Tech Analysis: VW

Jon echoed Jan's impressions: "I never paid much attention to it before; this is a family car. The handling was a non-issue. Now, the fun thing is having a car you feel like you can throw around a little more. And now that the car handles better, you start feeling like you could use a little more power."

Jon's 5-hour ride home confirmed our initial impressions of the Pilot Sport A/S tires. They proved to be quiet cruisers, very communicative and, as Jon said, "These tires are unbelievable in the rain. It's easy to tell; the ASR hardly comes on at all. That yellow light used to come on all the time. This package is a perfect combination of smooth and quiet on the highway and total fun when you get into the twisty bits. It's the best of both worlds. Even at the advanced age of almost 52 this is definitely age-appropriate hardware! And not only does it work well, the car looks totally bitchin'." The ClubSport kit dropped the car about an inch, and the 16-in. Mille Miglias fill the wheelwells much better than the stock 15-inchers.

"After living with it for a few days now, the car just feels right, really solid," Jon called to report. "When you're really on it, you notice the power thing, but it is only because the chassis now seems capable of handling a lot more. You notice the expansion joints in the freeway more now, but the trade-off is well worth it; just turn the radio up a little. The car is so much more in touch with the road now."

Autotech states it spent a year dyno- and road-testing shock valving and spring combinations to come up with its MkIV ClubSport tuned suspension kits. Seems the effort was worth it. Sachs Race Engineering supplies the custom valved shocks, and specially calibrated progressive rate springs complete the Stage One kit. Stage Two adds upper and lower stress bars, Stage Three tubular sway bars and Stage Four polyurethane and hard rubber bushings.