One platform - two areas

Actually, the main idea of ??the consumer test was deeply subjective comparison of the weakest members a platform VAG PQ35. And the weak are not in the sense of an ideological component and not in terms of the thickness of the metal bodywork. The weakness in this case involves the use of the lowest possible installed on these vehicles engines. In both these cases it is only a 1390 cm 3 working volume. Agree, that is interesting enough to test in real conditions the most innovative trend of today: highly accelerated malokubaturnye turbo, standing under the hood rather sporty-looking cars. But first a little history. Windy AVTOMOBILIChto a Scirocco? Encyclopedia reads: southern European wind carrying the scent of the Sahara sand and rain. In this collection of moving air masses, there is one, the Arabic, the name - Ghibli. In the late 60s of last century it was named one of the most popular car GT class at the time. No, really, of course, it's not Volkswagen. A difficult to for a Russian name was Maserati. But it just so happens that a large number of admirers of Italian automotive art was a very creative German named Wilhelm pocket, owner and longtime head of Karmann Gmbh. So, at the time it was he who was responsible for the production of sports cars Volkswagen. It was then that he was actively communicated with the owner of the company Maserati Alejandro De Tomaso. And it was William pockets in collaboration with the Italian Ghia studio has created a unit - the flesh of the national "Beetle", the most compact sports car example of that time, Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. The idea of ??an inexpensive, stylish and fast vehicle so seized him, that does not embody it in a metal would be foolish. And in 1974, presented to the public are two very similar car: Maserati Ghibli II and Volkswagen Scirocco. The same wind that is the same idea and the same designer ... That is, the maestro himself Giugiaro! German car sales in the first minute grew by leaps and bounds. After all, fresh and dashing-looking three-door hatchback Volkswagen was quick (if you do not take into account modifications to the engine 1.1 liters), and capacious favorably with its competitors relatively low price. And if at the same time the light did not appear Golf, who knows, maybe, reporters would have operated on the notion of "sirocco-class" instead of "Golf class". And then it started. New engines of up to 1.7 liters, restyled in 1982, again in the form of innovation of the famous 16-valve 140-horsepower DOHC 1.8, another round of facelift in 1988. All these changes have only added to the popularity of the car and practically raised him to cult status. But everything comes to an end, and in 1992, the name disappeared in the wind shadow of marketing soplatformennogo Golf. As a result, to replace aging Scirocco came less successful Corrado, held out in the production of just four years. But, then he and the wind to return. And back noisily. 2008. May. Nurburgring, and Carlos Sainz at the wheel of the new Scirocco III ... SHORT FIVE KOLETSK mid 90s of last century to Europe, and with it out of inertia and a half of the world, captured booming car-class golf. Partly it was consciously or unconsciously provoked by the media - several years title "Car of the Year" is just such a battered urban machine. Then someone said that the main thing - it's price and features, and off they went. In general, having heard and read a lot, people have suffered their money in car dealerships. And if Volkswagen was on what "change" bank notes, the Audi with its very small but not miniature model A4 (slightly retouched Audi 80) remained, however mildly, without a piece of cake. And then there are direct competitors in the face of Mercedes-Benz with the release of A-class in a hurry. In general, there has been a disturbing trend of Ingolstadt "flying by the market." On the other hand, the recipe is called, was written on the front page "cookbook": quite a "tasty" platform PQ34, which is created based on VW Golf IV, VW Bora, VW New Beetle, Seat Leon, Seat Toledo, Skoda Octavia. The more experience and to produce a compact Audi 50 1974 (car was built upon A1, one with the Volkswagen Scirocco I and Golf I) was present. It was a small. As a result, the car turned out quite good. As for the title, because to think up names in the Audi has traditionally been taken not to waste time, then the youngest representative of the series he called "a resounding" index A3. The same logic of German factory and corresponds to the model name Typ 8L. That's because in 1996 and began the history of our second test. But it was time monotony of everyday life, plugging holes and marketing experiments with 20-valve 4-cylinder engines. It has been seven long, but blessed years, and in 2003 there was a completely new model A3 Typ 8P. Model, which brought at last into the world of compact Audi such an important component, as controversial, but vivid style. A facelift in 2008 after a car and began to play all sides does a spectacular body. And no wonder - once it had to happen. After all, before appearing on the horizon Italian designer Walter De Silva, Maria global automotive community was almost certain: the chief of the artist sitting in Ingolstadt, a specially trained person with a compass in your hands and carefully examines pieces of soap (remember the first generation Audi TT design by Peter Schreier and Audi A2 his own pen). UNITY AND BORBAA now let's get back to today. As you know, presented as part of our consumer test cars are different ideologically. Despite the almost identical set of units, VW Scirocco has to interpret the platform in the key sports, and for the Audi A3 "quick note" is replaced with ease and comfort of a quiet unobtrusive. It so happened historically. However, in fact, and in another case, the key word is innovation platform PQ35. Here and fully independent suspension, and unique body rigidity, and a serious study of constructive passive safety. But the main advantages VAG recent years - it is certainly power units. Let's start with the engines. Series EA111, "the parent" for both engines, installed under the hood, and A3 and Scirocco, available already in 1970. It is based on them in the Volkswagen were built first DOHC, naturally aspirated bind to them, carburetors, mechanical and electronic injection control, it seems, of all types and stripes. Well, the latest reincarnation of the public EA111 engine occurred at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, where visitors were shown the newest version of it called the 1.4 TSI Twincharged. The combination of a turbocharger, is actively assisting in the upper engine speed range, the mechanical volumetric supercharger Eaton V, running from the bottom, lightly sprinkled on top "sparkles" in the form of distributed system of direct injection - this is what is called a "bomb". And the recognition is not long in coming: the motor is almost automatically won International Engine Of The Year. How else could react to the fact that in such a humble working volume of the Germans managed to squeeze as much as 160 hp (In some variations - up to 178 hp) and 240 Nm of torque! What, in fact, we see under the hood of our test Scirocco. But in a slightly different A3 "heart". In 2007, VAG presented slightly simplified version of this engine - 1.4 TFSI. It is not a mechanical supercharger, but with a variable geometry turbine and intercooler with water cooling allowed to withdraw from the same working volume is quite decent 125 hp power and 200 Nm of torque. Aggregated all these reciprocating turbonovinki with a fairly wide range of Gearbox - 6-speed manual transmission (in this case - on the Audi A3) to the newest version of its 7-speed semi-automatic gearbox DSG (in Scirocco). If this checkpoint is under the hood Audi, a name change to S-Tronic. It is true, keep in mind that the engine can be equipped with the 2.0 TSI is available only to the old 6-speed version of DSG. VITAL ПРОСТРАНСТВОПотребительские qualities of both "odnaplatformennyh" cars, in general, are standard, but with the directions. For example, Volkswagen Scirocco designed to fascinate and disturb the appearance of blood velocity. And since the laws of the genre should somehow be observed from this and landing formula 2 +2 (de facto), and the loading height of the luggage compartment, the sacrifice of design ideas, which found its embodiment in the continuous horizontal rear optics. But around the driver creates a rather extensive and spectacular environment. In the trim is present in almost the entire list of options available for higher-end cars. Unless ventilation seats in the lists could not be found. One of the interesting additions to pay attention to the possibility of installing a panoramic roof (or rather, a large hatch), and be sure to order a system of parking assistance. For visibility back (again according to the laws of the genre) is bounded by a narrow glass, and headrests sport seats of the second series. And here at the Audi A3 ideology is totally different. It is somewhat reminiscent of the company's motto Apple: It just works (in translation from English. - "It just works"). The whole model of perception as the exterior and the interior is built on close attention to detail, helping to diversify the use of the car and to stress that it belongs to is not a cheap brand. Particular attention is paid to the finishing materials and noise isolation - for Cars-class golf, you see, is a rarity. And what have we got in the end? In contrast to the "sport" rigidity Scirocco same suspension of the Audi is set to a comfortable ride, but without losing the sharpness and clarity of responses to control actions. As a result, the transfer of noise from the suspension and the engine is reduced to a sufficient minimum, which, in turn, provides acoustic comfort level is much more expensive cars. As for options, they have a list of A3 is slightly shorter than the Scirocco, but it is enough to make the choice you need additional advice.