Volkswagen’s Unflashy Hatch Quietly Set Up Today’s 328-HP AWD Sleeper
If there’s one thing that enthusiasts have always loved, it’s a sleeper car. There’s something so satisfying in being able to get incredible performance out of a car that otherwise looks incredibly ordinary. That’s certainly the case for the Volkswagen offering here. It looks completely unflashy. It’s also easy and sensible to drive, and you could genuinely use it every day. But it’s one of the best and most powerful hot hatches of its era, and its legacy still endures today.
Volkswagen Has Been A King Of Understated Performance Cars For Decades
If you look back through Volkswagen‘s history, you’ll see a decades-long streak of understated yet brilliant performance cars. Several VW models have been given the high-performance treatment, often with fantastic engines. These included the ‘VR’ and ‘W’ engines, two designs that were revolutionary in terms of their packaging. The car we’re going to talk about today came after the peak of that era had passed, and therefore doesn’t have a quirky engine. But it still carried on VW’s legacy of understated performance.
The Volkswagen Golf Has Had Understated Mega-Hatch Variants Since The 1990s
Chief among those understated high-performance Volkswagens are the mega-hatch variants of the Golf. Ever since the 2.8-liter VR6 was somehow shoved into the Mark 3, there’s been a version of this super-popular compact that’s bordering on overpowered. The Mark 3 Golf VR6 evolved into the Mark 4 and Mark 5 getting R32 variants, with a bigger 3.2-liter version of the VR6. The R32 also introduced all-wheel drive, something almost completely unheard of still in a hot hatch.
After those, the Mark 6 changed things up. The mega-hatch variant was renamed to the Golf R, and it was given a turbocharged 2-liter inline-4 instead of the big naturally aspirated VR6. The all-wheel drive system remained, and despite the more conventional engine it was still a big success. So, when it came to developing the Mark 7 Golf, Volkswagen knew that this top-drawer variant needed to stay.
The Mark 7 Volkswagen Golf R Is A Sensible Hot Hatch With Serious Performance
First appearing in 2014, the Mark 7 Golf R was positioned to be the best high-performance Golf ever developed. It certainly looked that way on paper. It came out of the factory gates with an output of 300 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque, an improvement on the 256–266 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque from the Mark 6. This power went through that same Haldex all-wheel drive system we’d seen from previous speedy all-wheel drive Golfs. That, as well as the Mark 7 being around 100 pounds lighter than the Mark 6, added up to a claimed 0-62 mph time of 4.9 seconds. That’s a figure it actually managed to beat in real-world tests. The 7-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic version managed to record a 0–60 mph time of 4.5 seconds in 2015—a seriously impressive number back then for a hot hatch.
The All-Wheel Drive System Gave It Much Better Traction
How come the Golf R is faster than even Volkswagen’s predictions? It’s all down to that all-wheel drive system. Other front-wheel drive hot hatches of the time were often criticized for their lack of grip. This was caused by the inherent issues that you get from putting a lot of power through a front-wheel drive setup — torque steer being the biggest one. As an all-wheel drive car, the Golf R never suffered from those issues. It was able to put its power down to the road reliably. That led to its amazing acceleration, as well as fantastic handling in the corners. That corner prowess is demonstrated in how it measured 0.94g lateral grip on the skidpad.
The High-Powered Turbo Four And All-Wheel Drive Setup Carries On In Today’s Golf R
The Mark 7 further proved that the Golf R formula of a powerful turbo four and all-wheel drive was a winner. The current Mark 8 version of the Golf got its own R, and that’s even more of a monster than the Mark 7. The Mark 8 Golf R has 315-328 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque, resulting in a claimed 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds.
One Of Its Flashier Rivals Switched To All-Wheel Drive – But It Still Wasn’t As Good
The success of the Golf R’s turbo four, all-wheel drive platform meant that it was only a matter of time before other manufacturers tried to replicate it. Perhaps the biggest example of that is the third-generation Ford Focus RS. Ford got rid of the old front-wheel drive drivetrain and turbocharged inline-5 engine and replaced them with the all-wheel drive, turbo four setup that worked so well in the Golf. Ford’s turbo four of choice was the 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine—the same unit you’d find in a base-model Ford Mustang of the same era.
On paper, it actually looks better than the Mark 7 Golf R. Its 350 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque were miles better than what the Golf could manage. It did better in an independent skidpan test, achieving 0.98g of lateral grip. It’s even more enthusiast friendly than the Golf, as it was only available with a 6-speed manual transmission. But reviewers at the time also complained that it wasn’t very comfortable, and that its interior quality lagged behind the Golf’s. The Mark 7 Golf R, then, was still very much the more ‘sensible’ choice.
Source: Volkswagen, Ford
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