Test Drive: VW Golf R a thrill - USA TODAY
Never point the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R down an empty road and turn the stereo volume to max on the William Tell Overture. Even if you don't get slapped by the radar revenuers, you'll be so addicted you'll keep doing it until, eventually, off to jail.
No mere stern-faced speeding ticket, because you won't be going just 10 mph over the limit. Golf R is likely to get you to well beyond the posted number. Quickly.
The R is VW's highest-performance Golf, beyond even the quick GTI. The previous version, based on the so-called Mark 6 Golf (sixth generation; current model is seventh-gen) made its debut as a 2012 model, using the then-current 2-liter four-cylidner.
Today's R went on sale early this year as a 2015, also powered by a 2-liter four, but rated 292 horsepower, up 36 hp from the previous model, and 280 pounds-feet of torque, up 37 lbs.-ft.
VW says it's the quickest Golf ever: 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds or less.
Available as a four-door only, the 2015 comes with automatic transmission. The 2016 also will offer a six-speed manual for about $1,100 less.
If all the 2-liter, heavily massaged turbocharged four-cylinder did was yank the go-fast Golf up to fun speeds quickly, then it'd be a kid's car. But it's much more: handling, braking, space, comfort.
Yes, it's hard to swallow a near-$40,000 price tag on a Golf, but we'd bet if it were wearing an Audi or Mercedes-Benz or Alfa-Romeo badge, you'd be singing praises without regard to the sticker price. Regaling the neighbors about the marvelous fifth-generation Haldex all-wheel drive system and electronic locking differentials that keep the power from simply turning into tire smoke.
You'd be glorifying the superior cornering ability without the slam-bam ride a handling champ sometimes imposes â€" although you'd have to admit that banging over winter-ravaged roads, potholes and the like, would make you eat those words.
The folks gathered around would be hearing you gush over what a roomy interior the little dude has, especially for its overall size. You'd not mention that the combination of low-slung chassis and angled roof pillars will whack your noggin more than once before you learn the proper duck, turn and drop move getting in, and a convoluted sort-of reverse move exiting.
The car's 30-mpg highway rating would cross your lips, but you'd hold back mentioning the 16 mpg you get as the ready-to-rock car turns your daily commute into a flagrant joy ride.
No doubt the conversation would include R's right-now brakes and its automatic transmission's brilliant shifting, up or down through the gears, with an automatic blip on downshifts to get engine revs where they should be. You might overlook the fact that more than 30% of buyers are expected to want manual transmissions, and those aren't available until the 2016s.
Surely you'd point out that, tastefully on VW's part, there are no gaudy spoilers or rocker-panel spats. Unneeded for visual recognition, as the car sits low enough to notice, and the four exhaust pipes under the rear bumper make it clear this isn't a struggling Millenial's econo-box. Nor even a Golf aficionado's performance-enhanced GTI.
If you live where it snows, you'd call attention to what a good snow car the R is, while forgetting, perhaps, that you had to mount a new set of all-season tires to accomplish that, because the R comes with high-traction summer tires that'd probably not get useful bite on slick surfaces.
You might conveniently forget to note that a navigation system's not standard on the entry model, though it is on the more expensive version of R. Nor is a USB receptacle anywhere in sight, though it's coming for 2016.
Instead you get a hard-wire connection that has, incredibly, only a wide plug that fits previous Apple iPhones even though the newer model with tiny lightning plug has been on sale since 2012. And â€" though you'd never know it from media coverage â€" Android phones are far more popular than iPhones, outselling them more than six-to-one.
Phones with the Android operating systems were 83.1% of total sales worldwide in the third quarter last year, latest available data, according to Statista. Apple iPhones were second at just 12.7%. Phones run by Mircrosoft's Windows system were next, at 3%.
No doubt it would come up in conversation that you're special, one of the elite, because, if your audience were so moved by your joyful description of the R that they headed for the VW store, they'd be told, "Hah; as-if."
If everybody who's already promised to buy an R does so, there won't be true walk-in availability at dealerships until about July, VW says. Although you could try; worst case, you'd have to order and wait.
And, July's not that far off.
About the VW Golf R
•Acceleration: A thrill
•Space: Feels roomier than some its size
•MPG: No eco-mobile, but remarkable for the level of performance
VW Golf R details
•What? Volkswagen Golf small car with high-performance engine, chassis and all-wheel drive (AWD) instead of front-drive.
•When? Pre-orders of special introduction edition began Jan. 8 and all 500 were bespoke in hours. Sign-up for waiting list began after that and sales started in February. Wait-list buyers could soak up all available cars until summer.
•Where? Built at Wolfsburg, Germany; other Golfs for U.S. are made in Mexico.
•How much? $37,415 including $820 shipping for the base model, $39,910 for the up-level version, which adds navigation, adjustable suspension, bigger wheels and tires, front and rear parking assist, Fender audio system.
•What makes it go? 2-liter, turbocharged gasoline engine rated 292 horsepower at 5,400 rpm, 280 pounds-feet of torque at 1,800; six-speed DSG automatic transmission, 4Motion AWD.
•How big? A foot shorter than, otherwise similar to, Subaru AWD WRX STI, which VW says is a direct rival and also has AWD.
R has 93.5 cu. ft. of passenger space, 22.8 cu. ft. of cargo space behind the back seat, 52.7 cu. ft. when the seat's folded.
Turning circle diameter 35.8 ft. curb-to-52.7curb.
•How thirsty? Rated 23 mpg in the city, 30 mpg on the highway, 26 in combined city/highway driving.
Test car registered 16 mpg (6.25 gallons per 100 miles) in hard-throttle city/suburban driving, 20.9 mpg (4.78 gal./100 mi.) in frisky city/suburbs/highway mix.
Premium recommended. Tank holds 14.5 gal.
•Overall: Ridiculous amount of fun in a practical daily driver.
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