Photo: Volkswagen
An even more hardcore version of the new Golf R has been announced by Volkswagen for this year's Beijing Auto Show. On April 20, the R 400 Concept will be shown at the Chinese venue and based on the teasers they've released, it's going to be a stunner.
More radical styling has obviously been created for this show concept, but it's the mechanical bits we're interested in. Like a Mitsubishi Evo, this Golf R's 2-liter TSI turbo engine has been tuned to produce 400 horsepower (PS German market rating) instead of the usual 300. Torque is also up from 380 Nm (280 lb-ft) to 450Nm (383 lb-ft).
Channeled through a 4Motion all-wheel drive system, the most powerful 2-liter turbo around takes this concept from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 175mph or 282km/h. That's a full second faster than the production Golf R and on par with some supercars. The Mercedes SLS AMG, for example, needs 3.8 seconds to reach the benchmark speed.
Exciting stuff, especially if you consider this is based on the same Golf any family man drives. Too bad it's a concept though! Even the new Audi RS3 will fall short of that number, expected to produce 367 PS from a bigger 2.5-liter engine. But maybe there's hope for a slightly more powerful Golf R with about 320 PS. Who know?!
Our say: VW bosses seem to be a lot more interested in the Chinese market than Europe and America right now. Why would they ever reveal this concept in Beijing instead of New York? The Worthersee is also coming up in May. How many Golf R loyal customers attend annual meetings in Beijing?
Channeled through a 4Motion all-wheel drive system, the most powerful 2-liter turbo around takes this concept from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 175mph or 282km/h. That's a full second faster than the production Golf R and on par with some supercars. The Mercedes SLS AMG, for example, needs 3.8 seconds to reach the benchmark speed.
Exciting stuff, especially if you consider this is based on the same Golf any family man drives. Too bad it's a concept though! Even the new Audi RS3 will fall short of that number, expected to produce 367 PS from a bigger 2.5-liter engine. But maybe there's hope for a slightly more powerful Golf R with about 320 PS. Who know?!
Our say: VW bosses seem to be a lot more interested in the Chinese market than Europe and America right now. Why would they ever reveal this concept in Beijing instead of New York? The Worthersee is also coming up in May. How many Golf R loyal customers attend annual meetings in Beijing?
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