holey s***. this has got to be the most uninformed post , on any message board, in the history of time.
i own a 1.8t jetta. 2001, stock came with 150hp (which is now sporting an APR chip)... i've also driven the p5, and let me tell you, if your manager knew how to drive, he would walk all over you. the p5 engine is ass. plain and simple, i really liked the rest of the car, but hated the engine. maybe your manager had a TDI, which is a 1.9l turbo diesel sporting ~90hp stock.
my 18t on the other hand, i love the engine, but hate the chasis for what i want to do. not because, "these cars vaporlock!" or, "the wiring catches on fire!" but because stock they do handle like ass. which is the main reason i've put money down on the mazdaspeed.
not that it really matters, but the 1.8t engine really is better than the mazdaspeed seems to be. 400hp on stock internals without NOS (and that's just on US cars) isn't too shabby. a 500 dollar chip bumps the AWW engine code (which has a 9.3:1 compression ratio by the way, so none of this, "the CR is to low" bulls***) up to around 190hp/240ftlbs at the crank. few guys have dynoed at 210 at the WHEELS with just chip/intake/exhaust. which is good for high 13's, low 14's at sea level. the fastest just chip/intake/exhaust 1.8t out there is running mid 13's on drag radials. most stock 1.8t's see peak boost of about 14psi at ~3000rpm. that's damn good as far as turbo lag goes, but it at the expense of top end
but power isn't everything. the handling stock does really suck. i'm not a big fan of the Drive-by-Wire system that all of the VW 1.8t's use (throttle lag because insted of using a throttle cable, there is a signal sent from the gas pedal to the ECU, which then opens up the throttle body). and that's why i'm getting the MSP. not because mazdaspeed has a superior engine, because i know it doesn't (it wouldn't suprise me if Mazda requested that calloway develop the kit to use mazda partsbin materials at all), but because I want handling, and an LSD.
sorry for the rant, just had to dispell the idea that the 1.8t is laggy, and that the electronics just spontaniously combust in the mk4's. because they dont.