VW Golf 8 R revealed with drift mode
Volkswagen has finally revealed the R derivative of the Golf 8, the now fastest and most powerful Golf to date. It’s more than just more power though as it also receives more technical upgrades and a sportier exterior.
Sportier Golf 8 R design.
New and more aggressive bumpers create the face and tail of the Golf 8 R with unique air intakes and model-specific grille. That grille features a blue crossbar that illuminates when the engine starts up. Round the sides are flared side-skirts and matte chrome mirror caps. While right at the back is a gloss black diffuser flanked by the quad-tailpipe exhaust. Like the diffuser, many other details feature a gloss black finish like the grille and the extended roof spoiler.
The cabin of the Golf 8 R features Nappa leather sports seats with blue contrast stitching and R logo. The rest of the interior is predominantly black, broken up with fake carbon-fibre, mood lights and stainless steel pedals. Behind the sports steering wheel is a digital instrument cluster, next to that is the 10-inch infotainment system, each with displays unique to this model to remind you that you are in the most powerful Golf.
The 8 R is the most powerful Golf yet.
It’s the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that gives the Golf 8 it’s superior performance. The engine is either mated to a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
It doesn’t raise the bar too much higher compared to the previous generation with 235 kW and 420 Nm. That’s only 7 kW and 20 Nm more. The top speed is limited to 250 km/h, however, this is still good to sprint to 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds. If that seems like it isn’t much of a difference then you would be right. The previous generation R model did that in 4.6 seconds. This new model did beat the time at the Nürburgring by 17 seconds though.
We mentioned that there were technical upgrades, well Volkswagen has a newly developed torque-vectoring 4Motion all-wheel-drive system which distributes drive variably between the rear wheels instead of just to the front and rear axels. There is also a Vehicle Dynamics Manager system and a pair of electronically operated multi-disc clutches. These give what Volkswagen describe as “a whole new level of driving dynamics.”
Additional upgrades.
Volkswagen is additionally offering an optional R Performance package which mostly adds additional style but loosens that electronic speed limiter. The new top speed with this package is 270 km/h with the addition of a new spoiler, 19-inch wheels instead of 18-inches and two new drive modes.
The first is called Special and it softens the adaptive damper settings for the specific track characteristics of the Nürburgring. The other is Drift which alters the dynamic stability control settings and directs more torque to the rear axle for more controlled drifts.
An Akrapovic titanium performance exhaust system is also available which will lighten the Golf 8 R by 7 kg and give the driver control over the volume of the exhaust. Perfect for those mountain tunnel roads.
When can we expect to see the GOlf 8 R in South Africa?
Official dates have yet to be announced, but looking at Volkswagen’s current plans to launch their Golf 8 GTI in early 2021, it’s safe to assume that the R derivative will arrive a while after that. Current speculations guess late 2021 or early 2022.
Source: Cars | CARmag | Volkswagen
