Volkswagen To Bring Golf R To US Shores In 2012

Since 009 is to lazy to look it up for us, I google the spec it 266 hp and cost around $32,500 for the M/T model. I think that a lot of money for this car but it should be a blast to drive Golf R version for sure.

Hey I can buy a 370Z for that price.

Wait a min...I think I will.

Excellent. I'm tempted

No DSG is a dealbreaker for me, I would literally be putting a deposit down on one otherwise.

WTF? Looking at the interior photos it looks like the Euro version is available with DSG. Argh.

Some people enjoy the pleasure of manually shifting gears and having that organic experience. Unless you know how to shift super fast you probably aren't going to beat a DSG gear box but it's always the experience that makes people returning customers more than how fast it can go.

I've been exclusively manual for 20 years, even our family sedan is manual, but I find DSG even more satisfying. Don't mind not being able to show off my heel-toe skills. I just don't understand VW not giving us the choice.

3 or 5 Door

The Rear Hatch is considered a Door.

Looking like I will get the 4-door GTI. Can't say I will mind the cost savings. Probably wait a few months in case they change their minds about offering the R with DSG.

now yer talkin'! all the hoonability without the "douche" stigma of higher-end labeled cars, utility, speed, AWD, remember the R32 had pretty decent exclusivity/resale, quality interior, doors that go "thunk", great styling. I like this car.

Should be enough of a market of people too poor to afford RWD.

lmao! There are multiple rwd cars with an extra 90+hp for $10k less then this car for sale.

errr 40 not 90

actually, I would love a 403hp sierra Denali.

VW is FINALLY bringing a car that makes sense to me.

-Manual gearbox. Check
-Turbo 4. Check
-AWD. Check
-Hatchback design. Check
-4 Doors. Check

I won't have to settle for a FWD Focus ST or a MS3. I can have my cake and drive in the winter too!

Good point. I was never really a "hot hatch" fun but now I see how versatile something like this can be.

I was big on coupes and sporty sedans for awhile, but after owning my Matrix...yes I own a Matrix, I have really been opened up to the whole package of these cars.

I have a 2005 Toyota Matrix XR AWD with a 4spd automatic slushbox and 140 teeny horses. It was not available in a manual, but man I love it. the mpg's are great (28-35 average), the hatchback design holds gobs of stuff whether it be shopping, yard work, people, camping, trips, etc. It's low to the ground while still giving you somewhat of a raised seating position.

I could go on, there are a thousand reasons I love my car, just wish it had a standard and more power. Subaru's hatches are too egg lookiing for me. I am seriously considering this as I will be in the market in 2012 for a new car.

I can't get used to hatch backs or cars with a real trunk.

*without

As I man who loves hatchbacks, hates FWD and refuses to drive anything with less than 3 pedals I am very excited about this. I would have to drive one to be sure, but there is a very good chance that this will be my next car.

32 Grand for an AWD that competes with the Subaru WRX is slightly pricy but not too bad. The STI goes for roughly 37 grand.I hope they bring it in for a little under 32 grand. I think 29 grand would be more appropriate.

But you know what would be any more appropriate.BRING IN THE SCIROCCO!!!
If VAG is going to charge 32 grand plus for a Golf R why not bring in a
"PRETTY" car for a change besides the CC.The only reason the VAG will not bring in the Scirocco is they want to protect their precious Golf at all costs. It has nothing to do with cost as the Scirocco is built on the same line as the EOS(which looks almost as doggie redesigned as the original did).

the scirocco is the most front end heavy car I know. If you are looking for performance you should stray clear of it. If you want it for it's visual appeal I can understand your wanting.

64% On the front, 36% on the rear.

By comparison, a F150 which has virtually nothing over the rear wheels has a better weight distribution of 61% front and 39% rear.

no no no! you misunderstood me. Pickup trucks have notoriously horrible weight distributions. A rwd pickup is one of the last things you'll want to have on ice. The pickup truck analogy was to show how horribly front end heavy this vw is.

Everything I've read about the Scirocco indicates it's a great handling car and more fun to drive then a GTI. It's lower to the ground,it has a wider track and it's not quite as refined as a Golf.True the Scirocco R is only FWD but it has still gotten acolades over the Golf R.

