NAIAS 2014: Volkswagen Golf R

by Phillip Thomas

Updated: February 5th, 2014 Published: January 13th, 2014

The all-wheel drive 2014 Golf R packs 290 hp and 280 ft-lb of torque, shoves it down your choice of either a six speed manual or six speed dual-clutch transmission, and hauls the compact hot hatch to sixty in 4.9 seconds. That’s about a second quicker to sixty than the outgoing Golf R…

In addition to the substantially beefed up power, the Golf R gains a quick ratio steering rack (2.1 turns lock-to-lock, nice), full-off stability control mode, as well as an 0.2 inch drop in ride height from the standard GTi. All of this can be dialed back from 11 for daily use, with four drive modes: comfort, normal, individual and race to adjust the car’s attitude towards your own.

#NAIAS2014

Phillip Thomas

More by Phillip Thomas

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 39 comments

Kurtamaxxguy on Jan 14, 2014

Last Golf R gave you any choice of gearbox so long as it was manual. New one offers dual clutch or manual. Now we can option _not_ to row gears in heavy traffic, and get both better performance and MPG.

Like Reply
Jimal on Jan 14, 2014

With the A7 Golf out in Europe and coming soon to the U.S., perhaps the next step for Volkswagen is to come full circle and make the next Jetta a Golf with a trunk. Then the R could be the GLI and all will be right in Das Welt.

Like Reply
- Fred on Jan 14, 2014
  
  That is pretty much what the MQB Audi S3 is.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Analoggrotto *What's the most famous track you have driven on while Hyundai foots the bill?
2ACL I'm pretty sure you've done at least one tC for UCOTD, Tim. I want to say that you've also done a first-gen xB. . .It's my idea of an urban trucklet, though the 2.4 is a potential oil burner. Would been interested in learning why it was totaled and why someone decided to save it.
Akear You know I meant stock. Don't type when driving.
JMII I may just be one person my wife's next vehicle (in 1 or 2 years) will likely be an EV. My brother just got a Tesla Model Y that he describes as a perfectly suitable "appliance". And before lumping us into some category take note I daily drive a 6.2l V8 manual RWD vehicle and my brother's other vehicles are two Porsches, one of which is a dedicated track car. I use the best tool for the job, and for most driving tasks an EV would checks all the boxes. Of course I'm not trying to tow my boat or drive two states away using one because that wouldn't be a good fit for the technology.
Dwford What has the Stellantis merger done for the US market? Nothing. All we've gotten is the zero effort badge job Dodge Hornet, and the final death of the remaining passenger cars. I had expected we'd get Dodge and Chrysler versions of the Peugeots by now, especially since Peugeot was planning on returning to the US, so they must have been doing some engineering for it