The R32 in my Touran is manual, but I find the mid range is immense, the low end is really good, but it does run out of breath a bit from about somewhere about 5500... certainly from 5800 to the rev limiter is more useful if I need the gearing advantage (like when I'm towing the caravan and have 6 passengers and want to show a "bloke" that his Ford Ranger is a POS 
). Although my rear muffler is currently a 2.0 FSI unit... I have a 3.2 TT unit to fit.
The R32 motor is a bit of a clunker really, compared to similar capacity units that are considered high performance around the time. The BMW 3.2 S50B32 eats it alive for torque and hp, right through the range plus just keeps on reving past 7K+. The BMW is happy to trundle along at Nana revs all day, but pulls really hard and then really gets frisky at the point that the R32 has given up. While the R32 has a really nice spread through the mid range, the BMW has a much wider spread and the about 30% more power at the top too - really impressive. And so it should be, for the extra expense. Its funny how the Japs didn't seems to manage a decent NA 6 cylinder around the time. Dad still has a 2006 Subaru Legacy 3.0R spec.b and it's a nice car, but it really is a bit of an old-man cruiser (Dad is 74 😁). The R32 eats that alive, but is a bit more vocal about it (which I find nice!).
Are you running high octane fuel? I mostly run 95 and can feel the reduced torque down low... when I go out of town and fill with 98, the low end REALLY picks up. It will pull pretty hard from about 1800 rpm, rather than needing 2200 and up.
I also notice how the "feel" of an engine often influences peoples perceptions. People often find peaky motors feel so much more powerful, because the power really comes on hard when the revs rise, but really they're slow AF, because you spend all the time waiting for the revs to rise before anything happens, then you have to keep it on song to acheive anything. I remember some NA Nissan SR20's were like that. Big numbers, but shit to operate normally.
). Although my rear muffler is currently a 2.0 FSI unit... I have a 3.2 TT unit to fit.The R32 motor is a bit of a clunker really, compared to similar capacity units that are considered high performance around the time. The BMW 3.2 S50B32 eats it alive for torque and hp, right through the range plus just keeps on reving past 7K+. The BMW is happy to trundle along at Nana revs all day, but pulls really hard and then really gets frisky at the point that the R32 has given up. While the R32 has a really nice spread through the mid range, the BMW has a much wider spread and the about 30% more power at the top too - really impressive. And so it should be, for the extra expense. Its funny how the Japs didn't seems to manage a decent NA 6 cylinder around the time. Dad still has a 2006 Subaru Legacy 3.0R spec.b and it's a nice car, but it really is a bit of an old-man cruiser (Dad is 74 😁). The R32 eats that alive, but is a bit more vocal about it (which I find nice!).
Are you running high octane fuel? I mostly run 95 and can feel the reduced torque down low... when I go out of town and fill with 98, the low end REALLY picks up. It will pull pretty hard from about 1800 rpm, rather than needing 2200 and up.
I also notice how the "feel" of an engine often influences peoples perceptions. People often find peaky motors feel so much more powerful, because the power really comes on hard when the revs rise, but really they're slow AF, because you spend all the time waiting for the revs to rise before anything happens, then you have to keep it on song to acheive anything. I remember some NA Nissan SR20's were like that. Big numbers, but shit to operate normally.
