VW’s best-selling all-rounder is back, with more power and a Drift mode.
The long-roof Volkswagen Golf R is now available in a variety of body styles. The attractive Arteon, Wolfsburg’s fast wagon, has also been spawned an Estate version. It comes with a spicy derivative .
The new Golf R Variant is a hot hatch that offers everything you love about it, but adds tons of practicality thanks to a larger cargo area and roof rails for greater storage. With the rear seats in place, owners can store 611 liters (21.57 cubes) of luggage and 1,642 Liters (58 cubes) when folding the bench.
Bag hooks, lashing eyes and a luggage net are added to the practicality of the bag hooks. VW includes a hands-free tailgate, as well as dedicated controls to electrically retract and extend the towing bracket. The new model is larger than the Golf R Variant Mk7 and offers more rear legroom due to its stretched wheelbase.
The hatchback has almost everything that was in the , except for the turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline motor. This four-pot produces 315 horsepower (235kilowatts) as well as 420 Newton-meters (312 pound-feet), to make the most powerful VW wagon. The output is sent to the torque-vectoring 4-wheel-drive system via a seven-speed dual-clutch automated transmission.
The wagon weighs a little more than the five-door version. It takes 4.9 seconds to reach 62 mph (100 km/h), or an additional 0.2s compared to the hatch. The top speed remains the same at 155 mph (253 km/h), for the standard version, and 168 mph (269 km/h), if you opt for the R Performance Package. Optional kit replaces standard 18-inch wheels with 19-inch sets and adds special ( Nurburgring mode and drift driving profiles.
The new Golf R Variant, like the previous versions, will primarily be an European product. It will be available in Germany, the UK and Switzerland from mid-August. Although pricing details are not known, it is likely to cost slightly more than the Golf R hatchback on its domestic market, which starts at EUR49,400. It will be more expensive than the EUR61,980 Arteon shooting brake R, but it will still be significantly less than the EUR50,000 wagon.