Volkswagen’s high-performance future is going to have to be either fully electric or at least partly electrified (in the mid-term), but for now we’ve still got the Golf R pure-petrol hot hatch. The updated Mk8.5 version has some of the mild styling and interior infotainment tweaks seen in the wider Golf range, while there’s an additional 13hp from the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine and a clever torque-vectoring rear axle with twin clutches fitted to enhance the driving experience. We’ve tested it - on UK roads - as the mean and moody Black Edition flagship to see if this storming five-door hatchback has become that little bit more desirable still.
How much is the 2024 VW Golf R Black Edition in Ireland?
A lot. The Golf line-up starts at less than €34,000 but the R Black Edition is comfortably more than double that amount. Even in the high-performance Golf family, the Black Edition has a chunky-looking ticket, because a GTE plug-in hybrid (PHEV) starts from €54,800, while the GTI can be had for €59,470. A regular R without the trimmings is €75,220 but perhaps the bigger headache for the Black Edition - which is just 300 Euro shy of 80 grand - is the GTI Clubsport. With 300hp and two fewer driven wheels, it’s almost as fast as the R Black Edition and more thrilling to drive, and it starts from €63,340, a substantial €16,360 saving.
What’s different about the appearance of the Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition?
Like all the Mk8.5 Golfs - which is to say, facelifted models as of 2024 onwards - the R now has a subtly resculpted front end, complete with ‘IQ. Light’ LED Matrix headlamps and an illuminated nose badge. There are also air curtains in the bumper and a new design of LED taillight clusters, but this is reserved stuff (save for that glow-in-the-dark ‘VW’ emblem on its nose) so we wouldn’t blame you for having to look twice to check it’s one of the latest models.
As an R, it continues to come with the most aggressive body styling in the entire range, save for the GTI Clubsport (which is about its visual equal on the aesthetic menace front). We’re talking a big, gaping airdam in the front bumper, socking great 19-inch ‘Estoril’ alloy wheels, side skirts, the discreet ‘R’ boot badge, the twin-slatted and large roof spoiler, and a set of quad exhaust pipes peeking out of the rear diffuser.
The ‘Black Edition’ bit of its name means, well... lots of black detailing on the outside. This includes the 19s and their centre caps, all the badgework, the brake callipers embellished with an ‘R’ logo, the tailpipe trims (although our car had the optional Akrapovič exhaust system with titanium finishers), and the lamp clusters too. If you’re really wanting to be sure it’s a Black Edition you’re looking at, head for the B-pillar trim (the black, upright rear frame) on the front door - there’s a small, rectangular logo which reads ‘Black’ there.
Overall, it’s a familiar form, the Golf R, and the modest updates neither harm its appearance, nor particularly mark it out as something you’ve not seen before. Put another way if you’ve always loved the look of the Volkswagen Golf R, then you’re going to like the new Black Edition just as much.
A look inside the Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition
As before with the Golf R, the latest model has a sporty cabin decorated with blue flashes everywhere. The colour forms stripes on the fabric upholstery of the deeply sculpted bucket seats, it tinges the central downward spoke of the steering wheel and it’s used for stitching too.
When this generation launched some years back, the unlit volume and temperature sliders on the main console were an oversight on the part of Volkswagen, while the main touchscreen wasn’t too clever to operate either. It’s that latter item which sees the biggest update, powered by the MIB4 operating system and now presented on a massive 12.9-inch display. Both it, and the - now backlit - slider controls, are considerably better than they were before, which is just as well, as you have to interface with them all the time because there are precious few actual buttons in the Golf R’s passenger compartment.
On which note, every other updated Golf gets a steering wheel with proper, physical switchgear on its spokes, but the Golf R remains saddled with the haptic pads. At least it has better paddle shifts for its DSG gearbox than any other model in the range, Clubsport included.
Space is as per almost every other Golf in the range, so the R should seat four adults comfortably and can carry five at a push for shorter distances, while the boot is a decent size, but a little smaller now (down to 341 litres) due to the addition of the upgraded rear differential which we shall talk about later on in the review.
The Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition’s on-board technology
Along with the 12.9-inch MIB4 infotainment package, the Golf R (any model, not just the Black Edition) comes with the IDA voice assistant tech which can access AI-based ChatGPT software to answer any questions the occupants want to fire at it. Or at least, we should say, it’ll attempt to answer. But we digress. There’s also heated front seats, a wireless smartphone charging pad, the 10.25-inch configurable Digital Cockpit Pro instrument cluster and the option of a 480-watt Harman Kardon sound system with eight speakers and a subwoofer.
The Black Edition also comes with something called the R-Performance Package as standard and this includes two ‘racetrack-specific’ driving modes called Drift and Special, with a GPS lap timer and a G-meter display on the infotainment rounding out the changes.
Driving the Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition
The trusty old ‘EA888’ 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine continues in service for the Golf R, and while peak torque remains at the same healthy 420Nm maximum, power is up 13hp to a headline number of 333hp here. That means it is putting out exactly the same power as the updated version of one of its relatives, the Audi S3 Sportback, but the Audi went up 23hp and 20Nm to get to these levels. Yep, pre-facelift, a Golf R was more powerful and torquey than an Audi S3. Not anymore.
Still, installed in the 1,548kg Black Edition and teamed, as it ever was, with the seven-speed DSG automatic plus 4Motion all-wheel drive, performance is super-rapid in the Golf R. It’ll run 0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds and that R-Performance Package we mentioned earlier also raises the Black’s speed limiter from 250- to 270km/h if you’re ever going to go on a driving holiday of German Autobahns in your VeeDub.
But it’s not the power which impresses, it’s the new rear portion of the drivetrain which gives the Golf R an extra edge. It, like the S3, now has a dual-clutch set-up on the trailing axle that can do proper torque vectoring across the back wheels. This is supposed to give the Golf R some additional driver interactivity to go with its blistering all-weather, all-roads pace. Basically, driving a Golf R quickly has never really been much of a challenge, or that thrilling. Now it is promising some adjustability in the corners to give it a bit of much-needed chassis sparkle.
The great news is, this update has worked rather well. One slightly greasy, 30-degree, right-handed kink on a quiet country road and a dab of throttle sees the car transition smoothly to oversteer, rather than just ploughing ahead in understeer. It feels more alive and alert at all times, too, and so (again, like the S3) this one additional bit of tech does wonders for the Golf R’s interactivity. There are also big plus points for the steering, the brakes, the body control, the throttle response and the speed of the DSG’s shifts on those enlarged paddles. All good stuff.
And yet... is it a bit too polished and capable for its own good? Sure, if you commit to the Golf R and dig down deep into the chassis’ capabilities, you can discern the added dynamic character that Volkswagen has tipped into the mix with the facelift. But most of the time, you just point the R at the horizon and shoot. It’s all very gratifying if you want a car that’ll make everyone who gets behind its wheel look like a driving hero who can cover all ground at an extraordinary rate of knots. It’s not very rewarding if you want to explore new and exciting handling attributes, each and every time you drive it. And even with the Akrapovič exhaust, it never sounds particularly enticing.
Stranger yet, despite DCC adjustable damping, the Golf R Black Edition’s ride is always on the brittle, too-firm side of things, while it generates a fair old degree of tyre roar on only averagely poor tarmac while travelling along a motorway. So, while it is a refined and comfortable car in the context of something which can get in the vicinity of 300km/h flat out, it’s not the most appealing of Golfs to travel in for day-to-day duties. And before you accuse us of being daft and suggesting that we’re trying to convince you that the R should be as comfortable and quiet as a 1.5 eTSI Life on 17-inch wheels, we don’t mean that; we drove a GTI Clubsport on the same day, and that rode better and was much more cultured on the same roads at the same speeds. Oh, and it’s more fun to drive, too. And it sounded better. But that’s a review for another day...
How economical is the Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition?
For something with 333hp and 420Nm, the Golf R is actually pretty decent on fuel, if you can resist the charms of the bruising 2.0-litre engine. Volkswagen quotes 8.2 litres/100km (34.5mpg) and that certainly isn’t totally out of the question if the Golf R Black Edition is cruising along at 120km/h in seventh on the motorway. However, start pressing on in it and you might be looking at the wrong side of 20mpg (14.1 litres/100km), which is startling. At least, as another feather in the Golf R’s cap, the CO2 output results in a reasonable (for this type/speed of car) €600 a year motor tax.
The reasons you’d buy a Volkswagen Golf R
You would buy an updated Volkswagen Golf R, Black Edition or otherwise, for the same reasons most customers always have: for its sheer, accessible, dependable road pace in all conditions and circumstances, there are few cars to touch it. Also backed up with the heritage of 50 years of Golf lineage, it’s a polished and all-round talented product that is easily bound to win many fans.
However, we think other cars with its hardware (the Audi S3 and the Cupra Formentor) drive a little better, while one of its closest relations - the GTI Clubsport - also offers greater feedback and engagement for the keener driver. Does that mean Volkswagen has made a slip-up with the Golf R’s latest updates? Well, no... not really. The company is still going to sell these things by the bucketload, and deservedly so.
Ask us anything about the Volkswagen Golf R
If there’s anything about the Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition we’ve not covered, or you’d like advice in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our (completely free) expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
