Volkswagen Golf R Wagon 2016 Review

Volkswagen Golf R Wagon Wolfsburg Edition
Road Test

Why is a game show host writing car reviews? I give away cars as prizes at 6:00pm each night on the telly, but why write about them by day? After all, I already have a full-time job. And one I like.

I’m writing this because motoring.com.au asked me. But more to the point, aside from everything else, I’m an absolute car nut, and racing and reviewing cars are dream jobs -- I only ever got into TV in the first place to find sponsors to get my racing career started.

Hopefully, you lot and the motoring.com.au crew will want more and hopefully my reviews will have their own ‘feel’. You see, I'm not a stats nerd or some kind of propeller-headed boffin who knows exactly how cars work.

No, I’m someone who has been driving cars on farms since I was seven and tractors for work from 12. And now I race a McLaren. So I figure I have something to offer: if only a hard-earned appreciation for machinery.

Particularly 'good' machinery like Volkswagen’s latest Golf R Wolfsburg Edition wagon...

Sinkers said I could choose any car I wanted for my first review. Yes, I chose an automatic family wagon. But one with a difference...

As a boy-racer AND a family man, what appeals to me greatly is that the new Golf R Wagon is both. It's a ‘normal’ looking car that's ballistic under the skin, not the reverse like so many cars today. The real deal -- rather than a powder puff, high-gloss pretender...

Why am I now a confirmed Golf R fan? Let's start at the first thing I touched -- the steering wheel. I love it. It's flat-bottomed like a GT3 race car's. Nice in the hands at the traditional quarter-to-three position, thin enough to really wrap your fingers around for perfect control, and a super racy feel with paddle shifts just a finger flick away.

But that’s just a start. Continuing my first impressions; I like the look of the exterior of the car. It’s got the right amount of ‘angry’ and purpose. Not too showy, it doesn’t scream ‘wanker’ but you know you’re in for a bit of fun.

Inside, however, that wonder wheel aside, it was frankly a little underwhelming -- especially given its near-$60K pricetag. The seats support you, right underneath your shoulder blades, to attack corners at all sorts of crazy angles, but overall even with its ‘carbon’ highlights the cabin could do with a bit more drama. The materials and fit and finish are great though.

I’ll forgive that cabin given the stars of the show are the engine and gearbox. The Golf R uses a 206kW version of Volkswagen’s latest turbo-petrol four and on the road all of those kiloWatts are present, correct and very usable.

The enthusiasm of the Golf R’s turbo four is more than a little addictive. On your first hard drive you use more and more revs to the point you’re wondering when it’s a) going to stop, b) run out of puff or c) explode.

The R offers a Driving Profile Selection function and in the sportier modes (including RACE for the track!), even in auto, the DSG twin-clutch gearbox and drivetrain smarts really make the most of the engine’s rev range -- up and down the box. And unlike many paddle shifts, in passenger cars, it LOVES an early downshift as you approach a red light. This delivers that full high-rev blipping Formula 1 effect down through the gears, which is super cool.

Sure, I was expecting a few more pops and crackles from the exhaust (AMG style) but the shifts are smooth and seamless and the power delivery is superb.

A little too flawless? Perhaps, and therefore some ‘real’ enthusiasts might argue the whole thing is a little unromantic. Technically excellent but not very showy is probably the way I’d like to describe it.

The flip side is not many of us hang out with mates at the pub going “Oh its technical refinement is exquisite…". What you really want to be able to say is “It’s fun to drive, bat-shit crazy and I love it!”

There’s no doubt that away from the pub, the Golf R is more superb than crazy. But the hint is there and therefore it completely sucks you in.

In pure performance terms the R wagon’s punch off the mark is impressive – and at 5.2 seconds to 100km/h it's more than a match for most hot hatches. At first there's the Tarzan grip of the all-wheel drive system, then it doesn't seem to even take a quick breath between gears.

