Gadgetory

this is a fun little box takes me back to the first Golf GTI I drove way back in the day this is what it felt like the world is full of affordable cars with kind of gray and white personality and the golf has always been different no variant more saturated than this guy the Golf R now it's not a car for everyone it's high in price and low in production volume but it cast an important halo over the entire Volkswagen line with its road-going prowl s spotting one is surprisingly tricky you'll see some very small subtle are badges around the side flanks in the rear it's got some different functional air scoops around the sides of the chin a little different set of wheels and body kit but overall it's not a car that shouts look with my owner bought it instead says rather confidently look what I can do and right off the bat I've always liked these VW cabins and I still do they're clean they're kind of classic a quality of materials in here remains really good as for this head unit this is the best argument for using a smart phone luckily there's not much of it it is touch based it's got some very crude pinch zoom and swipe that is barely responsive they did waste time on things like proximity sensing so ribbons of buttons come and go which doesn't really get me anywhere they should have put that effort and that investment into things like much faster voice glynn please say a country or a state first California sometimes it even starts by asking me what country I want to drive - you have nope modern infotainment applications or anything like that am/fm HD satellite you've got this pigtail device there MDI that they use which is really horrible you've got to buy specialized cables and don't lose them the overall interface display quality and clunkiness of the voice command system on here is dreadful that of course is not the point of buying a Golf R so let's get onto our drive controls here is your current one choice only gear shift which is your DSG shift lever you click through for drive modes each one ups the aggression of the shifting and the powertrain that includes our adaptive suspension which is optional on this car our electric steering assist level our engine power on rush now in here is a big part of where you're spending that extra 14 grand or so over a GTI 2-liter turbocharged direct-injected four-cylinder sitting sidesaddle that may sound like a story you've heard before but this one's more uptight than the other ones we're getting some real power here 292 horse 280 pound-feet of torque vehicle weighs 3,300 pounds gets up to 60 in just under five seconds but still delivering 2330 MPG so it wants those mpg to be done on the backs of premium gallons now behind that engine is one drivetrain right now all-wheel drive at a sporting fashion with a howl deck center differential this is Audi Quattro cousins stuff and interestingly you cannot get a manual gearbox on the 15 so you can only get a six-speed dual-clutch or DSG as VW calls them in 2016 that will be joined by a six-speed manual option they'll reduce the cost by a grand or so as well as bringing you some purity of purpose the first thing I noticed in our Golf R is that let's face it a 2 litre inline-four with a turbo is always gonna feel like a 2 litre inline-four with the turbo you can get buried under a lack of boost or two taller gear pretty easily so it's a car you got to stay involved in but that doesn't bother me because that's why you bought an R got a whole mess of power coming on here right when I need it as long as I keep the revs up and keep that turbos fooled now we have that DCC adaptive suspension I haven't done an a/b against the dead steel version but this car does not suffer from any understeer you pointed and it kicks right in that way I love the sound this car makes but turns out what I'm hearing isn't necessarily just the engine there's something up in the towel at the base of the windshield electronic device called the sound actor which resonates a synthetic growl up through the bottom of the glass apparently a lot of folks get in there and unplug it gotta say it's kind of unseemly for one of the last great honest driving cars so I'm sad they put it there but maybe the engine doesn't sound very good now I know many of you rue the fact we don't yet have a manual gearbox in this vehicle but I can tell you this is a super snappy sharp and quick DSG it's got pretty good around town manners with the exception of getting caught flat-footed sometimes an automatic mode however I'd still like to have that third panel just to really get in touch with the simple but brawny honesty of this car just a little better and despite our 19th and our low profile tires ride quality is really good you will have no problem in everyday driving with your arm since the last Golf R we've picked up 36 horsepower and three mpg highway plus some torque let's price out our little R or D you red friend now a Golf R starts a little bit over 37,000 with destination and by the time you add the adaptive suspension and nav package that's one line item like we have you're at about 40 grand here's what I'm gonna do though I want purity in this to really honor its golf roots but also enjoy its special hardware I'm gonna take out the adaptive suspension and nav package I'm also gonna wait till 2016 and buy the next generation that has a six-speed manual that takes eleven hundred dollars off the price and now I'm just over 36 this is not a golf for everyone in fact you don't need my opinion to tell you to buy one you've already made up your mind but what this car really does show is it Volkswagen as much or more than any other car maker knows how to extend the line without blurring more cars driven see next aisle standing by now at CNET on cars.com click on the road