Arguably the most awaited performance Volkswagen->ke94 in the U.S. in recent years, the 2015 Golf R has just received an official pre-order date, when the first 500 units of the model will start being secured by customers who pay a $500 reservation fee. While not part of a limited-edition model per se, the first 500 cars will come with some distinctive features compared to the rest of the "plebes," including a Volkswagen R watch, a carbon-fiber and stainless-steel keychain and a special certificate, all of them being obviously serialized.
Other than that, all cars will be identical from every point of view, including the Lapiz Blue Metallic paint, 19-inch Cadiz light-alloy wheels, DSG dual clutch gearbox, DCC adaptive damping and a navigation system as standard features. In this spec, all of the first 500 Volkswagen Golf Rs have a starting MSRP of $39,090 without the destination and delivery charge.
The pre-order will go live on January 8, 2015 at vw.com/golfr,, where customers will be able to pay the reservation fee through the Amazon Payments platform after selecting the dealer for the car's delivery. In case they change their mind, the $500 spent are apparently fully refundable, so it will be interesting what happens in the first few days after the start of the pre-order program.
As a refresher, the U.S. variant of the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R is powered by a turbocharged, 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine that develops 292 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. You don't need to be a mathematician to realize that those figures are enough to brand it as the most-powerful production Golf ever sold in America.
Click past the jump to read more about the Volkswagen Golf R.
Why it matters
Coming in standard with all-wheel drive, a turbocharged four-cylinder under the hood, a compact size and almost 300 horsepower, many would see the Volkswagen Golf R as a Subaru WRX STI competitor in a hatchback suit, but they would be a little far from the actual truth. This is because the Golf R is simply a much faster and maybe a little bit more track capable Golf GTI, with which it also shares much of its Audi-->ke14designed EA888 engine.
Thanks to the all-wheel-drive system with Haldex coupling and the launch-control feature of its DSG dual-clutch transmission with six speeds, the most-powerful Golf can catapult its passengers from naught to 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds, actually making it faster than the WRX STI in a straight line. Unfortunately, because of its better standard equipment and partly because of brand image, the Golf R is also more expensive than just about every one of its rivals on the American market, especially when equipped with the rather important adaptive damping system and sat nav.
Unlike the previous generation though, Volkswagen only detuned it by 4 horsepower compared to the European variant of the model, making for a rather interesting package when it hits U.S. showrooms in 2015. The only thing left to find out will be how many of those first 500 customers will try and pre-order the Golf R right on January 8th. It falls on a Friday, by the way.