Sorry to take the thread :oftopic: but I’m so tired of that “soul” arguement. As somebody who has driven and raced rotary and LSX FDs I can tell you what the real soul of a FD is. It’s not the rotary. It’s the superb balance, the light and nimble feel, the precise steering and its instant turn-in (and the somewhat twitchy feel it can cause).
Yes, the rotaries are cool in their own way. The theory behind them is very cool, but you know what they say:
I would agree with you 100% if the LS1 ruined the RX’s balance, added significant weight or didn’t have decent RPM potential (a RX that could only turn 5k or something would be no fun). But when you ditch the rotary all you lose is an insanely complex network of vacuum lines that cause extremely hard to diagnose issues, big time heat issues, a lack of torque, insanely bad fuel mileage and a very weird exhaust note.
Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnyway to get back on topic for the OP. I’m no VW mod expert, BUT there are a bunch of 'em on this forum. If you really were drawn to the Jetta, and you don’t have the time/money/space for a 2nd car to make your project right now there are some things you can do that will make the car more fun.
I probably shouldn’t have shat all over your idea to do the short shifter, it makes just about any car more fun to drive. Then focus on suspension rather than power. From what I understand that gen VW can be made to handle somewhat well. For me I’d focus on things to get the car to rotate and tune out the FWD understeer. Again, I’m not the VW guy but I’d assume bigger back sways are available and should help a lot. And of course the typical springs/shocks or coil overs.
Avoid dumping it too far, at some point you actually lose performance as you limit suspension travel and compromise suspension geometery. Keep the car driveable in terms of bad roads, driveways, speed bumps etc and you’ll find you enjoy it a LOT more. Further you don’t want to look like every dbag fast and the furious kid (I hope).
Give it a little time before you make another move, don’t spend any $ on it yet but start researching and planning, and THEN decide if you really did make a bad choice and what to do about it if so.
-TJ