Mk7 golf R estate - engine differences

[jimmy156]

Hi all,

I’m looking at getting a mk7 R estate, between £16kish and £19kish.

I’ve seen cars in this prices range from 2016 to 2020.

Performance specs seem to be different depending on the year…

I’ve seen a 2017 car with 296bhp, 0-60 in 4.6 and returning 32.9mog

A 2017 car with 306bhp, 0-60 in 4.6 and 39.2 mpg

A 2016 car with 296bhp, 0-60 5.1 and returning 39.6mog

And various other variations!

Is this just Autotrader getting specs wrong? I seem to remember that there was a change at some point due to emissions and the cars lost a bit of power?

Is there any meaningful difference in feel or reliability?

[SteBrown91]

It’s just the Autotrader guff wrong.

There was basically 3 main variants:

Mk7 - 300PS
Mk7.5 up to late 18 - 310PS
Mk7.5 late 18 to 20 - 300PS (now with OPF filter)

I think the OPF cars also ditched the port and direct injection (8 injectors basically) for direct injection only.

[AliMc99]

I’m not a total expert on this but we had a mechanically identical 2017 Audi S3 with what I think was a very short lived sweet spot- the power was increased for 2017 from 295 to 310 bhp (ish) and if going auto the gearbox went from 6 speed to 7 speed- which is much responsive and also more economical. In late 2017 the power was reduced back down to 295bhp as a result of GPF filters. This (at least on the Audi) made the engine sound a lot more muffled.

[jimmy156]

Thanks both,

Looks like the sweet spot then is the Early Mk7.5...

When does it stop being a Mk7 and start being a Mk7.5? Is the .5 meaningfully better / worth a premium?

[ManicMunky]

AliMc99 said:

I m not a total expert on this but we had a mechanically identical 2017 Audi S3 with what I think was a very short lived sweet spot- the power was increased for 2017 from 295 to 310 bhp (ish) and if going auto the gearbox went from 6 speed to 7 speed- which is much responsive and also more economical. In late 2017 the power was reduced back down to 295bhp as a result of GPF filters. This (at least on the Audi) made the engine sound a lot more muffled.

The estate has a less complicated exhaust set up, so it's still quite lively for a standard car.

[Hotfuzz]

jimmy156 said:

Thanks both,

Looks like the sweet spot then is the Early Mk7.5...

When does it stop being a Mk7 and start being a Mk7.5? Is the .5 meaningfully better / worth a premium?

Mechanically, the big difference between the Mk7 and Mk7.5 is the change from the 6 speed transmission to the 7 speed transmission. Definitely an improvement with the 7 speed, which I think is worth going for.

Cosmetically the 7.5 had an updated front end, and also LED headlights and taillights. For the interior, the 7.5 brought a larger infotainment screen with better phone connectivity. Also the driver info display went to a full digital display. The Mk7 has the older analog dials.