The Volkswagen Golf R is a superb hot hatch all-rounder

Friday, 23 December 2022

Volkswagen NZ has expanded its range of R models.

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R 1ST EDITION
Base price: $85,990 (RightCar estimated Clean Car Programme fee: $517)
Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, 235kW/400Nm, 7-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 8.6L/100km, CO2 195g/km (source: RightCar).

The new Golf R lines up as a competitor to the likes of the Honda Civic Type R and Audi S3.

Vital statistics: 4290mm long, 1789mm wide, 1439mm high, 2628mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 374 litres, 19-inch alloy wheels.
Safety: 5 stars (Source: ANCAP)
We like: Superbly sharp and utterly engaging handling, ferocious performance, remarkably docility when you are not going mental with it.
We don't like: Stubby gear selector is unintuitive and annoying.

The R’s cabin gets all the controversial bits from other Mk8 Golfs, including the haptic buttons on the steering wheel.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few decades, you will know the letter R appearing on the bum of a Volkswagen Golf means it is an apex predator in the hot hatch jungle. So is the latest one still a wolf in Golf’s clothing? Spoiler alert: yeah, it very much is…

OUTSIDE

Traditionally Golf Rs haven’t gone all-out to be wildly different to GTIs or even higher-spec standard Golfs, and the latest version doesn’t really change that by looking subtly aggressive and mildly threatening, but completely avoiding the silly wings and vents of the likes of the Mercedes-AMG A45.

The brand’s turbocharged 2.0-litre is back and better than ever.

It might be one of the most subtly styled hot hatches in class, but the Golf R still gets a big rear spoiler and quad ‘zorts.

* Road Test Review: Audi A3 and S3

* Road test review: Volkswagen Golf GTI vs Skoda Octavia RS

The Golf R is a transformative upgrade relative to its GTI cousin.

* Volkswagen NZ announces expanded R line-up

The R’s 400Nm 2.0-litre has always sounded surprisingly fruity.

A more aggressive lower front bumper is about all the warning you get up front, while the rear is a bit more vocal about its performance potential with a less-subtle wing over the back window and a single chrome R taking pride of place under the VW logo on the rear hatch, while four gaping exhausts also lurk lower down.

The rest is pure Golf - meaning it is a handsome, well-sculpted small hatch that doesn’t dramatically break away from what has come before. Making it still pretty much the ultimate hot hatch sleeper…

The Golf R is a resolved hot hatch filled with premium touches that make it great to live with.

INSIDE

Again, it’s all very Golf-as-usual inside, but with some nicely judged blue bits to highlight its R-ness (blue is the colour for R in the VW universe) and some slick, fantastically comfortable sports seats.

The same stubby gear selector you get in every Golf sits in its expected place, while some lovely-feeling aluminium paddles allow manual shifts from the steering wheel. I have to admit to not exactly loving the stubby gear selector, particularly the location of the button to select park above it - it all just feels counterintuitive to me, and I have yet to get used to it, despite driving numerous VW Group cars with it.

The R also gets all the tech gear from lesser Golfs, which means multifunction “haptic” steering wheel controls, two big dash displays, a wireless phone charger and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, among other things.

UNDER THE BONNET

Volkswagen has stuck with its tried-and-tested 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine for the R, but this time has squeezed an impressive 235kW and 400Nm out of it.

Driving through a slick seven-speed dual clutch transmission to all four wheels, this amount of power firmly puts the Golf R right on the edge of hyper hatch territory, nipping at the heels of the likes of the previously mentioned AMG, the Audi RS3 and even BMW’s most-definitely-not-a-hatch six-cylinder M240i xDrive coupe.

In fact, it is almost certainly the RS3 that is holding the R back, as the hierarchy in the VW Group would never allow a hot Golf to embarrass an RS Audi.

Still, it does mean that the R can belt to 100kph from a standing start in just 4.8 seconds, which is a nice, round second slower than the RS3. But then the Golf is also a healthy $36,000 cheaper than the Audi…

As well as being impressively powerful, the engine is also fantastically flexible, meaning the R is just as happy pottering placidly around town like a normal, everyday daily-driver Golf, but can also turn utterly feral at a twitch of your right ankle.

ON THE ROAD

The ride is firmer than your standard Golf, but still perfectly civilised. The handling, however, is next-level stuff, even for an R.

While the Mk8 GTI is a bit, well, meh, the R well and truly lives up to that hallowed letter on its rear, with tenacious handling that is more than a match for the epic engine.

Volkswagen has blessed the Golf R with a new trick rear diff and ‘R Torque vectoring’, which is a fancy way of saying it can become a tail-happy drift monster at the push of a button. Well, that is if you shell out for the $85,990 1st Edition model that we drove here that adds extra drive modes, including a ‘Drift’ setting and a ‘Special Nurburgring’ setting.

While the Drift setting is a nice comedy addition (and strictly for use on closed circuits, of course), the ‘Special Nurburgring’ drive mode is worth the extra cost alone, simply for the fact that New Zealand back roads are rather similar to the wild Nurburgring Nordschleife that this mode was tuned for.

It tweaks the suspension, steering and throttle, sharpening everything up nicely, while also making the transmission hold onto gears right up to the redline and downshifting aggressively early to keep the engine perfectly in its power band.

VERDICT

For around $80k, there is little that offers the sheer performance and visceral driver involvement as the Golf R. Its effortless blend of brutal performance and urban docility makes it the ultimate car for someone who wants a placid daily driver and a track day weapon all in one package.

Adding the extra $5k for the 1st Edition is made worthwhile by the panoramic sunroof, grunty audio system, but it is really the extra drive modes that are the icing on the cake.