Review and test Volkswagen Golf 8 R

If our time is considered ‘modern antiquity’ in a few thousand years, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Volkswagen Golf R appears in popular narrative as a mythical apparition shrouded in mystery. A bit like we are now looking at a centaur or griffin – unreal mutations of known creatures that appeal to the imagination and command the necessary respect. He may even make it into his own saga. After all, the Volkswagen Golf R lends itself perfectly to a good story: about the archetypal everyman that erupts, breaks loose and conquers.

Do we carry on?

We don’t think so. Think about it: the Golf has always been the ticking box, all classless versatility, the hub of the manufacturer whose brand name even revolves around the common man. That there has been a version of this model for generations with the power and performance of a wild sports car is actually bizarre.

This latest Volkswagen Golf 8 R meets the well-known recipe. It offers nothing surprising or disappointing, nothing you didn’t see coming from miles away. An understated wave shape with a stylized R logo here and there, big wheels and a spoiler at the back and some exhausts to give you at least a hint of what just put you on your number. Of course you can order it in the typical blue R color, so that the real crazy people can see you approaching from afar (our tip: hold back and go for black). But further? No knocked-out wheel arches, no cut-open front, no side exhausts with flames shooting out.

Just a Golf, but faster

Much faster. Where the GTI goes for smooth agility, the R is all about brute and effective power. Volkswagen calls it ‘the most powerful Golf ever’ and if you don’t count crazy twelve-cylinder concept cars, that’s certainly true: the new Volkswagen Golf 8 R has with 320 hp just 20 hp more than its predecessor. He’s nothing faster with it on paper, but still. The power still comes from a 2.0 TSI and finds its way to the asphalt via a DSG transmission and all four wheels.

The latter is something that VW has bitten its teeth on: the drive, actively spread between the front and left and right rear, forms part of an ‘intelligent network’ with the so-called Vehicle Dynamics Manager. That is not a man with a pencil behind his ear, but a piece of software that deals with, among other things, the electronic differential, the adaptive chassis and the interplay between such systems. VW calls the new drivetrain ‘4Motion with R-Performance Torque Vectoring’ and the goal, of course, is even more speed.

We drive the Volkswagen Golf 8 R in the Netherlands

The time of model introductions on southern Spanish mountain roads still belongs to an emotionally distant past for the time being, so we drive the Volkswagen Golf 8 R in the Netherlands on the drizzly day in recent history. We give the windshield wipers a score of 20/20. But since the rest of the traffic is driving at 70 percent of normal speed in this weather, we do feel a bit over-motorized for the situation. We will look for routes that are a) empty and b) dynamically interesting, but as we know this is quite a task in our country. Until we end up on a Gelderse dike road from which the day cyclists have wisely stayed away in this half monsoon. This will be our battleground.

At first we take it easy. We won’t be the ones flying a brand new hot Wave backwards off a dike and we suspect there are no airbags for situations where you end up on your roof in a floodplain. But it doesn’t take long before we get it: smart tech + sticky Hankooks = tons of grip. Where does he get it from? The R is so solid and accurate here that you would think VW has finally found a way to simply ignore the weather.

The Volkswagen Golf 8 R is unstoppable

While trudging through heavy traffic, we noticed that the Golf R lurks an uncontrollable maniac: it adapts to the circumstances and can go on just fine all day, but there is always the notion that you only have one foot movement of a few millimeters away. are of instant raw speed. Now we give him space and he eagerly uses it. With Race mode engaged, the steering is seriously heavy and the engine responds to the accelerator pedal like a teenage girl to Nick Jonas. Gripped by the Alcantara seats, you arm your Volkswagen Golf 8 R across the road, and once a straight appears at the exit of a bend, you feel its turbo power swell further on the way to 6,500 rpm. It’s fierce and tough and immovable, like a heavyweight’s boxing glove against your cheek. But much more pleasant.

With Akrapovic

Our Golf R is equipped with the optional titanium Akrapovic exhaust (3,444 euros, 7 kilos lighter and a nice humming and popping, but not earth-shattering sound) and the somewhat redundantly named R-Performance Pack (2,052 euros). This means that the top speed has been increased from 250 to 270 km/h, the wheels have grown from 18 to 19 inches and the number of driving modes has been expanded by two: the special Nürburgring stand (completely tailored to that track, it seems, but it just feels like Race with a softer chassis) and, yes, a Drift mode.

Following the good example of Ford and AMG, the R got a new party trick, where more (but not all) power is sent to the rear wheels to be able to throw things across purely on power. Our tip: if you want to try this, arrange your own deserted parking lot. Even in this wet weather, it takes a lot of speed, space and ungainly limbs to break through the megagrip and force the Golf R into transverse behavior. You can forget about taking a funny step aside on a roundabout.

The lesser things in the Volkswagen Golf 8 R

We have already touched on the great inconvenience of the eighth generation Golf: its operation via screen and swipe panels seems fun, but often works cumbersome and is not always well thought out. More evidence of the latter can be found in this R, where the touch button to go straight to Race mode is on the left of the left spoke of the steering wheel – right where you can easily tap it while hopping wildly in Drift mode. After which, in the middle of your heroic drift, the stability control is suddenly switched on again. Yeah, so that. And it’s expensive, extremely expensive, for a Golf. But not necessarily for a capable incognito racer.

This new Golf R is again a car that can do everything. He’s your easygoing buddy, your fast friend and your practical companion. Whatever you ask of him, he will always assist you and continue to impress. And so the myth continues unabated.