[Closed] VW Golf R............estate!

Not really. It's still very expensive to buy, and comparatively expensive to run, with performance that one can't even begin to exploit without breaking a lot of laws and risking some rather serious repercussions when it all goes wrong.

No different to an S4 Avant, which has been around for years.

Does it come in enduro colours?

boom - straight in with the weenie answer on the first reply!

I'm with you pf, sounds like fun!

£10k different from an S4.

Also, why so sad njee? 🙁

Don't get me wrong, great car I'm sure, just not the " perfect blend of fun, practicality and cost?"

Still small estate car, add silly exhaust, running gear etc and the load bay will be even smaller

I'm hoping the wife might think about a Golf R when she buys a new car in a couple of years.

More likely though will be the new twin turbo VW diesel engine with 230bhp, which will make the Golf GTD seriously quick, and frugal.

njee20
with performance that one can't even begin to exploit without breaking a lot of laws and risking some rather serious repercussions when it all goes wrong.

It's four wheel drive, so it should be able to put down a lot of that power, a lot of the time. So for overtaking, or just pressing on in most conditions it should be pretty useable.

Having said that, it is pretty small by estate car standards so I don't really see why anyone would buy it if the needed boot space.

The new Passat comes with that 230bhp engine. Nice, if it's more economical than the V6 in the Audis. Which I also have a thing for*.

* the V6 TDI, not the Audi itself.

jimjam - Member

with performance that one can't even begin to exploit without breaking a lot of laws and risking some rather serious repercussions when it all goes wrong.

It's four wheel drive, so it should be able to put down a lot of that power, a lot of the time.

I'm sure it's perfect for making progress and seeing through stone walls and hedges

mikewsmith

So are there different rules for speed and driving like a twit with 4wd?

Uh, no. But since you're clearly lacking in imagination and prone to knee jerk reactions I'd better explain. Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph. You anticipate a potential overtaking opportunity, and it appears. Having 4wd means that you'll be able to put all of that power to the ground in a relatively controlled manner, passing quickly and safely.

Exploiting the same gap in a powerful fwd or rwd car might be more dicey as they break traction more easily.

Accelerating and overtaking are perfectly legal.

Having had owned the 1st 4WD Golf, I can say they are a lot of fun and AWD is very useful in the wet e.g. you never wheel spin when pulling out onto an A road from a non existent slip road (like the A1 used to have loads of). Had loads of fun in mine till it finally fell apart after about 12 years.

Like it, just wish it had one exhaust and reasonable sized wheels, but then I guess there'd be nothing to tell everyone your car is 'special'...

As if this is all about overtaking capability...loool..

Who wants safe? Give me RWD and the ability to drift roundabouts - that's what I call fun. Sod practical. 😉

molgrips
As if this is all about overtaking capability...loool..

Oh right, sorry I forgot everyone who buys a £30,000 4wd golf is going to drive like Ken Block.

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

worms, popcorn, custard creams - EVERYWHERE !!!!

I've given up with fast car threads on here, they just aren't interesting once the fun police have got involved

I love my golf gti mk7 and yes it can go faster than the speed limit and makes progress very well thanks v much.

After much consideration I have decided private motor vehicles should weigh less than 1500kg be limited to 80mph and driven by computers as soon as possible.
These cars that look like 80's Aiwa hifis do serve to point out the cocks though.

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

Just imagine. How truly awful.

Oh right, sorry I forgot everyone who buys a £30,000 4wd golf is going to drive like Ken Block.

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

I've given up with fast car threads on here, they just aren't interesting once the fun police have got involved

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

I wouldn't attempt that sort of overtake no matter how much traction or power my car had, as chances are at least one of the five will pull out on you without warning whilst trying to overtake them!

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

very good example of the capability of the car exceeding the capability of the pilot.

you wait - simple

you go - you will someday cause a big accident - you - think about it..

 

Haldex crap so hardly real 4WD. I'd have an 320/330D Touring with M Sport suspension all day long.

mikewsmith

More mid 40's balding, a little tubby with fantasies of being Ken block

£30,000 would buy you a pretty nice M3 if you want to get up that stuff.

mikewsmith
If you can find a bit of road straight enough to overtake 5 cars and a tractor in one go then you probably don't need 200bhp and 4wd.

You'd be surprised. And the Golf's got 300bhp. Quite a difference.

Gachet - Member

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

I wouldn't attempt that sort of overtake no matter how much traction or power my car had, as chances are at least one of the five will pull out on you without warning whilst trying to overtake them!

Purely an example of when you could use the cars power. Not an instructional manual on how to drive.

