Golf R Gets It Right
Farago clearly enjoyed his time with the old Golf R32, but I’ve always thought there was something not quite right about V6-powered Golfs. Considering VW has approximately 750 vehicles based on the same platform, I figure you save the six-pot for the Audi. Anyway, my pedantic preferences are remarkably in line with, well, rising efficiency standards, so VW’s latest top-end Golf is getting a turbo four just like God intended. And the numbers that VW is claiming for the Golf R are the kind that would make the Almighty nod his head approvingly. All wheel drive, 270 hp, 260 lb·ft between 2,500 and 5,000 rpm, 0-60 in 5.5 seconds (with DSG) and 27 MPG. All wrapped up in an reworked Mk VI Golf body that makes the R32 look like a rice special. The inevitable downside is that VW won’t say whether it’s coming to America.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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VW turned the MkV R32 into more of touring GT as compared to the original MkIV version. VW paid a price for it's high MSRP by offering UNBELIEVABLE lease deals on the MkV just to move them. If you were not an 'early adopter' you could have a new R32 for $199/mo with 2k up front-on a $32000 MSRP car. Here's hoping they make the same mistake again. BD
If VW can't sell a $29K Golf when the unemployment rate is 6% and banks are rubber-stamping loans, how in the hell do they expect to do it when it's almost 10% and financing has tightened? Moronic. You really have to wonder what in the hell VW's North American management is doing. Their most recent tactic is to paint themselves as aloof and hitch their wagon to the Applecore demographic. Come on...if I'm gonna dump north of $38K into a CC, I'd expect a certain level of maturity and refinement. But that's not gonna happen, because VW is in a no-man's land when it comes to pricing (over-pricing) their vehicles. How many times will VW make the mistake of trying to be a pseduo-luxury brand in a country that won't (sales numbers prove it over and over) accept them as that? VW deserves to fail over here...