As the debut date of the new generation Golf hatchback draws near, some of the crazier speculative reports are being contradicted. The big one was regarding how much power the Golf 8 R would have, with some claiming that it was 400 HP or even more.
We've often said that Volkswagen as a company likes to make incremental changes, not mind-blowing alteration. The Golf has stayed in the No.1 spot on the European sales charts precisely because it doesn't rock the boat.
Anyway, a recent interview with Top Gear magazine suggested VW officials believe buyers don't want the 400 horsepower Golf R, which was what they showed as a concept many years ago. Instead, they're after something that can be used every day, not a wild sports car killer such as the A45 from the AMG boys.
This information lines up with another story. Auto Bild's latest video report says that the Golf 8 R is meant to compete with the new A35, which produces 306 and 400 Nm of torque. VW will give its contender just a bit more power, 330 HP, which based on a recent drag race we've seen is worrying for Mercedes.
While the new Golf family hatch is scheduled to debut in November 2019, the Golf R will take a little longer to develop. The AWD hot hatch will come out at the end of 2020 and available to buy the following year.
Of course, a new GTI will slot somewhere between the two, with current information dictating that its base version will produce 245 HP while special version could go up to around 300.
Check out the video if you're wondering what the 2020/2021 Golf R will look like. It's a rendering that's based on the same spyshots we have, with the intakes and such coming from the T-Roc R that was revealed in Geneva.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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