MkV beats the JIC-Cross car, but it's the only time it isn't in last place. By mid-track, the heavier yet significantly more powerful JIC GTI goes thundering by.
Starting with the 2007 model, GTIs with DSG transmissions are programmed with launch control. The JIC-Cross GTI, being a 2006 model, is not. It makes all the difference. No combination of gas and brake can get it out of the hole quickly. However, once underway, the car pulls beautifully. The turbo stays at full boost under wide-open throttle, while the DSG transmission transfers power seamlessly from one gear to the next.
Braking With all three cars retaining their ABS, this test comes down to traction. The stock GTI sets the benchmark with a 222-foot stop from 80mph on its factory Continental ProContact tires. The Seibon/Injen car, with less weight and wider Falken Sport 452 series tires, takes an impressive 15 feet less. Anything under 200 feet really catches our attention; the JIC-Cross GTI stopping in just 185 feet surprises everybody.
The Hankook Z214 is a full R-compound tire and, other than two tiny grooves, is a slick. Everyone knows it's grippy, but to stop the heaviest car in the group like this is amazing. What is even more impressive is that the car has big Stoptech brakes. Large aftermarket brakes can dissipate heat so well that they almost always outperform stock systems after a long session on the road course. But they usually disrupt a car's braking balance, increasing stopping distances in these 80mph to zero tests. The engineers at Stoptech deserve a great deal of credit for putting together a set of rotors, calipers and pads that work to improve the stock braking balance.
Circuit The stock GTI is fun to drive on the track. The whole `pre-tuned by German engineers' thing works pretty well. As on the skidpad, there is quite a bit of body roll--only a real problem in the rapid transitions. You really have to stay ahead of the car to keep it on the track. But the car is nicely balanced once it takes a set. The linear powerband is almost too smooth, though. I keep searching the tach for more power. It doesn't seem to matter when I shift, as each gear drops right back into the same amount of torque.
The H&R suspension on the Seibon/Injen GTI feels much better. Not brutal like a race car, just nicely planted. Trailing the brakes or mashing the gas makes the rigid chassis take any slip angle you want. Body roll is significantly reduced, saving the car two seconds a lap just in the transitions. The weight savings and extra power don't hurt, either, allowing the car to go almost three seconds faster than stock, and with a lot less effort.
There's nothing like gobs of power and traction on a road course, though. The JIC-Cross GTI matches the Seibon's speed through the transitions, then drives away in the steady-state corners. The additional exit speed buys it even more time on the straight. Most of this grip should be credited to the race tires, but, the better the tires grab, the more load the suspension has to manage; the JIC-Cross coilovers are impressive.
So go ahead, VW tuners, pimp your ride. I think we've proven once again that the GTI chassis continues to be receptive to modification. On a side note, if you haven't picked up your MkV yet, and you have two working feet, get the manual transmission. Without dwelling on it, the DSG tranny, as great as it is, adversely affects the performance of the JIC-Cross GTI in every test. It even would have stopped shorter without the extra 50 pounds. Plus, the sound of a modified exhaust on an automatic doubles your car's chances of being destroyed in the next line of commercials. Peace out. Holding it down on zee engineering tip, y'all.