Engineers at Volkswagen’s R division must be tired of wrestling with the law of diminishing returns.
So composed and complete was their high-performance reworking of the seventh-generation Golf that they have struggled to make any big gains since, either through that model’s facelift or its subsequent transformation into the current eighth-generation Golf.
Now there’s another mid-life refresh for the Wolfsburg wonder and once again Volkswagen has elected to not really mess with a winning formula. There’s a little more power (at 328bhp, this is the most powerful series production Golf yet) and some tweaks to the driving modes. Plus there’s the option of a new Performance Pack (price as yet undecided) that adds some lightweight forged alloy wheels, an angrier Akrapovic titanium exhaust and a raising of the speed limiter to 167mph.
There are also some subtle visual tweaks, but as you can see, these were hidden under my pre-production test car’s disguise. It isn’t hard to get a fair idea of what has been updated, mind.
For starters, most of the major changes, such as the slimmer headlights, are shared with the standard Mk8.5 Golf, which was unveiled in April.
Look closer and you will spot the R’s reprofiled front bumper, complete with new ‘air blades’ that Volkswagen tacitly admits are as much about aesthetics as aerodynamics, and at the rear 3D-effect tail-lights that offer the option of three different strobing and flashing ‘welcome signatures’ when you lock and unlock the car.
Our test car was also fitted with the new 19in Warmenau forged alloy wheels (named after R division’s hometown), which weigh 8kg a corner, saving the same amount overall in unsprung mass compared with the similarly large cast alloy option. Thinly spoked and slim-rimmed, they are also claimed to provide increased airflow to the brakes for enhanced cooling.
It also featured that lightweight exhaust that is promised to give the R greater voice, especially if you press the start button for at least 1.5 seconds without touching the brake pedal to initiate a theatrical flare of revs to 2500rpm once the engine churns into life. One for those neighbours you can’t abide, perhaps?