To Pre-Order the new Golf R’s first and only 500 vehicles for the 2015 model year, visit https://www.vwgolfrpreorder.com
As of this writing, 300 of the 500 cars have been claimed just 9 hours into the pre-order window. It will sell out today. I won’t be buying a 2015 Golf R. I will be buying a 2016 model though which should hit the states at the very end of Summer. They usually get me “rare & limited” but this time I’m going to pass.
Why?
The 2015 Golf R is coming at the very end of the season for model year vehicles and it’s happening to settle a very huge demand for a car that European’s have had for over a year. Time time last year, I could visit the German VW site and customize a Golf R with more bells and whistles than you could imagine. What VW North America is sending us is a middle of the road Golf, not their ‘best model’ as they would have you think. Why are some features not allowed here? Two reasons. The first is cost. They wanted to keep this car under 40K and they just barely achieved that after destination fees. The second is they claim this 2015 batch of 500 is for the real enthusiasts, the track lovers, the weekend racers, etc.
I disagree that this caters to boy-racers as they. First, watch this video from AutoBlog as the VW Rep explains what’s not on the Golf R – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trqzPLrNpjc
In Summary:
- 5.8” Touch screen (versus 8” w/ Navigation and VW connected traffic, weather etc that Europe gets)
- Only one wheel option available (19” Cadiz)
- No Chrome side-mirror caps but boring black as every other R (Euro version gets Chrome)
- No LED Tail lights
- No Start, Stop Eco mode that has been around in Europe for years
- Electric parking brake (no hand brake option)
- No Spare tire, only a mobility kit (whatever that is?)
- No sun roof
- DSG only, no manual transmission
Also not mentioned but from what I’ve heard, no park-assist, adaptive cruise control, auto rain sensing wipes, auto night time lighting all in a car that costs 40K. For some of the features like sunroof no being available, they reference that racers don’t want a top-heavy car and the sunroof adds top weight and is basically useless to them. Then VW adds in an electric parking brake which is something enthusiasts don’t want. We’re paying a lot for this car and losing almost every feature available for the European Golf R.
Because of these missing features, I won’t be pre-ordering. I’ll wait for the 2016 model where I can get a sunroof, hand-brake, larger touch screen, chrome mirrors, spare tire and maybe improved eco mode with the auto start stop which is really a great feature that saves quite a bit of gas.
I’d love to be driving around a Golf R in March of this year but I can wait and I owe under blue book value on my 2013 Golf R right now so I’ll just keep aggressively doing double payments until that’s paid down even further.