Driven: 2025 Volkswagen Golf R Lacks Stick, Still Rocks

The winding rural roads that lead to West Virginia’s Summit Point Motorsports Park are the perfect appetizer for a real racetrack. The rapid pace of the fresh-faced 2025 Volkswagen Golf R we’re driving matches our quickened heart rate, but our left leg and right arm are conspicuously sidelined. Sadly, this is the new normal for everyone who buys an R-rated Golf—or the chiller GTI—as VW killed the previously available manual gearbox. Thankfully, the rest of the recipe remains as tasty as ever.Atone and Retune Ditching the stick isn’t the only change for the 2025 model year. Like its front-drive GTI sibling, the all-wheel-drive Golf R receives some facial reconstruction. Redesigned headlights swivel with steering inputs, the front VW logo now lights up, and the reworked grille adopts a more open concept that improves engine and brake cooling. A new set of 19-inch forged wheels shed a combined 16 pounds of unsprung mass. Opt for the new Black Edition, and VW will swap out the wheels, body badges, and brake calipers for black-painted replacements, in addition to outfitting the interior with real carbon-fiber trim.For those who wish to extract every inch of fun from the Golf R, the new $3795 Euro Style package is the play. In a way, Volkswagen is atoning for abandoning the manual by offering desirable parts that were previously reserved for European models. Combined with the aforementioned lighter wheels, the Euro Style kit saves around 80 pounds by deleting the sunroof and stripping the front seats of their ventilated cushions and power-sliding functions. The package also includes an Akrapovič exhaust that’s 15 pounds lighter than the standard system—and sounds meaner too.
The Golf R’s esteemed EA888 2.0-liter turbo four is retuned but feeds a familiar seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The iron-block engine still makes 295 pound-feet of torque, but its powerband is slightly wider and output rises from 315 to 328 horsepower. That increase makes the Golf R the mightiest hot hatch in America, surpassing the manual-only 320-hp Acura Integra Type S.On the Racetrack and the RoadSummit Point’s Jefferson Circuit ain’t exactly VIR, but the 1.7-mile road course includes 14 corners and a challenging elevation change that let us probe the Golf R’s performance limits without risking a sleepover with the police. Our three laps immediately follow a similar session in a new Golf GTI Autobahn, and their divergent driving dynamics are obvious after Turn 1. The R’s brake pedal has an earlier initial bite that feels grabby on public streets but reassuring on the track. Both Golfs benefit from quick steering, but neither wheel is very talkative. As you might expect, the hotter hatch is an absolute riot to pilot. The torque-vectoring rear diff helps swing the R’s hips like Swayze in Dirty Dancing. The dual-clutch ‘box allows us to focus on the racing line; it doesn’t shift as hastily as Porsche’s PDK units, but it keeps the boosted four-pot in the sweet spot. A set of prominent paddle shifters lets you play maestro with the ratios, and the transmission will hold each gear until you tire of bouncing off the redline. More on the Golf RThe Golf R’s superpower is its broad bandwidth—the ability to be what you want, when you want it. Sure, the GTI is sporty enough for most people, but the AWD R better serves those who want a track-day hustler that isn’t embarrassing to park at the office or uncomfortable to drive on a date night. The standard adaptive dampers provide a wide ride-quality spectrum ranging from stiff to supple. There’s even a Drift mode that overpowers the outside rear wheel for tail-wagging behavior, a feature we’d like even more if the Golf R had a traditional hand brake. Alas, an electronic parking brake is not the Vee-Dub’s only ergonomic error.Give and TakeSince it launched for 2022, the eighth-generation Golf has received its fair share of flak for those annoying capacitive steering-wheel buttons. Basically, it’s like butt-dialing, only instead of accidentally calling your ex, your palm accidentally activates the heated steering wheel or changes the drive mode—a real buzzkill in the middle of a hot lap. VW acknowledged the problem and promised to put real buttons back on the steering wheel’s spokes. And it did for the facelifted GTI, but not the Golf R. Why? Blame the R button, a drive-mode shortcut that’s not included on the GTI. The company line is that it wasn’t cost-effective to redesign a separate Golf R steering wheel to accommodate the R function. If it were up to us, we’d relegate the R-mode stuff to the center stack and bring over the GTI’s new wheel. It’s that much of an improvement.While we love how the Golf’s interior is more driver-centric than its predecessor, the eighth-gen’s material quality had taken a step backward. To help address that, nicer trim makes its way to the dash and doors. The refresh also brings a new 12.9-inch touchscreen that replaces the old 10.0-inch unit. It still lacks a volume knob and forces us to use unintuitive sliders, but at least said sliders are now backlit. The new MIB3 infotainment interface is easier to operate thanks to larger icons, quicker responses, and a more logical layout. VW also includes a new AI voice assistant powered by ChatGPT. While the K.I.T.T.-like feature might be cool to younger people, we prefer knob turning over machine learning. The 2025 Golf R starts at $48,325. Dropping the manual raises the base price by $1435, but it’s only $635 more than the outgoing dual-clutch model. The new Black Edition starts at $49,640, and adding the Euro Style package pushes the price to $53,435. That puts a fully loaded Golf R in the same range as the more luxurious Audi S3 sedan and BMW M240i coupe, but their shapes aren’t as practical as VW’s hatchback hot rod. Of course, the current 25 percent tariff on imported cars has the potential to affect the German-built Golf R’s window sticker. Thankfully, models should be arriving in showrooms as you read this, and VW has vowed not to raise costs until at least the end of May. Volkswagen blames manual-phobic markets outside of North America for the Golf R’s missing stick. We’ve long been three-pedal advocates, so the Golf R’s DIY transmission will be sorely missed. Will that move push Golfers into the driver’s seat of stick-shift saviors such as the Honda Civic Type R and Toyota GR Corolla? Maybe. But we’re not ready to excommunicate VW’s hottest hatch just yet. There’s still a lot to love here.SpecificationsSpecifications
2025 Volkswagen Golf R
Vehicle Type: front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback
PRICE
Base: Golf R, $48,325; Black Edition, $49,640
ENGINE
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 121 in3, 1984 cm3
Power: 328 hp @ 6500 rpm
Torque: 295 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
7-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 103.5 in
Length: 169.1 in
Width: 70.4 in
Height: 57.8 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 51/41 ft3
Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 35/20 ft3
Curb Weight (C/D est): 3400 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 4.0 sec
100 mph: 10.2 sec
1/4-Mile: 12.5 sec
Top Speed: 155 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 25/22/31 mpgEric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si.
Source: caranddriver.com