For regular city and highway driving heavy understeer isn't an issue and by many people is regarded as a safety feature. The added weight on the front can even be considered a benefit as it allows the car to have more traction on the driven wheels. Great handling for a city car? ya probably, great handling on a track? hardly. The only way you can even out a car with this horrendous of weight distribution without inducing terrible amounts of camber is to remove the grip at the rear end in proportion to the front. This means put skinny tires at the rear, or put race spec tires on your driven wheels and shitty standard tires on the rear end lol.

I only have 2 issues with this car for daily driving. The first is that it might not be able to swerve out of the way of something that popped out in front of me, and where I live the roads get very icy. On a highway with a slight turn and almost no traction, I might just slide off into the ditch as I wouldn't be able to turn.

lol nope, I dunno how you came to that conclusion. I was giving a comparison to show just how badly distributed the scirocco is. But please, keep spinning my arguments. And if I remember correctly, your argument wasn't that the audi tt had lift problems, it was something about it requiring more stability/understeer.

spin spin spin! Are you getting dizzy yet?

No need! I'll copy paste the important bits.

"Go read up on the instability of the original FWD Audi TT. That pop up spoiler really aids in stability." - sportsbike80

"stability... by inducing understeer?" - Joe_Limon

You mean this bit?

You truly are a spin master. Check all of this spin out.

"I wish someone would cleave all those spoilers off... fwd cars look retarded with them." - Joe_Limon

"So let me guess, you and Joe think the huge wings on the FRONT of a F1 car are useless also!" - sportsbike80

How did you jump to this conclusion about rwd race cars when I was talking about fwd street cars?

"A car needs to be balanced, such huge spoilers on these cars in comparison to the front will only cause the front wheels to lose some of their traction and cause the car to plow through every corner." - Joe_Limon

"So basically, Joe is admitting he has zero knowledge of LIFT at high speeds. In Joe's opinion, a car like the above built for the 24 hour endurance race at high speeds actually doesn't need spoilers to reduce lift and increase cornering ability." - sportsbike80

lol, and those cars you were referring to were sema cars with aftermarket kits slapped on to increase the "cool" factor lol! One even had speakers mounted to the rear bumper hahahaha

Has anyone ever read any of the reviews of the Scirocco. Generally speaking they have been very positive from all of the Euro motoring publications.I will say this. Weight distribution is definately a factor in how a car handles. However so is engineering. Take the Porsche 911.It's weight distribution is 37/63 front to rear. By all stretch of the imagination it should oversteer at anything more then 2 MPH going into a tight turn. But as you all know it doesn't.......Why engineering. I beleive a Renault Megane has an inferior weight distribution then the Scirocco but it is considered just about the top handling cars,even above the Scirocco,and strongly resists understeer. There is so much more that goes into handling then just weight distribution distribution. Perhaps Joe does not like FWD cars because they will ultimately understeer at the limit. Well that's a personal preference. It's really more about how high the cornering limits are and how agile the car is before those limits are reached. The Scirocco is a very agile car and actually more agile then the Golf R. Ultimately it does not have the traction of the Golf in poor weather but I've read it is more rewarding to drive. Other then that I think it looks quite a bit nicer. But that's my opinion.

I dislike your broad paint brush strokes of "engineering" makes the car not understeer. I have outlined various methods automotive engineers use to induce and/or reduce understeer in other articles, but for production models, these methods all reduce the peak cornering ability. This includes vehicle toe, front end down force, smaller rear tires, and excessive camber in the rear, heck, even really stiff rear sway bars will decrease rear end grip to enhance front end grip. If there weren't compromises being made, you would see many more high end supercars not caring about the weight distribution of their cars as any under/oversteer characteristics as you so pointed out could be "engineered" out.

Joe the Scirocco is not claiming to be a "high end" supercar.As you well know many many car makers have been using FWD for decades. The Scirocco is simply a sporty version platform of the Golf. That's what it was always intended to be. I know full well that for optimum handling with a lot of horspower (300 HP plus) you need RWD.But engineering has gone a long way to minimize the classic effects of a lot of power going through the front wheels. The Scirocco is one of the best platforms at this. Further car makers are now designing anti torque steer into power steering systems. In fact the 2011 Mini Cooper has this new technology.You are now seeing FWD cars that perform better then RWD sportscars of 20 yrs ago with better handling and way better fuel economy.No your right FWD cars will probably never have the handling characteristics of rwd cars. But it is proven that they can be agile and have very high cornering limits to satisfy 99% of the driving public.What I've read due to it's wider track and lower center of gravity the Scirocco is the best handling platform in VAG's FWD stable at the moment.