HPA TT R32 First Impressions

(Link to my web page)
(Link to road test of the Euro HPA TT)

Yesterday (Sunday 6/13) I flew into Bakersfield and HPA got me over to
Dubwars to pick up by finished twin turbo R32.  The upgrade took a few
months and included:

Stage 2 turbo
Stage 2 transmission
Stage 1 brakes
Stage 1 suspension (though I had the suspension set to stock height)
Launch control

I also asked for a triple-mode power control to provide a selectable
330/450/650 hp option, but initially have a 'valet mode' switch to
select 330hp or full boost.

Yesterday, I drove it down from Bakersfield to LA and then I've been 
doing a bit of driving around the LA area.

As background, I have been driving a chipped RS6 for the last few 
months, and before that had a BMW M3 SMG and a 2000 M5.

So, my first impressions are:

The craftsmanship is great.  The car looks stock unless you peek
underneath the hood or the skirts.  The exhaust even looks normal.

My biggest concern was that it might be hard to moderate the power
for city driving.  When I test-drove the modified European R32 I
had some problem launching without wheelspin.  With the setup as
it is now - either because of the complete package or due to some
difference in the American vs. Euro version - wheelspin is not a 
problem.  I'm quite suite I could enable launch control and drop
the clutch t 5500 to do a 4-wheel spinning launch, but in normal
aggressive city and highway driving wheelspin is not a problem.

In 'valet' mode, the car drives great - while the stock R32 was
fun to drive but seemed slow to me, with 330 or 340 hp (and some
boost, which I can hear), the car seems as fast as an M3.  0-60
might even come in under 5 seconds because 1st and 2nd are strong
if you rip through them with a hard launch and redline shift at
7k, and 60 comes at the top of 2nd with the gear set installed.
I think 60 might even come in 4 seconds with a no wheelspin launch
at full power, and a quick shift.

In the M5 and RS6 I find that I usually drive 75 or so on the
highway and burst to 85-90 or so to pass, and when I go over 100 I
usually quickly drop below.

In the M3 I found that I would often hit 110 or so passing, and wanted
to go a bit faster.  It just seemed that I wanted to top out whatever
gear I was in, which meant 105-110 in the M3 for passing.

In the R32 I found myself going 80-85 and punching it well past
100 if I didn't watch it - and that was in valet mode.

In full-power mode, though, initially I was having trouble sensing
the extra power.  It was still fast but didn't seem as fast as the
RS6.

Then I figured it out - the car seems to have limited boost below 
3500-4000 rpm.  Toggling the power doesn't change that.  Once
I went through half a tank of gas and started playing around, I
figured out that hitting the sweet spot by either being in the right
gear at the right time, or by revving to 5000 rpm and dropping the
clutch into the right gear, gets you better-than-RS6 performance, 
and I had no trouble passing at warp speed.

One other huge surprise: If you pound on it it gets about 18mpg
(est) - still better than the RS6.  But for highway driving they
report, and I've seen, 30-35 mpg at 3k rpm for long stretches.
People buying the TT upgrade might not care that much about it,
or might not have the restraint, but even so it is very good
compared to an M5, M3, or RS6.

Component summary:

The engine is great, though it seems much more S2000-like than I
remember.  Not that there's no grunt below 3500, but for spirited
driving you need to keep the revs up.  This is actually not bad, as
it is not hard to keep the revs up on the highway, and having too
much power down low would make controlled launches difficult for
street driving.

The clutch is a high-cost component of the upgrade, and is rated to
handle many 4-wheel-spinning 5500 rpm launches in first.  I doubt
I'll do that more than a couple of times, maybe at a track.  The
main benefit will be having a clutch that can handle aggressive 
revved downshifts.

Gearing/shifting: The short-shifter is great.  1st, 2nd, 3rd, and
both are all great with positive engagement and short throws.  The
only 'problem' with the install is that 5th and 6th grind a little
going in - unless you shift slowly and really push the shift knob
all the way to the right.  HPA will be coming out to a car show in
NY this summer so if we can't get it fixed before that, we'll need to
get them to do that.

The brakes felt good, no trouble stopping.

The suspension felt good.  The car felt as tight as an M3 with a 
ride that communicated what was going on but was actually less
jarring then the M3 and at least as good as the RS6.

The clutch is a bit tricky.  It isn't super-heavy but it isn't
light, either.  The release point doesn't have a ton of feedback,
is sort of brief, and is really 75+% of the way up.  For gentle
driving it's best to not even give it much gas.  I need to get
used to it a bit more.

The exhaust is pretty damn loud, especially on city streets with
buildings to echo off of.  That can be good, or that can be bad :)

Summary:

What I was looking for was a good 2nd car for fun driving, as an
auxiliary to the RS6.  The R32 gives that, in a great somewhat
stealthy package.  With the mods the whole package was 65k or
so, which is not bad for a supercar with stock appearance and AWD.
It's probably even what the new 400hp M3 will retail for, I'd bet.

For city driving, I still need to master gentle shifting out of 1st
and 2nd.  And it might be good to have a bypass switch to prevent
exhaust-bypass at WOT at > 3500rpm, as it is loud enough to bring
cops running (or WRXs, if that's your goal).

Next steps:

- Drive it cross-country to get more used to it
- Cancel the request for the variable power mode
- Look at an "exhaust-bypass" bypass for quieter city driving
- Put a car computer/stereo/nav/etc kit in