The 2022 Volkswagen Golf R looks staid, drives like a hooligan

Enlarge / Volkswagen's latest Golf R is the most extreme version yet. (credit: Volkswagen)

In the past, the arrival of a new generation of Volkswagen Golfs would be big news. But VW's post-dieselgate pivot to electrification and the advent of its new purpose-built EVs, together with a global pandemic and ongoing supply chain problems, have all conspired to take a little wind out of those sails. And sales.

Here in the US, the Golf never really achieved the levels of egalitarian chic that it did in Europe, to the point that VW of America has dropped all the lesser models in the line. Instead, we're just getting the Golf GTI and its more powerful all-wheel drive (AWD) sibling (the car you see here today), the $43,645 Golf R.

Volkswagen first bolstered the Golf range with a Golf R in 2002-the R32-which shoehorned VW's VR6 engine and an on-demand AWD powertrain into an Mk4 Golf. The R32 reappeared with the Mk5 Golf; for subsequent generations, it dropped the numbers and just became the Golf R.

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