Forged internals... drool. Did they confirm that the US is getting the Golf R yet?

 

They already announced months ago that the 4 door is all the American and Canadian market will be receiving.

 

Yes. Confirmed back in the Spring and confirmed even further in the link from the OP.

4 door only for the US. DSG only for the first few months and then a manual to follow later. Early production is supposed to take place in Wolfsburg until the assembly line in Mexico can be revamped to handle R production. So if you want a German made R buy early.

 

Sub 4 second 0-60 times with a flash and/or tbe, yeah I'd call that a bargain. High 3's to 60mph, that's near supercar turf and a magazine recently tested it with 100k cars and above and it hung right in there. Vid is on youtube I believe . Hatchback has the utility, AWD has all season performance. The motor is overbuilt, and can handle quite a bit more power, reliably. Just like the EVO and STi, this is a tuner's car where the aftermarket is going to provide huge gains for little money. At 35k with all that, and a very nicely appointed interior and options, for me, yeah I'm calling it a bargain. By the time it lands here in the USDM I wouldn't be concerned about the turbo.

Looking like my next car but I will wait for the Ford Focus RS (which will be AWD) before buying. These new AWD Turbocharged hatches are going to offer supercar performance for a fraction of the $.

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/Speed-Week-Roadshow

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/ne...s-best-car-wet

I can't find the youtube video of the R going against the GTR, 458, P-Car on the track.

 

Having owned a WRX and been a part of that community, I can tell you that sometimes the reality is less good than the brochure. Sure, you can modify your car to make big power gains, but that means you are voiding your warranty. What if you turbo blows and its not even your fault, now a repair that would have previously been under warranty is not. How much is that warranty worth?

What they also don't tell you is that just because your engine can handle it, doesn't mean your clutch, transmission, differentials, or axles can. So lets give it a minute to see how these cars ACTUALLY handle having so much power. If handling big power means upgrading the driveline then your performance/cost ratio goes down.

This is why my opinion is that it seems like a fair deal when compared to other tuner friendly cars. It is unproven that this car can handle increased power levels over time and given that stock GTIs are popping turbos despite multiple revisions I WOULD worry that this issue will haunt these cars for some time. VW does NOT have the best reliability reputation, in fact, they have one of the worst.

Not to mention, turbo-back exhausts are illegal for on road use so if your "sub-4 second" 0-60 sprint counts on making a an illegal modification, you can count a lot of people out.

 

+1

Everybody loves a tunable car but nobody wants to buy a used modded one. Boosted to supercar numbers, it would be a great car for limited miles. Still a great value, but every budget car with potential comes with some pocketbook reality down the road.

 

Thanks. Too bad no 2 door for US. Love Golfs/GTIs but my only problem with them is that they have such a short life cycle since VW updates to the next model every 3-4 years only.

So you at most have the newest model for those few years only.

 

The shortest lifespan for a Golf has been 5 model years which is actually pretty typical of this segment. It may seem like the new golf has been out for a while though as the US usually gets it 9 months to a year after it comes out everywhere else but actually 2015 was the first model year in the US and dealerships just recently started getting them in...

 

Until VW brings the Scirocco to US, I could care less about any of their products. The Scirocco is the one car they'd sell like hot cakes here. Why it is not in US is beyond me.

 

I'm hoping for a Golf R Sportwagen as well. That would be a modern day bargain RS4 Avant! But, America will get screwed on getting hot wagons as usual... (just like C63 AMG Wagon.)