Peter Bleakney
Volkswagen development test driver Benjamin Leuchter had just returned from strafing the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the new Mk8 Golf R, and during the car’s international media virtual reveal he enthusiastically declared it to be the “funniest” Golf R he had ever driven.
“Funniest”? We all knew what he meant, and that assessment certainly bodes well for the latest generation of VW’s all-wheel-drive uber-hatch.
The current Mk7 Golf R is fast, agile, practical, comfortable – some would argue it is the “perfect car” – but if you could level any criticism, the Mk7 R lacked a certain “fun factor” that its lesser sibling, the front-drive GTI, had in spades.
We of the Great White North can claim to be the world’s fourth-largest market for the Golf R, gobbling up this $40,000-plus hatch on a one-to-one ratio with the GTI. How is that? Maybe like the Golf R, we are understated, classy, pragmatic and just plain cool. Nonetheless, Canadians will have to wait for the fourth quarter of 2021 to get the latest and greatest R.
The Golf Mk8 uses a revised version of the MQB platform that underpinned the Mk7 cars, so dimensionally it’s identical. The new Golf’s skin does not stray far from the outgoing car (how could it?) yet in R guise its sleeker epidermis benefits from a 20-mm-lowered ride height, door sill extensions, standard 19-inch “Estoril” alloys, blue brake calipers with ‘R’ logo, mirror caps in matte chrome and an aggressive snout with larger intakes. The rear gets an R-specific bumper, two-piece spoiler, gloss black diffuser and twin dual exhausts that totally look the business.
Aero is improved, with a reduction in both front and rear lift at speed. Judging by the pictures, this new Golf R will be less of a wallflower, which is good news for those who thought the current R flew just a little too far under the radar.
The 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder carries forward, getting boosted to 315 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque, up from 288 and 280, respectively. The seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission gets faster shift times, and, yes, a six-speed manual transmission remains on the menu, thank you. It seems in both Canada and the U.S. about 40 per cent of Golf R buyers like to stir their own gears.
With an eye on ramping up the 2022 Golf R’s fun factor, spring and anti-roll bar rates increase by ten per cent, there’s more negative camber dialed in on the front wheels, and the steering gets recalibrated for better feedback. But the biggest mechanical upgrade for the uber-Golf is a new electronically-controlled torque-vectoring rear drive unit that can apportion torque side to side, similar to the system that Ford used with its hot-rod Focus RS.
While the R’s AWD system can still only direct 50 per cent of the power rearward, 100 per cent of that can be sent to either wheel if needed. Which, according to VW, means some power-on oversteer is there to be had. And to prove the point, the 2022 Golf R has a Drift Mode. Not for use on public roads, they tell us. “This is the biggest step forward with respect to performance we’ve ever made in the history of the Golf R,” Karsten Schebsdat, head of driving dynamics says. The “funniest” Golf indeed.
The spread of chassis adjustment broadens, and there are three fixed profiles – Comfort, Sport and Race – that alter throttle response, steering feel, stability control, the standard adaptive damping, RWD unit and, if so equipped, the DSG transmission’s shift maps. The R always starts in Sport mode, and there’s an Individual mode for a bespoke dynamic cocktail.
Under the sub-program Race we find Drift mode and Special (Nurburgring) Mode that, to quote VW, “simply turns the R into a weapon.” As a nod to the ‘Ring’s “Green Hell” nickname, the mode’s graphics are green. In both Race modes, when Manual shifting is selected, the DSG won’t upshift until it gets a command from the right shift paddle. ESC (electronic stability control) can be fully disabled.
The 19-inch cast alloys will wear 235/35R19 rubber (Bridgestone Potenza S005, Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport or Hankook Ventus S1 evo3) and brakes are upgraded to 14.1-inch (357-mm) discs all around, with the fronts cross-drilled and clamped by twin-piston calipers. Said discs have aluminum hubs, reducing total unsprung weight by 1.2 kg.
All eighth-generation Golfs see a very high quality and fully digital interior, pretty much bereft of knobs and buttons. Primary interaction is via a central 10-inch touchscreen. The digital gauge cluster is fully configurable, and in Sport or Race modes we see an R-specific view with horizontal tach top and centre with a digital speedo below. Other racy info in this view includes power output, torque, boost pressure, torque distribution, G meter and temp for oil, coolant and transmission. The R gets a dedicated blue button on its R-Performance steering wheel for directly selecting driving profiles or the special Race modes.
So how did Benjamin Leuchter fare at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in this newest Golf R that bristles with a heap more go-fast tech? Running on super-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, Benny banged off a 7-min-51-second lap that eclipses the outgoing car by 19 seconds. “You can really steer the car with the throttle,” he enthuses. By all accounts, the 220 employees who toil away in Volkswagen’s R division have raised the Golf R’s game big time.
The Canadian 2022 Golf R will come fully loaded with leather and upgraded audio, along with all the expected safety tech and luxury do-dads. A sunroof will be a stand-alone optional. With the R’s availability a year away, no pricing has been set, but VW Canada hints its bottom line won’t stray too far from the current car’s $42,495.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
