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They say don’t mess with a winning formula, and Volkswagen’s most popular hatchback, the Golf R, is one of those winners. Rather than fix what wasn’t broken with the new Mk8-based R, Volkswagen has taken what works in its renowned performance hatch forward, refining every little assembly to produce the fastest and most livable Golf R yet.
Most of what ties the new Golf R to the old can be found under the hood, where the venerable 2.0-liter four-liter turbo EA888 engine resides. In the new Golf R, however, it produces 315 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, 27 and 30, respectively, from the previous model, which are sent via a six-speed manual transmission (praise it). or a seven speed one. Dual clutch automatic speed. With the latter equipped, the new Golf R can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 4.7 seconds while going 155 mph.
Power travels from the transmission to an upgraded all-wheel drive version of the latest R, one that can send 50 percent of the power to the rear axle – the hard-working subject on the new Golf R. Via a differential. electronic rear torque vectoring. , the R can send full power to either side, allowing VW to add a Drift mode, not to mention some more serious setups like the ones it perfected at the Nürburgring. There, on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, the Mk8 Golf R did a 7:51 lap, about 19 seconds faster than the last model, though seven slower than a Honda Civic Type R.
Much of that pacing is courtesy of the Golf R’s new Vehicle Dynamics Manager, which orchestrates the aforementioned torque vectoring in conjunction with anti-lock braking systems and adaptive damping. Some of these mechanisms can be displayed in action on the configurable instrument panel, whose displays of anything from boost pressure to transmission oil temperature can be selected from the steering wheel with haptic touch controls. Meanwhile, the displays on the new Golf are as abundant as the pests in the Old Testament, so make it love them or leave them.
