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Want the ultimate hot hatch? Volkswagen's rejuvenated Golf R could well be it. This can't claim to be the fastest car of its kind but its Wolfsburg maker reckons it's the most complete, most rewarding and most dynamic shopping rocket yet made. Depending on your mood, it can potentially reach up to 168mph on the racetrack or register better than 35mpg on the school run. Your everyday supercar is right here.
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Detailed ratings
Super Hatch - GTi Hatchbacks
History
The Golf R is the defining super hatch of its generation, which means that the 8th generation version that arrived in 2020 had quite a heritage to live up to. Primarily because its predecessors had been just, so, darned good. Not all of these wore Golf R badges; the concept of a fast 4-wheel drive Golf actually dates right back to the MK 2 Rallye model of 1988. This was eventually succeeded in 2003 by a V6-powered R32 model based on the MK4 Golf, which sold for only two years before a second R32 design arrived based on the fifth generation Golf.
The first actual 'Golf R'-badged model, launched in 2010 and based on the MK 6 Golf, had the smaller four-cylinder 2.0 TSI petrol turbo unit that has since characterised this model line, first offered with 270PS, then upgraded to 300PS with the launch of the 7th generation model in 2013 - and 310PS when that MK 7 design was updated in 2017.
This MK 8 Golf-based R model hit the market in 2020 offering more power still - 320PS and claiming even more sophisticated drive dynamics. Which it needed to distance itself from the much improved front-driven Golf GTI and Golf GTI Clubsport models launched at the same time that shared the same basic powerplant and could by 2020 offer the kind of quick performance that would have satisfied a typical Golf R customer throughout this century's second decade.
But by 2020, 'quick' was no longer cutting it in a market where this MK 8-based Golf R had to compete not only with merely very fast hatches, like the Honda Civic Type-R, but also uber-quick ones like the Mercedes-AMG A 45. So it was essential for this car to evolve - which it did. Here, we'll focus on the early 2020-2024 versions of this R model, the cars produced before the mid-term facelift that arrived in mid-2024.
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What you get
By and large, extrovert customers in search of a super hatch don't tend to choose a Golf R. This Volkswagen has mastered the concept of superfast speed in a subtle suit, but the Golf GTI also champions that approach; this R model must look stage more serious. It did in this MK8 form. At the front, the bespoke R-style bumper features a motorsport-influenced spoiler, body-coloured side wings, high-gloss black elements and R-specific air intake grilles. Further up, the top radiator grille gets an R badge and a blue crossbar to differentiate this model's top performance status, this bar lighting up as an LED strip as soon as the engine starts and stretching all the way into the wings as a daytime running light, via illuminated strips in each LED headlamp unit.
In profile, you'll notice the wheels first. Standard R models get 18-inch 'Jerez' rims featuring blue R calipers for the larger 18-inch brake system. At the rear, an R logo sits between the LED tail lights, but the attention of Golf R cognoscenti will be focused further up. They'll want to see if you've stretched to the Performance Pack variant, which gets a huge Performance rear wing to cope with its higher 168mph top speed.
At the wheel, the cabin has a bespoke feel, with R-branded sports seats featuring blue checked 'Sardenga' upholstery and integrated head restraints. Plus brushed stainless steel pedals; carbon-style dash panel applications; a black headliner; and R-specific door trim that echoes the alcantara-style 'Art Velours' trim on the seat bolsters. And, as in any Golf 8, screens dominate the cabin architecture, a 10-inch central 'Discover Media' infotainment monitor and a 10.25-inch 'Digital Cockpit Pro' instrument binnacle display. The latter has a so-called 'Sport skin' which gives you an R-branded central round rev counter. Which you can change to an 'R-View' layout with horizontal rev counter at the top edge of the display.
Away from media features, perhaps the unique sports steering wheel is the nicest touch, fitted out with properly-sized tactile gearshift paddles, rather than the rather apologetic small plastic items you get on a Golf GTI. To manually switch ratios, you either use these or the shift-by-wire buttons next to the stubby gear selector on the centre console. On the left steering wheel spoke is the small blue R button you'll need for direct selection of the various driving profiles; a long press takes you straight to blue mist R mode with its throaty exhaust note.
Thanks to the extra 16mm of length between the wheels with this MK8 Golf design, there's a fraction more legroom in the rear than there was with the previous generation model, so a pair of six-foot adults could be accommodated reasonably here, though knee room begins to get pretty tight once front seat occupants start to slide their seats back.
As for the boot, well your seller might reference the fact that the 381-litre space provided here is a little bigger than the trunk you'd get in a rival Mercedes-AMG A 35 or A 45. But that of a Honda Civic Type R is a substantial 39-litres bigger. Still, the room you do get here is very usable and five carry-on cases or a small set of golf clubs or a baby buggy would easily fit. Pushing forward the conventional 60:40 split-rear bench you do get frees up 1,237-litres across a load area that'll be virtually flat if you have the boot floor in its upper position.
