Gutsier Golf R delivers a dose of sporty civility
Denis Droppa tests the Akrapovic-voiced, full-fat version that has finally landed in SA
Initially Volkswagen decided SA wasn’t cool enough to get the full-fat version of the Golf R. Our high temperatures, they reckoned, would tax the 2.0l turbo petrol engine too much if all of its horses were liberated. So SA received a detuned 213kW/380Nm version of the car when it was first launched here, until a change of heart recently saw VW replacing it with the full 228kW/400Nm model that has been available all along in Europe. This makes it the most powerful Golf yet sold by VW SA, and as before it’s channelled through a 4Motion all-wheel drive system. High-performance Golfs are important to VW’s bottom line, as between them the GTI, GTD and R models have made up more than 45% of all Golf sales in SA. This latest halo model brings some last-gasp excitement to the Golf range on the eve of the new eighth-generation Golf being unveiled early in 2020. Surprisingly, VW doesn’t quote improved performance figures for this up-powered Golf R. It still nips from 0-100km/h in 4.6sec and...
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