CAR magazine drives the updated Volkswagen Golf R ahead of its UK arrival later this year. Find out whether the improvements have made it a better car by reading our full...
Volkswagen is slowly working its way through the Golf range, revising each model as it goes. We’ve already witnessed the– and we saw that they were good. Now, though, Volkswagen is preparing to update my favourite version of the car. The range-topping
So, with that in mind, Volkswagen has given the R a modest power increase from 316bhp to 328bhp. That’s only a 3.7% improvement – and the car’s torque figure remains the same at 309 lb ft – so you need to concentrate quite hard to notice the difference. But more power is always more better in my book, even if it is just for bragging rights.
That means the Golf R now feels fast at sensible speeds. The previous version of the car only started to come alive when you were challenging the limits of physics.Naturally, Volkswagen has also made some subtle tweaks the Golf R’s interior. We’re not allowed to show you any pictures of the car’s updated cabin yet, but we can confirm that it’s been fitted it with the same 12.9-inch infotainment system and sensible backlit climate sliders found on the standard facelifted Golf.
Thielebein shared my frustration – he told me that, when he was testing the previous version of the car at the Nurburging, he and his team would mis-press the buttons at least once every 20 laps, often dumping the car into Comfort mode halfway around one of the carousels. I was accompanied on my drive by one of Volkswagen’s maniacal test pilots, who took me for a jaunt down one of the unrestricted sections of the Autobahn. He told me to put my foot flat on the firewall as we joined the slip road, and he wouldn’t let me lift off until we hit our exit. And the little Golf flew.
I’m a little disappointed Volkswagen didn’t do anything about the way the Golf R sounds, though. I know it’s supposed to be the ultimate do-anything hatchback, so a straight-pipe would quickly get tiresome on the motorway. I’ve never liked how muted the R sounds, though – and, somehow, the new one is even quieter.
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