Able to complete the 0-100 km/h sprint in under five seconds, the R, for the moment, remains off limits for the local market
Despite having revealed, and priced, the Golf 8.5 GTI at the Kyalami Festival of Motoring two weeks, Volkswagen has indicated that the same courtesy, for now, won’t stretch the reworked Golf R.
Maximum boost
Introduced just over a year ago as the equal most powerful combustion engined Golf ever made, the R uses the same EA888evo 2.0 TSI engine as the GTI, but with outputs raised from 195kW/370Nm to 245kW/420Nm and drive going to all four wheels through a seven-speed DSG.
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Comparatively, the GTI will do 0-100 km/h in 5.9 seconds, whereas the benchmark sprint is dispatched with in 4.6 seconds in the R.
The same limited top speed of 250 km/h as the GTI applies, however, the optional Performance Package will see this increase to 270 km/h.
Offered in standard and Black Edition guises, the R doesn’t receive any structural changes from the GTI, though a Drift mode has been included, along with a so-called Special setting modelled on the Nürburgring Nordschleife similar to the Golf 8.5 GTI Clubsport.
No early arrival
Equal on power with the run-out, North America-only market Golf 8 R333, the approval of the GTI for South Africa earlier than the initially-reported 2027 due to the country’s poor fuel quality, ignited speculation that the R could go the same way.
In a response at the festival though, Volkswagen executives confirmed that, for the moment, plans on bringing the R to market haven’t been given the go ahead, and that a formal announcement will be made once such a decision has been made.
While it didn’t reveal any further details, or indeed the measures for the 8.5 GTI now complying with local fuel specifications, an announcement regarding the R could well be made in 2026. However, as it stands, this is purely speculative and not approved.
As such, the 8.5 GTI will head the local Golf range in batches of 300 this year, before the resumption of normal supply next year. Pricing kicks-off at R908 000.
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