More Aargh for Top Turbo AWD Golf R 20 Years
Beautiful 20-year special breaks Golf R’s own Nürburgring lap record.
Volkswagen has celebrated 20 years of Golf R in the best possible fashion. The company went out and smashed the R’s own Nürburgring Nordschleife, lap record with the new special edition 20’th birthday Golf R.
The new, more powerful 333 HP 170 mph Golf R 20 Years costs $59.995 in Europe. It steals a few WRC tricks to benefit seamless and far more spontaneous throttle response. Which contributed to it lapping the Nordschleife 4 seconds quicker than the common garden variant.
A Special 20 Year Suit for Prince Golf R
Set apart by a bolder roof spoiler and specially colored 19-inch Estoril rims, R 20 years also has a black radiator grille and blue wing mirror caps. Add the expected 20 R badges and emblems including puddle logos. Step inside to find VW’s first ever use of decorative carbon dash and door panel inlays and cooled nappa hide bucket sport seats up front.
20 years gets the Golf R’s regular optional performance package, which includes torque vectoring and two additional Special and Drift driving dynamics profiles. The big trick, however, is that the Golf R 20 Years borrows a bit of World Rally Car tech from Volkswagen’s former champion Polos.
Preloaded Turbo Does the Trick
In other words, 20 Years has an overrun preloaded turbocharger, achieved by firing the cylinders as second time when the exhaust valves are still open to keep the blower spooled up to pre-load the inlet tract, banish lag and deliver instantaneous throttle response. And far more spontaneous power delivery.
All of which enabled the 20th birthday edition to lap Eifel racetrack in 7 minutes 47.31 seconds, a full four seconds quicker than a regular Golf R. All of which is huge kudos in the highly competitive hot hatchback world. A US version of Golf R 20 Years will be in dealerships soon, but for a limited period only.
A Fine 20 Years Golf R History
The new über-R of course tops off a splendid all-wheel drive power Golf legend. It started with the 240 HP naturally aspirated 3.2-liter V6 Golf 4 R32 back in 2002. R32 had 350 HP in Golf 5, before the model downsized to a 270 HP turbo four-pot in Golf 6. S Since when it upped to 300 HP in Golf 6 and 320 HP in the current model stock Golf 8 R.
Photos: Volkswagen