Phil says that:

"Contemporary road tests suggested the GLT was far more tractable in normal driving than the T5. The T5's power comes on at high revs with a noticable delay, it's kinda like the movies of a jet's afterburners kicking in..."

Yup, sounds like what you would call turbo lag. Thats exactly what I would expect (having never driven a t5, I dont really know). Coupled with the delay of an auto tranny, the actual delay could be even greater.

As I am trying to decide between a glt and a t5 for the little woman, the question for me comes down to this: HOW USABLE IS THE PWR OF A T5? e.g. at an bad entrance ramp or crossing traffic. In both situations, you have turbo lag and torque steer. Seems like if you have to feather the throttle because of fear of torque steer (made unpredictable by turbo lag), then you might not be able to use the pwr to its full advantage.

Dare I say it... perhaps a glt would be even more tractable in this scenario.

This is all sheer speculation. I have never driven a t5 and have only driven a glt once (and did not really push it then).

Talk to me, all you t5 afficionados!