In the real world it's like a punch in the forehead every time you give it some. A punch without the stinging skin or tell-tale red mark afterwards… (Yes, I've actually received a punch in the forehead before. OK, I lie. It was twice. Apparently her 'boyfriend' DID mind us talking after all).

And the unique chassis is up for this sort of performance too. On my favourite narrow, bumpy country roads which come complete with savage crests and crowns [Ed: Grant lives near Bathurst (NSW)], the Golf R’s adaptive suspension ensures it’s a weapon.

Grip is phenomenal. It claws out of the tightest corners as if it’s tearing at the road and launching itself up the tarmac like a rocket.

Even through some of the biggest compressions through creeks and causeways where the road dips or drops away savagely, the R wagon absorbs the impacts like a rally car. I’ve driven rally cars with suspension that cost more than this entire car, yet this thing is just as nice, just as supple.

There were times when I thought I was over-committed and carried too much speed into a corner and the R got me out of trouble every time.

For keen drivers, the ESP Sport stability control mode allows a perfect amount of lift-off turn-in oversteer. This is helped a little because of the extra inertia of the longer wagon body and you can wag the tail a little bit. And then when you’re on neutral throttle mid-way through a corner, as you're waiting to get back on it, there’s a nice amount of understeer.

If you want more front grip you just grab more throttle and the updated 4MOTION AWD system tightens your line. The brakes are just as astonishing.

So rewarding and finely tuned, yet it’s a bloody family wagon. This isn’t a confused car, or a family station wagon with too much grunt. It’s a car that looks after you.

After just a few kilometres even the ride surprises. I was expecting it to be a lot more jarring than it is. Standard adaptive dampers help ensure this is a regular family wagon in which I’d happily drive my kids to the Gold Coast for Christmas. If a car’s so stiff that my daughter's DVD skips then it’s useless. The R passes this test.

It also has all the gadgets and safety mechanisms you need. In fact, it saved me from an accident. I hadn’t seen a fast-approaching car as I was reversing out of my driveway but thankfully the Golf’s rear cross traffic alert system did -- even at an obscure angle and with the other car carrying a lot of pace…

Cut a long story short, it applied the emergency brakes and avoided a big hit. All by itself. Clever thing. The incident scared the s#&t out of me, but saved me handing back only half a loan car.

If I have a grizzle it’s that the Golf R does everything with very little fanfare. Its epic performance is so effortless that I actually wouldn’t mind some. A least just a touch…

Maybe I oversold the car to my wife. Maybe I over-hyped it in my enthusiasm for wanting to drive it and the thrill it delivered. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t have the same kid-like reaction. If it had a little more obvious mongrel, she’d probably have liked it more.

Thankfully, that lack of fanfare also makes it exceptionally easy to turn the lion into a lamb. In family mode we could drive around gracefully and at perfect ease. And with excellent economy, I might add.

The first push of the throttle allows you to be really gentle and smooth -- drive around with a fresh hot coffee in one hand and without snapping the necks of passengers on iPhones. In this sort of use, it doesn’t arc up and want to tear up tyres or your wallet.

Just remember that soft first quadrant of the accelerator also needs to be dealt with when you need to exit stage left pronto! It can be a bit scary, until the gearbox and power get their act together… Well, that’s what the whites of the oncoming driver's eyes told me anyway.

I could talk about the practicality the Golf 7 wagon body delivers. But you probably already know that. There’s heaps of space – even roof rails. Just make sure your dog is holding on if you decide to go feral behind the wheel!

Nobody ever applauds a well-rounded car. That’s not a successful salesman’s pitch, it’s not a sexy line and it’s not something that’s going to get your mates frothing at the mouth.

But the Golf R wagon is exactly that.

It’s a day at Bondi Beach machine; it’s a blast over the Blue Mountains machine; and it’s a find a lonely, twisty country road just-for-fun machine.

For this family-boy-racer it’s almost everything I could ever want. And probably everything I would ever need. That’s pretty rare and pretty bloody cool…

2016 Volkswagen Golf R Wagon pricing and specifications:
Price: $58,990
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder
Output: 206kW/380Nm
Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 167g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA