Fresh Meats!

 I love my GLI.  It's a phenomenal car.  It's quick, quiet, comfortable, and efficient.  I did a round trip from South Bend to Interlochen on a single tank of fuel.  The front differential is amazing, it handles great, it's a joy to shift, and makes me smile every time I get in.

In the power department, I'd say it's sufficient in stock form.  Not blazingly fast, but certainly enough power to keep me entertained, and as I've mentioned before, compares pretty favorably with the original M5.  A stock GLI is enough to keep anyone happy, but recall that I had a 1998 Passat with a 1.8-liter turbo 4.

Stock, the Passat made 150 hp and 155 lb-ft of torque.  It was fun, but we gave into the temptation to get the ECU flashed to let the turbo work a little harder.  The car was absolutely transformed.  Passing on a two-lane road in third gear was delightful, the car pulled so much harder.  With more than 120,000 reliable miles on the reprogrammed engine, it made me start thinking about what one could coax out of the EA888 2-liter 4 in the GLI.

After a bunch of research and reading, it came down to Cobb and APR.  Ultimately, I decided to go with the APR Plus offering, primarily because the warranty gave me some peace of mind.  The APR Plus adds 42 hp and 57 ft-lb of torque, bringing the total to roughly 270 hp and 315 ft-lb in a car weighing 3,178 pounds. 

For perspective, my 911 makes about 250 hp and 230 lb-ft of torque in a car weighing 3,031 pounds.  So, if you do the math, the APR Plus-equipped GLI has a power-to-weight ratio of 11.8 lb/hp versus 12.1 lb/hp in the 911.  Heh heh heh.  I love the idea of sleeper sedans in general, and the GLI with a better power-to-weight ratio than my 911 makes for wicked fun.

From the driver's seat, third gear with the APR tune feels about as strong as second gear in stock form.  The APR tune also got rid of the pesky top speed limiter, with the car still pulling hard through 140 mph in 4th gear on a race track.  The car feels quite stout.  While I haven't instrumented the car, those power gains should get the car to 60 mph in about 5.3 seconds and through the quarter mile in ~13.2 seconds at 111 mph.  That's more than a second faster through the quarter mile, which I have no problem believing.

The downside to all of this additional power is that the original equipment Hankook Kinergy GT tires simply melted.  While they did a reasonable job of coping with the extra torque in the dry, they were useless in the wet, easily spinning up in first, second, third, and occasionally fourth.  After roughly 25,000 total miles, 10,000 of which were pre-tune, the tires were cooked.  

While the end of a set of tires typically bums people out, for me it's one of my favorite times because I get to go tire shopping!  For the new set, I was committed to getting tires that could cope with the extra power.  With six vehicles to manage, over time I've grown to love Michelin tires.  They're just great.  The Defender2s on the vans have an 80,000 mile warranty.  I have Pilot Sport All Season 4s on the 911 that have good grip and seem to be wearing well after more than 8,000 miles.

Since I have a set of Blizzaks for the winter, I thought about getting a set of Pilot Sport All Season 4s for the GLI since I'm having good luck with them on the 911.  Then I thought about it a bit more, talked with my brother, and rationalized a set of Pilot Sport 4Ss for the GLI.  The rationale went something like, "Well, how many sets of tires do you actually buy in your life, and is it worth compromising summer performance if you already have a dedicated set of winter wheels and tires?"

With thinking like that, the choice was clear:

I have to say, I really think Michelin has figured out the sidewall branding.  I love the Michelin stamp, how legible the tire model is, and the little checkered flag.  I do think there is a trickledown effect from Michelin's endurance racing experience to its street tires.  I have super fond memories of the 2018 "Pink Pig" class victory at Le Mans, a once-in-a-lifetime megatrip that I reveled in with my brother.  Guess what tires the class-winning car was wearing?

That's right - Michelins.

Anyway, this is what the GLI looks like with its fresh meats:

I only have about 70 miles on the new tires, but my initial impressions are that these are the tires the car deserves.  Full power in second gear doesn't phase the tires, and they seem like they grip well.  I can't wait until I get them scrubbed in a bit more so I can explore their capabilities a bit more fully.  I'm also looking forward to driving the car in the wet, just to see how these "max performance summer tires" cope with wet pavement.  While I'd imagine that full-throttle pulls on the wet would cause the traction control to flicker, I'm optimistic that they won't spin worthlessly like the overmatched Kinergy GTs.

More to come as I get some driving in.