2020 Volkswagen Golf R Final Edition FULL REVIEW

Above: This Week’s Car Review – 2020 VW Golf R Final Edition

Top GayCarBoys Stories:

2020 Golf R: The Last Hoorah for Golf MK7.5

Volkswagen’s Golf R Final Edition, which starts from $57,990.

Only 450 special edition Golf R will come to Australia.

The Shiny new Golf MK 8 arrives next year, so VW decided to celebrate with a trio of tasty MK 7.5 colours: Victory Blue; Viper Green metallic (last seen in Scirocco R); and Violet Touch Pearlescent.

The colours are applied by men in white coats, after they’re grabbed the cars the production line. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to, especially for a piddling $350.

The usual Golf R colours,: Pure White; Lapiz Blue Metallic; and Deep Black Pearl Effect, are no cost options. For 350 bucks, I’d make sure I was one of the early buyers. There is nothing better than bragging rights at the pub.

Standard Golf R hatchbacks can still be had at $55,490.

VW says Golf R is Australia’s most successful compact performance car. Of 14,335 Golf sales in 2019, Golf R variants made up 14% or 2035 sales, of which 1702 were hatchbacks.

More VW Stories

Help Support Gay Car Boys Subscribe to our Youtube Channel

ABOVE: 2020 Volkswagen Golf R Final Edition – 3 unique colours

Golf R Final Edition hatchback $57,990

19-inch Black Pretoria alloy wheels
Carbon Nappa leather appointed upholstery
Gloss Black door mirrors
Dynaudio premium audio
Dark tinted rear side and rear window glass
R Final Edition badge
213kW/380Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine
7-speed DQ381 wet-clutch DSG
4MOTION all-wheel drive
Heated front seats
Electrically adjustable driver’s seat with memory function
LED headlights with Dynamic cornering lights
Dynamic Light Assist
R Body styling
9.2″ satellite navigation system with gesture control and voice control
Dark tinted rear and rear side windows
Metallic and Pearl effect paint
Exterior mirrors with memory function

Options

Colour Concept special colour $300
Panoramic electric glass sunroof $1,900

All new Volkswagens come with a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty and the option of service packages.

The Cabin:

You’re cocooned in rarified air.

Seats are firm but fair. They gently hug you, just like nanny used to. The safety gear is like being guided by nanny’s gentle hand. That all changes once you crank up the Dynaudio, and shift the system in to Race Mode.

Although MK7 has been around for 7 years, the interior design still feels fairly fresh. VW used decent quality fabrics, leather, and metal. Even the plastic feels like it would outlast a nuclear holocaust.

Most of the surfaces are matte so as not to blind passengers with low afternoon sun.

For a full list of cabin technology, see the Golf R page at Volkswagen’s website.

The Drive:

Golf R has 4motion AWD, which has a ferocious grip on the road. 213kw worth of power, funnels through a 7 speed DSG automatic transmission.

City trips are most comfortably done in Comfort Mode. The is an ECO mode too, but that’s for pussies. Race Mode is fun, but it stiffens to suspension a smidge to much. The rest of the drive train acts like it is trying to kill you too. No, Comfort is best.

If you want to fettle further, you can save you favourite combinations in the
“Individual” Mode.

In any mode, the steering makes you feel like your hands are bolted directly to the control arms. It imbues a sense of power and superiority, but it doesn’t write cheques it can’t cash.

0-100 is dispatched in a shade under 5 seconds, but that does dreadful things to your fuel economy.

You might be surprised to hear that a hot hatch, happy at hooning around the Nürburgring, is just as happy with a bootful of bags on the annual roadtrip. Golf R is, in fact, a grand tourer. Better still, you can stick an extra couple of bods in the back. If you fancy a couple of hangers-on ruining your romantic weekend, you could fit 4 cases in the boot, if you get what I mean. Try doing that in an Aston Martin without scheduling an amputation.

It is happy in a Coles carpark, and in city traffic, so, it is also a city car.

Golf R feels physically linked to your ego. It casts a spell over you, one you can’t shake, no matter how you try.

It is near perfect. OK, it isn’t luxurious like a BMW, or as eye-catching as a McLaren. It lacks the visceral vibrations of a Mustang, or the outright speed of a Ludicrous+ Tesla.

However, it does one thing none of those others can, its driver can live with it daily. It’s cheaper than the cheapest Beemer, easier to get in to than a McLaren, safer than a Mustang, and doesn’t need charging like a Tesla.

There you go, Golf R is all things to all people. It has the added advantage of never having to have its owner apologise at BBQs.

Conclusion:

Golf R feeds your inner bogan, satisfies your inner snob, and pacifies your mangled ego. Although it makes you feel superior, you never get the sense that you have to prove it.

Unlike other hot hatches and super hatches, the suspension doesn’t shake your teeth loose. It looks the part, in an understated kind of way.

Golf R doesn’t shout look at me, but it definitely stands in a mirror flexing its biceps while taking selfies.

Price: $57,990

Engine: 2.0L turbo

Power: 213kW/380Nm

0-100kph: 4.8/ 380Nm

Fuel econ: 7.2 L/100km