2025 Volkswagen Golf R Wagon review: Fast, fun and practical

The GTI’s nearly 50-year career means it’s still the most famous hot Golf, but it won’t be the hottest in 2025. This role is once again occupied by the Golf R, which takes the idea of ​​the GTI and extends it by adding more power and all the features. -Wheel drive. The 2025 R is the most powerful and fastest model yet.

But those aren’t the only reasons why you’d be willing to spend more to upgrade to the R from the newly facelifted Mk8.5 GTI. In the U.S., both cars are only available in traditional hatchback form, but in Europe, the R can be optioned as a wagon.

quick overview

Overview and new content

SUVs have been squeezing station wagons for years, but there’s still a small group of avid drivers who would still rather experience the joy of loading in a conventionally shaped car with a large, boxy cargo area. Why? Because trucks are lighter and have a lower center of gravity than SUVs, this generally results in better handling and performance.

Volkswagen doesn’t offer the GTI as a wagon, but its fancier R brother has been sold as a wagon in Europe since 2015. It will return in 2025 as part of the facelifted Mk8.5 Golf range, bringing subtle lighting tweaks, an illuminated Volkswagen grille badge, a power boost and a much-improved infotainment system. Unfortunately, the manual gearbox option that the UK recently abandoned has also disappeared from other markets in the transition from the Mk8 to the Mk8.5, although stylish new 19-inch forged Warmenau wheels (a £1,120 option) may Are you ready? Don’t think so.

The R hatchback costs £44,535 in the UK (US prices TBD), while the R wagon costs £45,970 ($58,590), so no one is snubbing this car because of cost. There’s also a new R Black Edition, with dark trim and wheels, available only on the hatchback and priced at £45,785 ($58,354).

RELATED: 2025 Volkswagen Golf R Is the Most Powerful Ever

What’s under the hood?

We’ve talked about the bad news—the R’s manual-shift option has been phased out in the U.S.—but there’s good news, too. The 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine now produces 328 hp (333 PS) in all markets, the same as the old European 333 Limited Edition and 13 hp (14 PS) more than last year’s R.

You also get a healthy 310 lb-ft (420 Nm) of torque, with the R hatch sprinting to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.6 seconds and the slightly meatier Touring in 4.8 seconds – both Both are one-tenth faster than before. Top speed is limited to 155 mph (250 km/h), but the (European-spec) Black Edition car is limited to 168 mph (270 km/h).

By comparison, the 2025 GTI produces 261 horsepower (265 PS) in Europe and only 242 horsepower (245 PS) in the United States, meaning the R has a big power advantage. There’s also a greater traction. The Haldex all-wheel-drive system drives the front wheels most of the time, but can theoretically transfer all torque to the rear wheels in extreme situations, and there’s even an optional drift mode.

How is it driven?

After trying out the new 262-horsepower GTI hatchback in Europe, we immediately jumped into the Golf R wagon, and we couldn’t go wrong with this one even considering the boxy rear end and the extra weight of the rear-drive hardware. Extra grunt for a luxury car. Of course, some of the difference between the R’s 4.8-second 62-mph time and the 5.9 seconds it takes the front-drive GTI to hit the same speed is caused by the way the all-wheel-drive car rolls off the line, but the R also holds up at higher speeds Advantages.

It sounds better, too, with the retuned stock exhaust adding some pop and the optional Akrapovic pipes unleashing a little extra roar. When you ignite the engine, hold down the start button for a while and your revs will soar to 2,500 rpm. Compared to the GTI, the sharp tone at the 6,500-rpm power peak also lends itself to a sense of urgency when the right-hand pedal is pressed. You can do this more often than in the GTI because you know there will be some pressure on the rear wheels if the road is wet.

Unlike the early R, when the car felt like nothing more than a front-wheel-drive Golf with some extra traction, the modern version bolsters its front end with the option to really let you lean on the rear tires through tighter effort. The transmission is able to send 100% of torque to the outside rear wheel, which contributes to a great driving experience in corners. Not only does this improve cornering, it even lets you nudge the rear end around roundabouts and exit intersections, and with the optional £1,960 Performance Pack (19-inch Estoril wheels, bigger spoiler, 168mph limit The cars added a dedicated drift mode for parking pranks.

