VW Golf R Review (Mk7.5)- The Ultimate Hot Hatch?

This is a 2019 VW Golf R, and let’s be honest you know why everyone and their dog has one of these. But in case you don’t, here’s why. 

The EA888 engine hidden under the bonnet pumps out a whopping 310PS and up to 400nm of torque, powering the wheels through a 7 speed DSG and yes, powering all four wheels with it’s Haldex AWD system with up to 50/50 power split, although it is still front wheel drive primary.

Want to see just how fast this insane thing does 0-60 and 0-62? Let’s do it! 

Getting up to speed is pretty effortless. The DSG shifts in an instant with the nice DSG farts rippling through the otherwise meaty exhaust note, and even in the comfiest setting just a breath on the throttle and it’ll drop a gear and, well, disappear. It’s almost too easy to get in trouble with one of these. 

While we are at it, these brakes are rather impressive. They are single piston sliding calipers all round, but they offer an impressive amount of stopping power. They lack a touch of modulation, feeling a little binary in use, but for the track or the road they work well.

While you’re moving, the car feels planted. It’s well balanced, and through corners I was surprised to find it didn’t want to understeer quite as hard as I’ve heard. Yes, if you push it hard enough it will, and it’s a little more prone to it than my S4 with its 40/60 split, but it’s not bad.

Of course, the main objective of the Golf R isn’t about being the ultimate track weapon (although you’d have a lot of fun in one on track), it’s about being the ultimate daily. The ultimate hot hatch, and I think that’s why they are so popular. I mean look at the boot space. Even with the Haldex system raising the boot floor you still have 343 litres of capacity back here, or a massive 1233 litres of space with the seats folded down. It’s also a stylish hatchback meaning you can fit bikes or furniture back there if you need it.

The back seats have plenty of legroom, even 6ft me doesn’t have a problem fitting back here in relative comfort. You’ve got an arm rest and a central seat meaning even if you’ve got two kids and they want a friend over you’re still good to go. 

And up in the front, well lets just say it’s a rather nice place to be. I’d argue it’s not quite as nice as my S4, although the materials and quality are still plenty fine. These are the R design seats that do a good job of balancing everyday comfort with the support needed to thrash it at the weekend. In front of you, you have a nice semi-flat bottomed wheel with nice grips for your hands and a myriad of buttons for everything from cruise control to media playback. Depending on the model year, you’ll either have the older physical gauges, or if you’ve got a newer model you get a fully digital dash which will change depending on your drive mode.

You’ve also got a touchscreen infotainment display which either came from the factory as the standard 8” screen, or the optioned up 9.2” premium model – both support android auto and apple carplay plus offer their own navigation and let you switch between drive modes when you press the button by the shifter.

Lead in about golf r being a daily… it doesn’t completely stick out like a sore thumb. For those that know, they’ll catch it, but for those that don’t.. Well to them it’s just another golf. And I like that. It’s got some slightly more aggressive lines, the blacked out wheels and the little spoiler on the boot lid, and of course the famous quad exhaust pipes, but it’s not painfully in your face about it and that’s great. 

That’s what it’s about, being the best daily driver you can get. On uneven city roads it does a good job of keeping things stable, bumps aren’t painstakingly harsh making for a pretty compliant ride. The steering is remarkably light at slow speed so it’s nice and easy to manoeuvre, plus you have great visibility making it easy to park too.

But then, once you’ve dropped the kids off at school and you find yourself on a twisty backroad… Wow. It. Just. Goes. You get to the speed limit in the blink of an eye, and can easily go past it towards it’s 155mph top speed if you aren’t careful. What surprised me is that even in the comfiest setting there still wasn’t much body roll. The nose dives under braking, but through the corners it doesn’t feel like it’s weight wants to pull you over. It’s kerb weight is just shy of 1500kg so it’s fairly light, and when you pair that with the insane 310PS… It goes. 

What’s even more mad is if, for some crazy reason, you aren’t satisfied with 310PS, a simple remap takes it to between 350 and 375PS which is crazy. If you’re willing to drop a grand and a half you can up that to 400PS, or if you want to go all out and swap out the turbo for another couple grand then you can hit 500PS, all with stock internals. 

So, is the Golf R the ultimate daily driver? I think so. It balances practicality and comfort with raw performance in a way that’s perfectly suited to being on the road. It’s tuneable, has excellent mod support if you want to tweak the suspension or brakes, and out of the box it’s a stunning performer. You’d currently be looking at parting ways with between £20,000 and 25,000 for a decent one on Autotrader, with this 2019 model costing more like £30,000 which shows they aren’t (currently) depreciating too quickly.