Photo: Volkswagen AG
It was late January 2024 when the German automaker produced a tale of snow and ice to showcase the upcoming 2025 Volkswagen Golf R. However, the brand's most powerful hot hatchback currently in production was still clad in a distinctive '50 years of Golf' digital-blue camouflage.
Back then, Volkswagen was coming hot off the heels of the refreshed Golf lineup premiere just a week before the teaser – including the GTI front-wheel drive hot hatch. It certainly looked like the German automaker was just about ready to start the premiere procedures for the mighty Golf R. Ahem, cough, cough, nothing happened.
After the 2025 Volkswagen Golf R was put to the test at the Ice Race in Zell am See, Austria, and pushed to the max by pro racer Hans-Joachim Stuck and Johan Kristoffersson (a six-time WRC champion), we only got the memory of the unique camouflage pattern mixing multiple shades of blue and decorated with the R letter here and there. Also, it had the letters '50 years of Golf' sprinkled on it.
In the meantime, Volkswagen has premiered the Golf GTI Clubsport ahead of the Nürburgring Nordschleife 24 Hours endurance race on June 1 as their most powerful front-wheel drive Golf ever. Again, no Volkswagen Golf R. But hopefully, we are not going to wait another five months or so before the company comes out with yet another teaser.
We really wish they would just peel the digital-blue camouflage off the hot hatchback as well as the not-for-US station wagon. Volkswagen featured the Golf R in a recent social media video showing the regular and Variant body styles with the MK8.5 mid-lifecycle update goodies. These are "near-production" prototypes of the Golf R and Golf R Variant with the same camouflage wrap, and the company, this time around, showed a little more of the design after peeling some bits here and there.
As far as we can tell, the facelift includes modifications to the LED headlights and taillights and reworked bumpers, and the interior will also benefit from the addition of a fresh 12.9-inch infotainment system display. It's more or less in line with the other members of the Golf lineup. The Variant will boast the same changes, and it seems that it won't make it to Australia anymore as the division is discontinuing that model there. It also never crossed the big pond (aka the Atlantic Ocean) into North America, so it will probably soldier on in the United Kingdom and the Old Continent.
Mechanically, it remains to be seen if the refreshed Golf R will get Volkswagen's engineers to approve more power than the '20 Years' and '333' special editions, which boast 333 ps or 329 horsepower. It might get a little more oomph as a way to cut some of the corners needed to reach the pedestal of more powerful hot hatchbacks like the Audi RS 3 Sportback or the Mercedes-AMG A 45, but we'll get to find out during the official premiere, not before.
After the 2025 Volkswagen Golf R was put to the test at the Ice Race in Zell am See, Austria, and pushed to the max by pro racer Hans-Joachim Stuck and Johan Kristoffersson (a six-time WRC champion), we only got the memory of the unique camouflage pattern mixing multiple shades of blue and decorated with the R letter here and there. Also, it had the letters '50 years of Golf' sprinkled on it.
In the meantime, Volkswagen has premiered the Golf GTI Clubsport ahead of the Nürburgring Nordschleife 24 Hours endurance race on June 1 as their most powerful front-wheel drive Golf ever. Again, no Volkswagen Golf R. But hopefully, we are not going to wait another five months or so before the company comes out with yet another teaser.
We really wish they would just peel the digital-blue camouflage off the hot hatchback as well as the not-for-US station wagon. Volkswagen featured the Golf R in a recent social media video showing the regular and Variant body styles with the MK8.5 mid-lifecycle update goodies. These are "near-production" prototypes of the Golf R and Golf R Variant with the same camouflage wrap, and the company, this time around, showed a little more of the design after peeling some bits here and there.
As far as we can tell, the facelift includes modifications to the LED headlights and taillights and reworked bumpers, and the interior will also benefit from the addition of a fresh 12.9-inch infotainment system display. It's more or less in line with the other members of the Golf lineup. The Variant will boast the same changes, and it seems that it won't make it to Australia anymore as the division is discontinuing that model there. It also never crossed the big pond (aka the Atlantic Ocean) into North America, so it will probably soldier on in the United Kingdom and the Old Continent.
Mechanically, it remains to be seen if the refreshed Golf R will get Volkswagen's engineers to approve more power than the '20 Years' and '333' special editions, which boast 333 ps or 329 horsepower. It might get a little more oomph as a way to cut some of the corners needed to reach the pedestal of more powerful hot hatchbacks like the Audi RS 3 Sportback or the Mercedes-AMG A 45, but we'll get to find out during the official premiere, not before.
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