The Volkswagen Golf Mk3 is old news now. At 27 years, it’s probably the least liked Volkswagen in the world at the moment. The Golf Mk3 GTI suffered a similar fate in the ‘90s. It had become sensible and swelled in weight and size – it was a letdown. The Golf VR6 was the car that desperately spawned the GTI from turning into a lazy slobbery bulldog.
Thirty-one years ago, Volkswagen, through its Research and Development Division, released the VR6 engine. This powerplant is perhaps one of the most innovative designs of those times. Due to its novelty, VW slapped it in a number of its models, including the Golf.
While it’s often confused for a V6, it’s not a straight-six and not quite a V6. If anything, it’s a combination of the two. Simply put, this powerplant incorporates six cylinders in an engine block roughly the size of your regular straight four.
Stock this VW Golf came with a naturally aspirated 2.8-liter VR6 engine good for 172 hp (174 ps) and 173 lb-ft (235 Nm) of torque. The innovative engine was paired with a 5-speed manual transmission on a front-wheel-drive setup. This pocket rocket could sprint from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 7.8 seconds with a top speed of 139 mph (224 kph).
Last weekend, Cvdzijden - Supercar Videos on YouTube featured a brutal flame-shooting Volkswagen Golf VR6 during a Race1000 event at Airport Neuhardenberg, Germany. The car packs an insane 690 hp (700 ps) turbocharged VR6 engine and ran insane numbers on the strip.
It has a loud flame-popping hood-top exhaust and a front-mounted intercooler sticking out, an obnoxious indicator of the riot under the hood.
Details of the mods are not available, but it pulled a crazy maximum speed of 172 mph (278 kph) on a half-mile sprint against a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. The Cayenne Turbo completed the half-mile with a top speed of 130 mph (210 kph).
PS: You can catch some of that crazy flame-spitting action in the video below.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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