Volkswagen thought that by keeping the camouflage to the minimum on the 2025 Golf R, it might just evade the camera lens. But it couldn't trick our spy photographers, who immortalized the facelifted iteration of the eighth-gen driving at the Nurburgring and on the roads near it.
Blink, and you might miss the updates, but there are quite a few of them. For one, the headlamps were revised and feature new graphics. The grille is roughly the same and appears to have a thin light strip on it. As for the bumper, the side vents were shrunken, leading to a bigger central air intake.
Save for the new taillights, there are no significant changes at the other end, where the bumper and diffuser carry over. However, they should be different by the time the German automaker completes the testing and fine-tuning phase of the car. It is possible that new wheels will be added as options, and they could round things off with an enhanced color palette.
Oh, and if you doubt that this is indeed the R version, aka the range-topping member of the Golf family, then all you have to do is look at the R logo sitting on the grille and on the tailgate. Moreover, both cars, as it was spied testing in the hatchback and station wagon (Variant) flavors, had the signature quad exhaust pipes, as the GTI features two of them.
Photo: Baldauf
The turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine will carry over, likely without any significant upgrades. The 2024 Volkswagen Golf R is offered with 315 hp (320 ps/235 kW) in our market, mated to a six-speed manual transmission and standard all-wheel drive with torque vectoring. It has an MSRP of $45,455, features 19-inch alloys, three-zone climate control, Harman Kardon audio, a panoramic sunroof, and additional gizmos.
The Golf R starts at €54,880 ($58,660) in its home market, packing a 320 ps (315 hp/235 kW) 2.0L four-pot that makes 420 Nm (310 lb-ft) of torque and is hooked up to a seven-speed DSG and AWD. It needs 4.7 seconds to accelerate to 100 kph (62 mph) and has a top speed of 250 kph (155 mph). The Golf R Performance lifts the output to 333 ps (328 hp/245 kW), shaves the sprint time by one-tenth, and kicks off at €57,985 ($61,980).
Considering that the current Golf R is in the 2024 model year, we expect the facelifted iteration to launch in the United States as a 2025 model. As usual, it will only be offered as a hatchback, as the Golf R Variant won't cross the Atlantic Ocean. The FWD2025 Golf GTI will join it in showrooms nationwide, perhaps with a slight price bump over the current one, which kicks off at $31,765.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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