[Serge]

I had the chance to do a couple rolling starts against my friend's 2006 CooperS. It may be that from a stop the GTI and CooperS will tie, but from a rolling start the supercharged mini has a slight advantage over the turbocharged GTI.

The lack of turbo lag makes the Mini get ahead by half a car in the first half a second ... differece that the GTI starts reducing with each gear, but it is not an easy task to get ahead.

The story is differente when the rolling start is done during acceleration (that is with the turbo boosting). The GTI will take a copule feet on the mini on each gear.

My engine has 2K and his over 20K, so it may be that as engine matures the difference will decrease.

 

[Serge]

I have the DSG, but these were rolling starts. We could not stop (eventhough we tried) in the middle of the highway. >

In any case, launch control takes half a second to disengage the clutch once you take your foot from the break pedal. If the other guy is fast he will jump on you.

I like the launch control to show-off, but I have the feeling a well controlled launch with the ESP on may yield a better 0-60.