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Volkswagen Golf R: VW's Defiant Competitor to the Toyota GR Corolla

With the first week of the New York International Auto Show well in the books, one thing is abundantly clear. The Toyota Corolla Gazoo Racing Edition has a good chance of stealing the show, even from the very first North American Toyota EV passenger car parked only a few steps away.
VW Golf R 2022 NYIAS 11 photos
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
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But Volkswagen's always been like an ice-shiv in the side of Toyota. Remember, it's VW that holds the title of the largest automaker in the world by volume, not Toyota. It may be by the slimmest of margins, but rest assured, the Germans are here in New York with something capable of matching the very best hot hatchbacks in the whole joint.

Meet the newest Golf R. Think of it like the one we know and love with a little extra spice everywhere it counts. Let's start off with the basics. Firstly, like the GR Corolla, the Golf R looks close to identical to that of the bare basic diesel Golf known the world over. But as with the Toyota, closer inspection makes it clear this is no rental car.

The Mark VIII Golf is the kind of car that thrives as it has always had in European markets for decades in the same way the latest Corolla has in North America. Just as there is at the bottom of the range, there's competition aplenty between the two at this upper apex of the monikers. It's a battle between two titans of the hot hatchback scene that so often gets overlooked in the U.S. and Canada.

Well, it's time to wake up, America.You thought the 300-horsepower three-cylinder engine in the GR Corolla was nuts? The Golf R has it beat. Not by much, but enough to make a difference at the drag strip.

VW Golf 2022 NYIAS
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
The 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injection, four-cylinder engine on tap in the Mark VIII Golf R jets 315 horsepower (235 kW; 320 Ps) and 420 Nm (310 lbf⋅ft), an advantage of 20 hp (15 kW; 20 PS) and 40 Nm (30 lbf⋅ft) when compared to the Mk7.

If you're interested, and we're inclined to believe you are, that's a full 15 horsepower more than what you get out of the three-pot in the GR Corolla. You won't be mistaking the new Golf R for anything else in the Golf line for that matter. The smooth, sculpted front grille would almost lead you to suspect this is an electric car, if not for popping the hood to break your delusion.

Since the Mark VII never really sold all that well in North America, it makes this successor all the more of a rare species among this Northeast American metropolitan crowd that Wednesday morning.

But of course, the Golf R had to play second fiddle to the incoming ID. Buzz EV at the Volkswagen exhibition this year. As it sits on its plinth in the center of Toyota's own exhibition, it receives far more pomp and circumstance.

VW Golf 2022 NYIAS
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
Volkswagen and Toyota are often more or less comparable in terms of interior quality, although VW is known for adding a few more electronic gadgets and beep boops than their Japanese counterparts, at least historically.

But where the center screen infotainment system on offer in the Corolla clearly looks like the same unit out of a base model rental car, the Volkswagen MIB3 touchscreen infotainment system in the Mark VIII Golf integrates its screen elegantly into a cockpit that looks remarkably changed from even the very recent past.

Strictly from a first impression perspective after getting familiar with the ins and outs of both cars, it begs questions that can only be answered by getting behind the wheel and test driving both. But at a start retail MSRP of $44,090 before taxes and fees, expect the Corolla to be at least a fraction of some sort less expensive.

If you manage to walk away with the Corolla for anything less than $40,000, regardless of how cheap it retails before dealer markups, you can safely pat yourself on the back for a heist for the ages.

VW Golf 2022 NYIAS
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
But between these two heavyweights at this year's New York Auto Show, which one would you most like to take home? The petite but precise Corolla GR, or the German bruiser VW Golf R? Let us know in the comments down below.

Check back for more from our coverage of the 2022 New York International Auto Show here on autoevolution.
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