While the Golf R isn’t as exciting as the latest Honda Civic Type R, it’s not far behind in the dry, and its all-wheel-drive system means it’s more capable in the wet and snow. We have a few complaints, though: the first is that the DCC dampers cost £735 in the UK when they should actually be standard, and the second is that the steering feel from the perforated leather wheels could be better.

Photo Chris Chilton/Carscoops

How’s the interior?

If there’s one thing about the old R, and the rest of the Mk8 Golf, that’s really exciting, it’s the interior. Not the driving position, build quality, or other things that VW generally gets right, because those are still strong. No, this is the infotainment system and controls. The Mk8.5 is better, but not perfect.

The new 12.9-inch infotainment screen is a big improvement over the old one, as it’s easier to see and reach, and has a better control interface that now includes ChatGPT voice activation. Another tech upgrade for 2025 is an improved 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster that adds a G-meter and GPS lap timer.

Volkswagen also sees the temperature slider being sensed and illuminated below the screen, although we hope those two sliders (and the volume slider between them) are scrapped entirely in the future, replaced by some old-fashioned rotary dials. It’s also a shame that the new R still sticks with the MK8’s equally annoying capacitive steering wheel buttons, while the GTI switches back to traditional physical buttons. Blame it on the R-mode button on the steering wheel.

But if you can live with these issues, and we’re sure thousands of owners can, there’s a lot to like about the R Touring’s interior, and looking forward from the rear seats, it feels identical to the hatch The covers are almost identical. Rear space is okay, but not great, and certainly not as good as the Golf’s Skoda Octavia cousin, which has a 163 mm (6.4 in) longer wheelbase. Behind those seats, however, is the R’s secret weapon, the trunk, which transforms this high-performance Golf from a convenient second-family vehicle into the kind of car that can hold it all.

The load space is wide and deep, offering 611 liters (21.58 cu ft) of space with the seats up and 1,642 liters (58.0 cu ft) with them folded. That dwarfs the R hatch’s 341/1,197 liters (12.0/42.3 cu ft) and is better than the 540/1,600 liters (17.7/56.5 cu ft) offered by the BMW X1, the roomier compact SUV.

Who are its competitors?

Even in Europe, fast wagons aren’t that common, and many of the ones available, like the BMW M3 and M5 Touring and Audi’s RS6 Avant, cost 50 percent more than a Golf R, sometimes as much as 100 percent more. The lite M340i xDrive Touring will set you back an extra £17,000 ($21,000), but that does get you a turbocharged six-cylinder engine that hits 62mph in 4.6 seconds – ten quicker than the Golf. Two-thirds.

But the R has several similarly priced alternatives that are also reasonably familiar in appearance: the Cupra Leon Estate and Skoda Octavia vRS both ride on the same MQB Evo VW Group platform. The Cupra even comes with the R’s 328-hp all-wheel-drive powertrain, while the front-wheel-drive, 261-hp Skoda runs the Golf GTI’s hardware but offers more passenger and luggage space thanks to its longer wheelbase.

In the U.S., you can’t buy a Golf R or M340i in wagon form, nor a Leon or Octavia, and the closest competitors are probably SUVs like the BMW X1 M35i xDrive and Mini Countryman JCW.

judgment

Cars like the Golf R Touring are a niche product, but it’s nice to see that VW still thinks it’s a segment worth preserving, at least in some areas. In the configuration we tried, the R felt just slightly slower and less lively than the hatchback, and the small drop in performance was more than made up for by the roomy cargo room.

Add to that all-wheel-drive traction, and you’ve got a car that’s just as capable of hauling a family of four and all their gear on a long road trip as it is to rip it off at the track or convince you to make the trek home. While features like adaptive dampers really should be standard, there aren’t many cars you can buy with such a broad range of talent for vaguely reasonable money.

But those in countries that didn’t get the R Touring shouldn’t be too upset, as all the same Mk8.5 upgrades appear on the faster hatch. You just have to remember to travel light.

Image: Chris Chilton/Carscoops, Volkswagen