Imagine you're stuck behind five cars, who are stuck behind a tractor on a wet B road doing 20mph

I don't need to imagine that, happens all the time. I relax, wait, and when it's safe I go. Doesn't take long.

Unless the **** in the Golf R six cars back decides to come flying by, then I resolve to post on STW about it when I get home.

Until recently I rode high powered motorbikes.
Having that incredible acceleration and maneuverability on tap was great, especially in a situation where the couple of cars in front of you were being a bit 'timid' in overtaking the even slower one in front of them.

I only ever really used the power for overtakes, once back on the road and on my own I'd just cruise at my own speed.

I also honestly believe that having lots of power on tap is safer as you can get yourself out of a dodgy situation. Sure, maybe you shouldn't have been in one in the first place (and I am a cautious driver), but every one makes misjudgments and sometimes the answer is HORSEPOWER!

As noted by the writer of Evo's letter of the month this issue:

"There should be an industry-wide gentlemans agreement that all cars must have more cylinders than tailpipes"

Can't help but agree, 4 pipes on a 4 pot (S3, S1, Golf R, etc.) just seems a little excessive... The BMW 550i had a nice understated twin pipe on the left.

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To the OP it looks smart in the photo above and is still quite subtle so would attract too much attention, but I wouldn't pay 30 odd grand for a Golf.

It might be of interest as a used buy a few years down the line as a cheaper substitute to an Audi RS avant as the running costs would be a lot less likely to ruin me!

sometimes the answer is HORSEPOWER!

Given an incredibly fast car or motorbike, there might be some. But the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

molgrips

happens all the time. I relax, wait, and when it's safe I go. Doesn't take long.

So are you the only person with the judgement and discretion to be able to decide when it's safe? Or can mere mortals gain this kind of incredible perception?

It's not possible to say anything like "making progress" without sounding like a total bell is it? Bugger, I've gone and done it now.

I like the golf R, but that looks mince. Kinda like a Saab 9-3 estate with a small nose

It's not possible to say anything like "making progress" without sounding like a total bell is it? Bugger, I've gone and done it now.

Or can mere mortals gain this kind of incredible perception?

I used to overtake 5 cars plus a tractor in my 30 bhp VW Beetle 1303.
perfectly safe, you just needed to wait for a downhill and take a bit of a run up 🙂

Far from being the fun police, I've got to say I struggle with cars like this. I can see the appeal of the performance, and the practicality, but at what price?

Put it this way, if I could afford to buy one and run one, I wouldn't want to get the interior messy in it by putting muddy bikes and kit on the inside of it. So you'd end up putting them on the outside, which then takes away the need for an estate at all, so you may as well just get the hatch which will look cooler, cost less, and be slightly more fun to drive...

OR... If you've got significantly more than £30k to spend on a fun car, and you're a keen mountain biker too, I'd spend 1/10th of that budget on an old TDI B5.5 Passat estate in excellent condition for ferrying me, people and bikes to trail centres, and the rest on something significantly more fun than a Golf R for the rest of the time. I've spent some time in an Audi TT-S, basically the Golf R in drag, and though it was impressively and effortlessly quick, it didn't exactly strike me as a fun or involving car to be in!

Oh... And without wishing to sound like the fun police (I'm a long way from it, trust me!), most of the time on the UK roads these days, I can't even exploit the 130bhp of my TDi Passat, let alone more than twice that!

mikewsmith
I believe the police have some opinions that are considered valid.

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[img] [/img]

What's that then? That they like them because they're good for "making progress? 😆

yes, notice the flashy lights and lots of intensive driver training that goes on before they are allowed to even think about "making progress"

So are you the only person with the judgement and discretion to be able to decide when it's safe?

That's not what I meant. I mean that in a normal car, overtaking a tractor is not an issue. Whoever it was who posted it seemed to consider it some nightmare scenario that only 300bhp could save. It's not, and such scenarios don't really exist.

Let's face it. People want fast cars because driving fast is fun. End of. Driving fast is also more dangerous. And fast cars use more fuel. So people ignore the downsides or make excuses for them. Nothing more to say.

Accelerating and overtaking are perfectly legal.

Yeh, but it does make you look like a bit of a bellend. Especially if you're five cars back and you're driving a thirty thousand pound bright red volkswagen golf.

There are some pretty cheap contract hire deals around on the hatch version - due to the residuals. In time no doubt with this version too

Mboy > interiors clean up fine. The alternative is driving a miserable diesel all the time while your "fun" car languishes in the garage for the odd occasion when you fancy driving it but don't need to carry people or things.