Hotter Volkswagen Golf R testing at the Nürburgring – more power and focus on the way
Vents in the bonnet and a gaping hole for a modified radiator suggest this will be a more extreme, more powerful Golf R
Hopped up hot hatches are going around at the Volkswagen Group it seems. An aggressively enhanced Golf R has been spied lapping the Nürburgring Nordscheife at almost exactly the same time as prototypes for Audi’s RS3 GT.
The nature of Audi’s effort is easier to make educated guesses about – it’s almost certainly a final farewell to the five-cylinder engine and the current RS 3 as we know it. Exactly what Volkswagen testing the hottest Golf R yet seen means, when the Mk8 still has a good few years left in it, is to be determined. It could be a celebratory model for the Golf R's 25th anniversary in 2027.
The spy shots we have here are relatively revealing in terms of the constitution of the VW’s powertrain. Almost certainly, we’re looking at a more powerful Golf R. The large radiator visible through the front bumper where normally you’d see a selection of ADAS sensors as well as air exit vents either side of the bonnet, suggest as much.
Exactly how much more powerful is unclear. Volkswagen threatened to make a Golf R with 400bhp in the mid-2010s, potentially with Audi’s warbling 5-cylinder engine under its louvred bonnet, but Dieselgate saw to that niche project’s demise.
We can say with relative confidence this Golf won’t be getting one of the final flavours of five-cylinder from Audi either but it’ll surely pack bigger numbers than the standard Golf R’s 328bhp and 295lb ft. There is a suggestion that whatever this Golf R is could have over 350bhp.
> The top 10 fastest ever Nürburgring lap times
The performance focus probably won’t stop at the power output, either. It’s likely that a leaf will be taken out of the Golf GTI Edition 50’s book, with much stiffer springs, recalibrated dampers and more aggressive geometry. For reference, the Edition 50’s spring rates are up by 57 per cent at the front and 63 per cent at the rear compared to a Golf GTI Clubsport, which suggests there’s bandwidth for a more extreme set up in a hardcore Golf R, too. Though the Edition 50 doesn’t benefit from a performance-oriented set of Volkswagen’s DCC Pro adaptive dampers, these could be a part of the suite of upgrades found on this car.
There are fewer clues on this prototype than with the Audi as to what this more extreme Golf will look like, or indeed how it will be differentiated from the standard car. There’s a more aggressive wing, as seen on the Golf GTI Edition 50, though that’s not exactly hugely different to that available on the standard R and Golf Clubsport. Those vents in the bonnet ought to make production with more polished trim pieces over them, while the radiator will be better concealed.
Then there’s the questions of when and how much. There’s a chance we won’t see whatever this Golf is for another year at least. Room for the GTI Edition 50 to breathe as the most focused hot Golf since 2016’s Clubsport S surely wouldn’t go amiss in VW’s eyes. The Golf R Black Edition currently costs over £47,000 so surely, whatever this Golf R is and whenever it lands, it will be well over the £50k mark. It may be over £60k, depending on how far they’ve gone with it. More as we have it.
