Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years 2023 Review

Asking close to $10,000 more than the car on which it’s based, the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years is priced from $77,490 plus on-road costs.

Depending on where you live, that’ll be well over $80K by the time you get it on road, making this extremely rare hot hatch also a rather pricey one.

But Volkswagen says you get lots of extra benefits for that coin, including an Akrapovic titanium exhaust (valued at $6000), a panoramic sunroof (usually $1900) and a premium Harman Kardon sound system (valued at $1900).

And that’s before we mention any performance upgrades, where the 20 Years boasts an extra 10kW of power and 20Nm over the regular Golf R.

We’ll dive into that in a moment, but must also mention that Golf R 20 Years pricing will perhaps be academic in only a few hours, because it goes on sale from 1:00pm AEST today (July 13, 2023) and is limited to only 50 examples.

So it’s a case of first in, best dressed…

Some may find it difficult to identify the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years from afar because the only two colour options it comes in – Lapiz Blue and Pure White – are both available on the regular Golf R range. Boring!

Of the 50 coming to Oz, 32 examples will be blue, while the remaining 18 are white. And while all will come fitted with 19-inch Estoril alloy wheels, only the white cars are fitted with eye-catching blue and black two-tone wheels. The Lapiz Blue cars get solid gloss black shoes.

Look closer and the B-pillars are fitted with black ‘20’ badges, while puddle lamps project a ‘20 R’ logo onto the ground, and contrasting blue inlays feature up front.

Inside the cabin, real carbon-fibre dash inlays are a welcome step up from the regular Golf R range’s faux carbon trim, and the Nappa leather-appointed seats come with blue stitching that only trainspotters will notice is a slightly different shade to that of the regular Golf R.

Otherwise carrying over much of the Golf R’s equipment, the 20 Years features tri-zone climate control, IQ Matrix LED headlights, LED tail-lights with dynamic indicators, 30-colour ambient interior lighting and sports front seats.

As with the rest of the hot hatch range, the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years is covered by a five-star ANCAP safety rating and comes with a gamut of safety and driver aids.

Volkswagen’s IQ.Drive safety suite includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert, lane assist, park assist, blind spot monitoring, travel assist, parking sensors all round and a reversing camera.

Again, the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years borrows most of the same equipment from the car on which it’s based.

That includes a customisable R-specific 10-inch digital instrument cluster along with a 10-inch central touch-screen equipped with wireless smartphone mirroring, digital radio and satellite navigation. Wireless phone charging also comes standard.

As we found in the Golf R, the touch-screen is fine to live with once you’re used to it, but a lack of shortcut buttons can make adjusting basic controls quite fiddly on the move.

But the central touch-screen isn’t perfect and whether it comes down to needing a software update, or perhaps more, it’s not the first time we’ve noticed the unit freeze up or get jammed.

Unique additions to the 20 Years include a new ‘Special’ drive mode, developed alongside Volkswagen R development driver Benjamin Leuchter at the Nurburgring.

That features alongside the regular Comfort, Sport, Race, Individual and Drift modes stored within the Driving Profile Select menu.

The quickest and most powerful four-cylinder Golf ever is powered by the same EA888 engine used across the high-performance Golf range and plenty of others from the Volkswagen Group family.

But upgrades to the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years’ 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine means peak power is boosted to 245kW (+10kW) and torque is up 20Nm, to 420Nm.

Mated to a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels via VW’s 4MOTION all-wheel drive system, the extra power means the 20 Years will launch to 100km/h two tenths of a second quicker than the Golf R hatch, with a claimed sprint time of just 4.6sec.

That’s thanks to a new turbo ‘pre-loading’ system that Volkswagen says builds power quicker for subsequent acceleration and faster build-up of engine torque after releasing the accelerator and then hitting the throttle again.

The quickest Golf ever offered in Australia also gets more potent ECU mapping and an optimised DSG that includes more “noticeable shifting jolts” when manually changing gears via the steering wheel-mounted shift paddles.

If you’re worried about the fuel economy in one of just 50 limited-edition performance cars, you’re doing it wrong.

But for the record, the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years is claimed to use 7.3 litres per 100km, which is an improvement on the regular Golf R’s 7.8L/100km, thanks in part to the fitment of a petrol particulate filter.

For all the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years’ enhancements, there isn’t a hugely noticeable difference from the driver’s seat.

But that’s no bad thing. Incremental increases in maximum power and torque (thanks to the aforementioned upgrades) are only enhanced by the array of mechanical improvements to the Golf R’s venerable EA888 engine when the eighth-generation hot hatch launched last year.

Building on what’s already a highly competent machine, acceleration in the Golf R 20 Years is effortless and throttle response is uber-sharp.

But even driving it back-to-back with the regular Golf R hatch, the only thing you can be sure makes an obvious difference is that Akrapovic exhaust.

Heightening the senses and maybe even making the 20 Years feel deceptively faster than it is, the titanium exhaust gives the R a tougher, more beefy feel.

Pushed to its upper limits on a racetrack, there’s oodles of grip.

Suspension and brakes are also carried over from the donor R, so there’s plenty of confidence behind those tried-and-tested stoppers, even after a few hot laps on track.

And, as with the flagship Golf, adaptive dampers can feel rigid as it can feel at times, but the Golf R is about as close to an all-rounder as a hot hatch comes, in that it’s a little rocket ship one minute, and a (relatively) placid hatchback the next, softening up in Comfort mode just enough to get nan down to the shops without shattering her dentures.

As mentioned, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years and the regular Golf R inside the cabin.

It’s every bit as luxe, with soft-touch materials throughout and enough room for four adults to travel in comfort.

The front seats don’t feel super sporty and could do with some extra bolstering, something that’d make a heap of difference on track.

It’s difficult to gauge real-world stuff like road noise on the ultra-smooth tarmac of Sydney Motorsport Park, but judging by previous experience in the Golf R hatch, the low-profile Bridgestone rubber on the 20 Years will bring similar levels of monotonous road noise.

Luckily, the crackles and pops of the titanium exhaust will drown out most.

It’s probably more a question of can you buy a 2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years?

The answer for all but 50 people will be no, but in all honesty, it’d take a pretty skilled pedaller to notice a heap of difference between the regular Golf R and the special 20 Years version.

If it were our money, we’d happily hop in a regular Golf R, which is every bit as enjoyable to fang around.

Even better, the Golf R Wagon – which is set to become even more of a unicorn in the near future, because Volkswagen Australia has just announced its short tenure will come to an end this year.

2023 Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years at a glance:
Price: $77,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now, limited to 50 units
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 245kW/420Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 7.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 174g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)