How about some good news from Volkswagen on this site lately?

We are pretty hard on the old VeeDub over here, which is ironic because my first-ever car was a 1975 SuperBeetle named Walter. This was in 1997, mind you, so he was already old enough to drink when I was 16.

After a bump on the nose in 2002.

2015 VW Golf R USA

Back to VW USA.

Pining and wishing and griping will never make the new Scirocco come to the USA – so let’s celebrate what we are getting: the new GTI and the new Golf R!

The Golf R really looks amazing in its latest style – with performance that finally reaches the speed of the WRX and Evo in sprints. The new Golf R is estimated to have 290-horsepower, but the figures are still being finalized to deliver the right mix of MPG and speed. We’d bet on 300 even.

That will comfortably deliver the promised 0-60-mph time of 4.9-seconds via the latest VW DSG and launch control.

All good stuff. Even better is that the new Golf R will come in its four-door shape versus the three-door style that is popular in Europe and elsewhere, but not in the States.   Three-door is all that is shown on US plates as of now.

So VW is learning… slowly but surely… that to sell bread/butter cars requires the low-volume, low-margin ones to come here as well. Better late than never, we say. Now how about a Scirocco 5-door….

Or a Jetta CC?

Or a new Passat CC, for that matter?

What is for sure is that VW AG is starting to really get the drift on how much it is sucking the life out of Volkswagen of America. I mean, help a brother out, Wolfsburg. Don’t set high targets than keep all the good cars away.

Volkswagen in Germany is about as helpful to the US sales teams as a pocket of bricks would be to a new swimmer in the deep end. This needs to change.

NEW VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R GETS HORSEPOWER BOOST AND WEIGHT REDUCTION

May 12, 2014

Based on the new MQB platform, the latest Golf R is the most sophisticated and fastest Golf model to be sold in the U.S.

• Most powerful production Golf ever for the North American market

• New car has an estimated 290 horsepower, but is more fuel efficient than previous Golf R

• EA888 TSI® 2.0-liter engine propels DSG®-equipped Golf R from 0 to 60 mph in approximately 4.9 seconds

• Car features new 4MOTION® all-wheel-drive system

• Golf R will go on sale in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015

Herndon, VA — 2015 will see the introduction of the latest Golf R, the most powerful version of the Golf ever to be sold in this market. With an estimated 290 horsepower, the new Golf R has 34 horsepower more than the previous version, which was sold as a 2013 model. Despite the additional horsepower, the new R model is expected to be considerably more fuel-efficient than its predecessor with a manufacturer-estimated highway fuel economy rating of 31 mpg with the six-speed manual transmission, up from 27 mpg. 

Like all three previous Golf R models, the new model transfers its turbocharged power to the road via a permanent all-wheel-drive system; in this case, the latest version of the 4MOTION® system with a fifth-generation Haldex® coupling. To ensure great chassis dynamics, there’s a new sport suspension, the Progressive variable-ratio steering system, and a stability control system (“ESC Sport”) which can now be deactivated for track driving. Other highlights include the optional DCC® adaptive damping system.

Equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, the Golf R will reach 60 mph from rest in 5.3 seconds, an improvement of 0.4 seconds over the old car; with the six-speed DSG® dual-clutch automatic transmission, the car completes the sprint in just 4.9 seconds.

The new Golf R is equipped with an extensive package of exclusive features. Along with specially designed bumpers, side skirts, and 18-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, the Golf R can also be visually distinguished from the GTI by details such as standard Bi-Xenon headlights with newly designed LED daytime running lights (in a dual-U design) and a two-branch exhaust system with four chrome tips. Inside, the Golf R underlines its position as the flagship of the model range with sport seats with leather seating surfaces, a leather-wrapped three-spoke sport steering wheel, ambient lighting, and R-specific instrumentation. The most powerful and fuel-efficient Golf R will be launched in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015 in four-door form only. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.

High-tech turbocharged engine

The Golf R has an even more advanced version of the EA888 four-cylinder turbocharged and direct-injection TSI® 2.0-liter engine that’s fitted to the new Golf GTI. The engineers boosted power to an estimated 290 hp, delivered at 5,500 rpm, thus creating one of the most powerful four-cylinder production engines in the world. Maximum torque has been increased to 280 pound-feet, available over a broad speed band from 1,800 to 5,500 rpm. To attain this output, the Golf R model’s 1984-cc engine was subjected to a motorsports-style development program. The following components were modified or completely redesigned compared to the GTI engine: the cylinder head (together with exhaust valves, valve seats, and springs), pistons, high-pressure injection system, and turbocharger.

The Golf R model’s EA888 series engine has innovative engineering solutions such as water-cooled exhaust gas channels running through the cylinder head to the turbocharger to help efficiently reduce full-load fuel consumption. Thanks to its new fully-electronic coolant control system, the Golf R TSI engine has much more efficient thermal management with a reduced warm-up phase that reduces frictional losses and fuel consumption. In addition, the TSI engine has variable valve timing on the intake and exhaust sides, as well as two-stage exhaust-valve lift. This helps enable optimal control of the charge exchange process for better performance, fuel economy, and lower emissions.

4MOTION all-wheel-drive system

The Golf R has always used 4MOTION permanent all-wheel drive. Using refinements such as the Haldex 5 coupling, the latest-generation 4MOTION system is activated before any wheelspin occurs, helping eliminate nearly all traction losses. The system achieves this by using an advanced control function based on specific driving conditions. When operating under a relatively low load or when coasting, the front wheels are driven and the rear wheels are decoupled, helping to save fuel. However, the rear wheels can be engaged in fractions of a second whenever necessary via the Haldex coupling, which is activated by an electro-hydraulic oil pump.

A control unit continually calculates the ideal drive torque for the rear wheels and controls how much the multi-plate clutch should be closed by activating the oil pump. The oil pressure increases the contact pressure at the clutch plates in proportion to the torque desired at the rear axle. So, the amount of pressure applied to the clutch plates can be used to continuously vary the amount of torque going between the front and rear wheels, up to a maximum of 50 percent at the rear axle.

In addition to the Haldex coupling that acts longitudinally, four electronic differential locks (EDS) that are a function of the electronic stability control system act laterally. The system briefly brakes a wheel that is slipping, enabling uninterrupted and stable transfer of drive power to the wheel on the opposite side.

In addition, the Golf R is equipped with the XDS® cross differential lock at the front and rear. The latest version, known as XDS+, applies this functionality to a larger range of dynamic performance, helping make the vehicle more agile. When the car is being driven at highway speeds, brake pressure is applied to the inside wheel to help restore optimal traction as soon as the electronics detect excessively light loads. XDS+ thereby operates like a limited-slip differential and thus compensates for understeer during faster cornering.

The new Golf R is equipped with “ESC Sport” as standard. The system is activated by a two-stage switch on the center console. When the driver presses this switch briefly, Electronic Stability Control (ESC) switches to the “ESC Sport” mode. In very fast driving on a race track, the ESC system has a higher threshold in this mode. When the ESC button is pressed for longer than three seconds, the system is fully deactivated for high-performance track driving, a feature that is available only on the Golf R.