#VolkswagenGolf

Next year will mark five decades since Volkswagen presented its first Golf, showing up with front-wheel drive and its engine ahead of the driver unlike the loaded-diaper Beetle. The model, currently in its eighth generation (or Mk8 as forum dweebs like to say) will receive some freshening for the big party in 2024 – and VW has decided to mark the occasion with a few retro photos.

Volkswagen has trimmed its Golf lineup in the U.S. to just the GTI and Golf R, but the car is moving ahead with a facelift in 2024 ahead of a planned switch to electric. VW CEO Thomas Schafer recently shared a year-end recap for the automaker, giving us a teaser for the revised car before signing off for 2023.

Today's UCOTD is a nearly two-decade-old hot hatch with some mods. Hit the jump for more on this 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32.

From the time of the first KdF-Wagens until distressingly deep into the 1970s, Volkswagens had air-cooled engines in back and rode on goofy 1930s chassis designs. Finally, the Audi 80-based Dasher showed up here as a 1974 model, but it wasn't until the following model year that the first true water-cooled VW went on sale in North America.

Today's UCOTD is a MK7 generation Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen of indeterminate model year.

Volkswagen stopped selling the standard Golf here a few years back, leaving only the GTI and Golf R to carry the hatchback torch in the United States. Though impressive, the current eighth-generation models are not going to make it through the transition to electrification, but a newfound patent application suggests the cars could be reborn as electric models down the road.

Today we're coming at you with a stock 2018 Volkswagen Golf R. Yes, it's a manual.

Volkswagen hasn’t been secretive about its plans to go all-electric, but many held out hope that we’d get at least one more generation of Golf with internal combustion. Company CEO Thomas Schäfer told Automobilwoche that the cars wouldn’t get a new gas powertrain in future generations.

An 11-year-old Volkswagen Golf R owned by a technician? Color us intrigued.

Another day, another wagon. Today's car-enthusiast catnip comes courtesy of Columbus, Ohio (home to many a TTAC'er) and this 2017 Volkswagen Alltrack has three pedals. Yay!

It’s hard to come up with a better hot hatch than the 2022 Volkswagen Golf R. Unfortunately, it’s also hard to build such a sublime vehicle and also make it a bargain.

If you’re on a budget, VW will happily sell you a GTI and you’ll get about 80 percent of the Golf R’s performance. On the other hand, if you have the scratch, the Golf R is worth it.

Let me start this by saying that I considered the previous Golf R to be the all-around best enthusiast vehicle available in its price range during its time on sale. That’s particularly high praise coming from someone whose performance tastes generally gravitate toward V8-powered, rear-wheel-drive coupes, but I think Volkswagen had achieved something remarkable with the Mk7. It was a car that had the dynamic chops to hang with some very serious hardware out in the canyons but didn’t need to shout about it from an aesthetic standpoint, and it also sacrificed very little in terms of daily drivability and practicality to get there.

Beyond the fundamentals, the Mk7 Golf R had other important elements sorted out too – solid interior materials in a well laid out and comfortable cabin, a class-leading infotainment system with a nice-sounding stereo – that sort of thing. Automakers can get away with phoning in some of that stuff when it comes to their top-tier performance cars because enthusiasts tend to have different priorities than mainstream buyers do, but Volkswagen didn’t half-ass it. This is all to say that the Mk7 Golf R set the bar pretty high.

In the concluding chapter of the Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen story the other day, I was asked by a frequent commenter to share some of the things I liked or would miss about the Golf now that it’s gone away. I’m thinking of those things now as I view its dealer listing, recently updated with many photos. They never did replace the cargo area trim panels, I can see the scratches from here!

The appointment was made, and the Golf was in the shop for the headliner fixes and trim panel repairs after a most irritating morning appointment to trade keys. The same thoughts kept returning to mind continually, forcing me to consider a salient point: Did I want to continue with this sort of ownership experience years into the future?

Short answer? No.

Last we left off in the Golf Sportwagen Ultimate Decision story, the appointment was set for corrections on the headliner and panel issues I’d pointed out as a result of the headliner service. A late June morning, already a hot and muggy day. Your author is seen waiting by the door.