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What to look for
We've heard of various problems. Most were related to the infotainment or other electrical systems. Multiple software issues plagued early versions of this model, so if you're looking at a 2020 or 2021-plated car, make particularly sure that all the infotainment functions work exactly as they should. In some cases, the infotainment system failed to start when the engine was fired. We came across several cars that had developed annoying creaks (rear seat backrest/door frames that creak against the body over speed humps/centre console trim creaks/front door handles etc). Sometimes, the gear shift knob on manual models has been known to come off. Look out for uneven panel gaps between the bottom of the A-pillar and the top of the wing. Problems have been reported with the functionality of the Travel Assist semi-autonomous driving system too, so check the functionality of that if it's been fitted. The speed sign recognition system can malfunction too. We've heard of misfiring TSI engines and transmission chatter too. Otherwise, it's just the usual things, check for scratched alloys and interior child damage - and insist on a fully stamped up service history.
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Replacement parts
[based on a 2020 Golf R 4MOTION ex VAT - autodoc.co.uk] An air filter will be priced in the £8-£59 bracket. The front brake discs we came across sat in the £25-£46 bracket, with rear discs costing in the £19-£46 bracket. Front brake pads are in the £29 to £81 bracket for a set; rears are £14-£70. An alternator is in the £162-£480 bracket; front shock absorbers are in the £138 bracket. Wiper blades are in the £6-£12 bracket and a starter motor will cost in the £117 to £273 bracket.
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On the road
We've always liked the Golf R but previous to this MK8 version, it always lacked that extra enth of driving involvement that characterises the market's most engaging hot hatches. For the best part of a decade, the Wolfsburg engineers couldn't work out how to deliver this - that Civic Type-R or Megane Renaultsport sort of feel - without compromising the everyday usability this R model's clientele so valued. But with this post-2020-era MK8 design, to a great extent, they did.
The biggest change here lay with the addition of what Volkswagen called 'R-Performance Torque Vectoring', which allows the 4WD Haldex driveline not only to shift torque according to traction from front to back, but also from side to side across the rear axle, via an electromechanical multi-plate clutch. This allows for up to 100% of possible torque to be directed to the wheel at the outside of any given bend. Which in turn, reduces the cornering radius, eliminates understeer and makes the car noticeably more agile. It's all good. Another newly-added clever piece of tech, the 'Vehicle Dynamics Manager', co-ordinates this feature in concert with the XDS electronic differential locks and, if the must-have optional DCC adaptive damping system has been fitted, the electronic shock absorbers too.
Under the bonnet, as usual with a Golf R, there's a 2.0-litre TSI petrol turbo engine, but the MK8's EA888 fourth generation version of this unit developed 320PS and as before was mated exclusively to a 7-speed DSG auto gearbox with (now larger) steering wheel paddleshifters. That higher output is enough (via launch control) to dispatch the rest to 62mph sprint in 4.7s, on the way to a top speed that'll be limited to 155mph, unless you get a car whose original owner paid extra for Volkswagen's 'R Performance Pack', which pushes maximum velocity up to 168mph. That Pack also includes a 'Drift' mode, which tweaks the AWD and stability systems to allow for drifting on private tracks; and an additional 'Special' drive mode setting, developed specifically for the legendary Nurburgring Nordscheife racetrack.
In a MK8 Golf R without the Pack, you'll be working with three core drive modes - 'Comfort', 'Sport' and 'R' - or 'Race' - the latter dialling up the aural accompaniment from the standard sports exhausts. For those times when ultimate handling and performance aren't your over-riding priority, this car's simply unequalled in segment for the way it can function as a relaxed commuting or cruising tool; and it's slightly more efficient than most rivals too, the WLTP-rated figures being up to 36.2mpg on the combined cycle and up to 177g/km of CO2.
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Overall
This 2020-2024-era Golf R wasn't the fastest hot hatch of its kind - that title continues to rest with the Mercedes-AMG A 45 - but in terms of the accessible way you can enjoy its performance, it might just be the quickest real world choice in the segment from this period. What we like most about this Golf R though, is that it avoids the single-dimensional race-style appeal of its most direct rivals. The R can offer that with the optional Performance Pack fitted (though you're still probably unlikely to see many on track days), but unlike, say, an A 45 or a Type-R, it's just as happy doing the shopping or the school run in a manner that'll cause no eyebrow raising with your perhaps less enthusiast-orientated other half. Its presence in the office car park won't leave you open to suggestions of a mid-life crisis either.
On the road, the R-Performance Torque Vectoring system and the Vehicle Dynamics manager set-up combine to deliver the ultimate cornering engagement that the previous models lacked, though you still don't get the raw, track-tamed feel of the competing models we've mentioned. But chances are, if you're a typical Golf R customer, you'll neither want nor need that - in which case you'll probably won't need the optional Performance Pack's drift system either, which would be impossible to use legally on a public road. You might still want that Pack though, for those extra drive modes and that fantastic-looking rear wing.
The fact that this MK8-era Golf R could be had with a drift system at all tells you something important about the way that the appeal of this car was really sharpened in this form. Which means that if you're shopping for a hot hatch of this size from this era and you can't decide between a really quick hot hatch like, say, a BMW M135i or a Renaultsport Megane R.S. Or a ridiculously fast one like, say, an Audi RS 3 or that Mercedes-AMG A 45, then we'd say a Golf R is your perfect choice. It's a Golf GTI let off the leash. Which, given how much we like that car, makes this one very desirable indeed.
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