R favourite is still the greatest of Golfs
4X4 HATCHBACK IS AMONG THE BEST VWS ON THE MARKET
THERE has been a lot of hot Golf action over the last few months. Volkswagen launched the latest GTI last year, then more recently the GTI Clubsport and also a Clubsport 45 to celebrate the 45th birthday of the original GTI.
Now we have the new Golf R which is the best of the bunch – in fact, it’s one of the best fast VWS I’ve driven in years.
You might well own, or have owned, a previous generation Golf R because, unbelievably, one in 10 Mk7 Golfs (that’s the previous generation model) were Rs. That says both a lot about how good the car was and how much we Brits love our highperformance hatchbacks.
It also helped that there were astonishingly good leasing deals available on the Golf R and that the car was also available in estate form.
The basic price for the new R is £39,295 but I’m sure great PCP deals will be available as before.
As with all the new Mk8 Golfs, the R is longer, wider and lower than the Mk7. It’s also a bit heavier, by 16kg, but that is offset by the fact the 2.0litre turbo engine now produces 316bhp which is 20bhp more than before.
It may be a 10th a second slower to 62mph (at 4.7sec) but you won’t notice it because this Golf R is even better to drive than the previous one.
Like the Mk7, the ride height is 20mm lower than the regular Golf’s but from here on many subtle changes have been made. The springs and anti-roll bars are stiffer, bigger front brake discs have been fitted (now 375mm in diameter) and the brake calipers are 600g lighter. That doesn’t sound much but the brakes are unsprung weight and even a small reduction in weight makes a difference. Finally, a new aluminium front subframe is used that’s stiffer and saves 3kg.
But the piece of hardware that makes the most difference to how the new Golf R drives is what VW calls its R Performance Torque Vectoring system.
Put simply, this is a pair of electromechanical clutch packs fitted either side of the rear differential that can send all of the torque at the back axle to an individual wheel. Also fitted to our test car is the optional Dynamic Chassis Control system which gives you three different adjustable suspension settings – Comfort, Normal and Sport. It’s a £785 option which is well worth the money.
We’ve talked plenty about the new Golf’s interior and its irritating infotainment system with fiddly controls that is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in VW Group cars.
New for this Golf R is a button on the steering wheel with an ‘R’ on it that allows you to quickly move between the driving modes – and it’s easier to do this than increase the temperature from the heater or adjust the volume on the radio.
The interior is also a bit down on subjective quality which on an entrylevel Golf is not too big a deal, but on one costing almost 40 grand it’s not so good.
This will soon be forgotten when you drive the car. There’s no manual gearbox option so a seven-speed DSG gearbox is your lot. No matter because it just makes the R even easier to drive quickly. Grip is phenomenal, and there’s no feeling of torque steer even under the most forceful acceleration.
VW will sell you an R-performance package that removes the 155mph speed restrictor so that your Golf R will hit 168mph – which is almost as irrelevant as the Drift mode and Nurburgring settings that also come with this pack.
Only one thing would stop me from buying this Golf R and that’s the knowledge that some time later this year the estate version will be launched.
I love performance estate cars and the Golf R version, when it arrives, will have almost no rivals.