The New, 329bhp VW Golf R Can Be The Best Golf Ever

The long-serving Golf R is an impressively well-balanced and usable 4WD performance hatchback, but seems to have been usurped by newer FWD siblings. Here’s how it might turn the tables
The New, 329bhp VW Golf R Can Be The Best Golf Ever

It feels like the Golf R has been around forever, doesn’t it? The 296bhp (formerly 306bhp, formerly 296bhp) hot hatchback of today has been on sale since 2014, about 18 months after the Mk7 Golf arrived in showrooms, but there was a Mk6 version before that, meaning we’ve had the option of a Golf R for about a decade. Another R is coming soon with the Mk8 car.

This venerable statesman of the hot hatch world was a revelation when it emerged – at least in terms of performance and usability. The Mk7 stepped the game up massively, with 300 metric horses and the ability in a traffic light grand prix to obliterate any other hot hatch then on sale, thanks to four-wheel drive traction.

Europe loves a fast wagon...
Europe loves a fast wagon...

It was that combination of all-weather accessible performance and typical Golf practicality that made it an instant hit. Well, heavily subsidised lease deals helped too; there was a time in the UK when you could put a Golf R on your drive for £200 a month. As a result it ‘sold’ like strawberries at Wimbledon.

Thanks to a fruity bit of work from VW’s sound and dynamics engineers, it even sounded good for a modern four-pot. The thrum and growl it managed to pipe into the cabin were better than expected from the notoriously flat EA888 engine. The fact that you could also get an estate version more or less sealed the deal for buyers all over Europe.

The original 2014 car took the hot hatch scene by storm
The original 2014 car took the hot hatch scene by storm

And yet, it wasn’t perfect. The novelty of the traction wore off, and rivals upped their power games to match and even beat the Golf’s. At the same time a direct criticism surfaced, citing the R’s frustrating handling balance. In the spirit of German korrektheit it was almost totally neutral, leaning slightly closer to understeer the harder you pushed.

The thing was, the R was – and is – such an effectively set-up machine that it has to be one of the easiest-to-exploit 300bhp-ish cars ever made. It’s simple to hop into one and feel old-boot comfortable using its pace safely. Get on a track and inside two laps you’ll realise it: it’s too neutral when you’re pushing hard. Its steadfast refusal to push from the rear is the one – but vital – character trait the Mk7 is missing.

We still miss the exhaust layout of the Mk6 Golf R
We still miss the exhaust layout of the Mk6 Golf R

Happily technology has moved on, and the Volkswagen Group has the means to make the Mk8 Golf R a little more fun if it wishes. We know it’ll have myriad driving modes, so why not set the tech up so that in the most dynamic driving mode the Haldex-based 4Motion four-wheel drive system switches to a permanent 35:65 front-rear bias? There’s no reason why not, apart from maybe VW’s pragmatism.

With a reported 329bhp on tap the Mk8 Golf R will be the flagship of the Golf range until any special editions come along. But to really grasp that status it’s going to need to do something the 297bhp TCR – with front-wheel drive, diff-assisted driver engagement – can’t. Simply being faster away from the lights isn’t enough; the driving experience needs to be better too. One simple change to the handling balance could achieve just that. Will Volkswagen be daring enough? The R has always been impeccable in every other respect, so we very much hope so.

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Comments

Tomislav Celić

I’m sorry, but isn’t Haldex always front based? Like 50/50 front rear is the maximum that can go to the rear? Since the engine isn’t positioned longitudinally?

It doesn’t make sense since you claim it can go 65% rear

01/26/2020 - 15:22 |
24 | 2

Maybe they switched it around this time? I dunno.
A RWD Golf would be pretty cool.
If this rumor is legit, everybody would just get a haldex controller day 1, so they could force 100% to the rear wheels.

01/26/2020 - 20:59 |
14 | 0

Haldex isn’t necessarily front biased, it’s just that car manufactures tend to err on the side of caution which makes it that way for the vast majority of driving condition. Strictly speaking, the Haldex coupling can send 100% of torque to either front or rear differential, it’s just that the conditions that lead to it transfer that much torque to the rear rarely arise when driving on dry road.

A few years ago I met a guy with a 2008 S3 - no drivetrain mods other than a beefier read diff, and using a Haldex controller he set it up with a heavy rear drive bias. That thing could go sideways as well as any well regarded rear drive favorites like Silvias, FPV / HSV specials and early BMW 3 series etc.

Also did a driver training course that involved a wet skid pan session at Sydney Motorsport Park. The vehicle used was a 2017 Audi S3 and the exercise was to recover from a lockup heading into a tight corner. On my second run through I tried to boot it mid corner, just to see what would happen as much as anything, and the rear end started to slide. Had I held the wheel straight it may have been a glorious all wheel drift, but I instinctively countersteered so instead the car returned to neutral.

TLDR - In my experience (from both engineering based understanding, as well as first hand driving) cars with Haldex coupling AWD are not limited to being front biased, and can be made to power oversteer.

02/04/2020 - 04:17 |
0 | 0
Latooman

Im not that into VW‘s. Can someone explain the difference between a GTI and the R to me?

01/26/2020 - 21:58 |
4 | 0

If you think of it as a ford, then:
GTI is like ST
R is like RS

01/26/2020 - 23:50 |
10 | 2

gti - power and fwd
r - more power and awd

01/27/2020 - 08:33 |
10 | 0
Cpt TwatWaffle

I’m sure the engineers will do their utmost to make it more progressive but (IMO) the Golf R will never be a rear-based drift machine.

02/02/2020 - 22:24 |
0 | 0