2025 Volkswagen Golf R First Drive: More Power, But Can You Feel the Diff?
The updated, stronger Golf R is still all about its trick 4Motion AWD system.
Volkswagen’s ultimate enthusiast car, the Golf R, faces something of a win-some, lose-some situation. After 2024 it bid auf wiedersehen to its optional six-speed manual transmission, making a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic mandatory. However, as the Golf R shifts into 2025, its turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 engine is now more powerful than any other (production) version of VW’s iconic hatchback ever.
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We recently sampled these changes in an unusual but very rad way: Volkswagen tossed us the keys to the Golf R and told us to tear up an ice track in northern Sweden. In these conditions we couldn’t make a comprehensive assessment—that'll happen when we drive the 2025 Golf R stateside soon—but they let us give this hot hatchback’s trick torque-vectoring 4Motion all-wheel-drive system a good workout.
Other 2025 Golf R Updates
Beyond the power bump, the 2025 Golf R gets a restyled bumper and headlights, with a backlit VW badge front and center. Spindly 19-inch wheels are 20 percent lighter than before. Along with updated decor and details, the interior gains a 12.9-inch infotainment touchscreen.
Also new for 2025 is an optional Euro Style package that swaps the leather upholstery for fabric, removes the sunroof, and fits an Akrapovič titanium exhaust that’s louder and lighter weight than the stock pipes. For a stealthy look, the Golf R Black Edition goes dark with blacked-out exterior details and carbon-fiber interior trim.
Here’s a Random Fact
Volkswagen’s touchscreen-intensive user interface has earned plenty of flak. On this drive, VW's product pros showed us that if you simultaneously tap the red and blue temperature sliders at the lower corners of the screen, the corresponding seat heating will turn on. That’s a little easier than digging through the touchscreen, but ...
OK, Let’s Drive the Golf R
With tungsten-studded tires at every corner, we rolled the 2025 Golf R onto the surface of a frozen lake. Volkswagen had cut several courses through the snow, offering a plethora of corners through which we could rip. With stability control deactivated (and knowing that a European-market Touareg Hybrid would rescue us when we inevitably spun into a snowbank), it was time to find out what this AWD system can do.
But first, the power. This venerated turbo-four engine now makes 328 hp and 310 lb-ft, increases of 13 hp and 15 lb-ft. More power is always good, but these gains were never going to make a huge difference for the Golf R. It still dutifully delivers, albeit in a somewhat soft way—driving sporty electric and hybrid cars has spoiled us to how responsive some can be. Still, this output is enough to keep the hot hatch good and quick. Volkswagen estimates a 4.6-second 0–60-mph time for the 2025 Golf R, a likely conservative result considering we got a 4.2-second launch out of a less powerful 2022 model with the automatic transmission.
On paper, the loss of the six-speed stick shift is lamentable, but in practice it’s probably for the better. The Golf R’s manual was never our favorite, with a vague clutch bite point and merely decent shifter action. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission lets you drive hard without compensating for those shortcomings, and it shifts as snappy as you’d expect for a gearbox from a company that’s been building this type for so long. Our main complaint about it is the flimsy plastic paddle shifters. Paddles made of a more substantial material and with greater tactility are warranted, considering the Golf R’s halo status in Volkswagen’s range.
Even though on dry pavement the Golf R feels prone to understeer, ice driving reveals new dimensions of its handling. In these wintry conditions, the 4Motion AWD system adeptly apportions power, letting us drift and slide through corners in a predictable, intuitive way. How much angle we wanted felt directly correlated to how much we pressed or lifted the accelerator. This acumen is aided by the torque-vectoring rear differential, essentially the same unit used in the Audi RS3. It can direct all the power being sent to the rear axle to either rear wheel—in particular, the outside rear wheel, making it easy to kick the tail out with a stomp on the gas. It became our goal to get the rear deep enough into a corner to kick up a plume of snow on exit. The Touareg only had to come yank us out once, maybe twice.
If only the Golf R’s steering wasn't so dull. The car always goes where it’s pointed, and the ratio is quick enough, but the sensation in your hands is lightweight and distant. That’s less of an issue on slick surfaces where you can steer with the throttle, but even there and certainly back on the road, feel through the wheel isn’t so satisfying. This could be its main shortcoming against other compact performance cars, particularly the Civic Type R.
Worth a Closer Look
Compared to some compact performance cars, though, the Golf R’s interior has a premium feel. It still has hard plastic bits, but those feel substantial, and often-touched areas are finished in nice materials. The whole thing feels built with precision; there wasn’t a creak or rattle even as we were sending it. Then there’s the appeal of its hatchback body providing practicality as a fun everyday driver. Volkswagen’s latest infotainment interface has shorter and more logical pathways to the desired settings, but a few more hard buttons would still go a long way in simplifying tasks. At least that big touchscreen and pleasingly reconfigurable digital gauge display next to it look plenty high-tech.
Pricing for the 2025 Golf R starts at $48,325, and the Black Edition at $49,640. That puts it on the expensive side of enthusiast-oriented small cars and almost in reach of vehicles a bracket up. Whether it’s the best fun car for your money will be better determined when we get more time to drive. For now, we can say that if you have a set of studded tires and a frozen lake nearby, the 2025 Golf R will let you make good use of them.
Alex's earliest memory is of a teal 1993 Ford Aspire, the car that sparked his automotive obsession. He's never driven that tiny hatchback—at six feet, 10 inches tall, he likely wouldn't fit—but has assessed hundreds of other vehicles, sharing his insights on MotorTrend as a writer and video host.
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