RE: VW Golf R Estate: Review

[darren f]

MagicalTrevor said:

I know somebody who's selling a Brian James Clubman if you're after one!

Thanks for the thought but it's a bit 'been there, done that' really. I sold my old trailer (PG Supersport) and tow-car as it was a hassle having an everyday driver that was compromised by the towing requirement. Now that Golf wouldn't be such a compromise (....no, dammit, must resist )

[ianrb]

Now if they would just put the Golf R powertrain into the Skoda Yeti, that would be a laugh...

[Ali_T]

Do we have to do this again? We exhausted all the PH cliches on the Golf R hatchback thread!

[berto123]

Think the hatch in 3 or 5 door looks pretty dam good, where as this on the other hand would make an onion cry looking at it.

[darren f]

You know what they say about beauty, but I disagree. Yes the arse-end is clumsy (exhausts?) but I reckon it's not bad. Some cars (IMHO) actually look better as estates (see F30 3-series, Volvo S/V60 and latest Focus).

[TartanPaint]

I have a Golf "Variant" (estate) 2.0 TDi with decent spec as a family wagon, and it does absolutely everything... loaded up for family weekends, load-lugger to the tip, commuter, or just wafting along in 6th at reasonable real-world speeds with decent foot-down response. It's not exactly sexy motoring. Its nickname in our house is the GTA, which stands for Generic Transport Appliance. But if you need a competent family car, you might as well pick the most competent all-rounder you can, and even as man with 99 octane flowing in his veins, I pride myself on choosing a cracking motah there.

Adding in some geniune hot-hatch performance to that package is a very attractive proposition. But...

If I traded up to the R, I know I'd always want my real-world 50(town) to 70(run) MPG back for 95% of journeys, and for the other 5% of journeys I wouldn't pick up the VW keys.

If you only had room for one car on the driveway though, then wow, yeah, I think this would be a great car to live with.

[SFO]

that blue suits the car very well

[lee_erm]

VW need to bring out a Passat R.

[Kong]

Without a doubt the most boring looking 300bhp car I can think of but everything else sounds great - this will be a popular choice for the family man.

[MagicalTrevor]

lee_erm said:

VW need to bring out a Passat R.

Been there, done that. It didn't sell well
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

[redroadster]

Ticks a lot of boxes for a fast family car cheap lease deal well done vw.

[David87]

Love it. Think I'll get one of these as the family bus once the lease is up on my dull-as-dishwater Qashqai.

[Axionknight]

MagicalTrevor said:

Been there, done that. It didn't sell well
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Biiiiiig, thirsty engines with high road tax costs = bad.

Small, less thirsty engines with lower road tax but high performance = good.

[court]

Love it, as said up thread the 4 pipes work better on the estate for me - shame you don't get the LED tail lights though.

[MadDog1962]

When I retire back to the UK in 4 or 5 years, I can see myself buying one of these.

It looks better (to me) than the equivalent 5 door hatch version. It'll be properly fast (for the real World) as well as totally practical.

10/10 for VW.

[MadDog1962]

MagicalTrevor said:

lee_erm said:

VW need to bring out a Passat R.

Been there, done that. It didn't sell well
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

I sometimes wonder if I should have bought one of those when I was working in Texas. Big discount available, and fuel costs were not a worry on other side of the pond. But these V6 Passats were not selling well over there either. Depreciation would have been catastrophic. Most people bought the 5 cylinder 2.5 petrol, which actually wasn't nearly as bad as the journalists reported. Still comfy and fast enough. Better than a contemporary Ford Taurus or a Chevy Impala - I drove all of them extensively (>1000 miles) as rentals.

[FamilyDub]

Still four exhaust pipes

Still looks like a great answer to a question that nobody asked!

Edited by FamilyDub on Wednesday 22 April 06:09

[Emeye]

No Manual option?

[Beefmeister]

The VW site only gives the option of a six speed manual? Can anyone confirm if it's manual or DSG in the UK?

[DoubleSix]

One day there will be an article about a fast estate the doesn't roll out the cliched "Getaway car...." line.

One day.