Just days after revealing the new 2024 Golf, Volkswagen has proven the four-wheel-drive R scorching hatch in public for the primary time.
The Golf range-topper was on show in prototype kind – alongside the already-revealed GTI, GTE and eHybrid variants – on the Zell am See ice race in Austria over the weekend.
Wearing a commemorative ’50 years of Golf’ camouflage livery, the brand new Golf R took to the ice circuit as a part of a celebration of Volkswagen’s four-wheel-drive efficiency model, forward of its full unveiling this summer time.
Head of the division Reinhold Ivan mentioned: “Volkswagen R is Volkswagen’s premium performance brand and has stood for sportiness and dynamic performance for more than 20 years. Here at the Ice Race, the past meets the future. We can hardly wait for the Golf R, still disguised here, to celebrate its premiere this summer.”
Like the usual Golf and GTI, the R has not been visually reinvented, however will observe them in gaining a brand new inside that seeks to proper criticisms of the eighth-generation Golf line-up, with a brand new infotainment system, the reintroduction of bodily buttons and a raft of higher-quality cabin supplies.
It shall be marked out externally from the present R by a brand new illuminated Volkswagen emblem and new-generation LED matrix headlights – alongside, little question, further color and trim choices – together with the brand new R-badged alloys worn by this prototype.
It’s anticipated to be a case of evolution moderately than revolution below the bonnet, too, with VW’s strongest hatchback retaining its 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, although possible with energy boosted barely above the 316bhp of as we speak’s automotive. It would be the remaining petrol iteration of the Golf R, with the efficiency model shifting to an electrical line-up by 2030.
VW has given no indication of how far it may possibly take the EA888 motor, however 2022’s special-edition Golf R 333 – the costliest Golf but offered – boosted output to 328bhp for a high pace of 167mph and a 0-62mph dash time of 4.6secs.
Volkswagen has proven the R in hatchback kind, however earlier prototype sightings affirm that the Golf R estate will make a return as a rival to the lately up to date Mercedes CLA 35 capturing brake.
Prices shall be given nearer to launch, however a slight premium over the present £43,215 is predicted.