Right, so you've probably noticed that there is a pretty significant gap in years between these two vehicles, in fact an entire generation gap. 2015 represents a lighter, stiffer, more powerful Volkswagen GTI, and a lot of that shows in the driving dynamics. Since the debut of the Focus ST I've said that Ford had knocked the GTI off the throne as the best hot hatch, and this redesign seems to be an attempt by the Germans to take back the crown.
Now lets roll back to the 2012 Golf R; I drove one around for a while and hated everything about how it felt. It was fat, laggy, sluggish, and Volkswagen seemed to have found a way to make all wheel drive handle far worse than front wheel drive. Its as if lugging around the R's heavy AWD drive-train makes the car feel very unenthusiastic about driving fast. Shift quickly and you're punished by sensation that almost feels like the car is bogging down. Launch the car hard enough to get any sort of tire spin and you get the feeling your clutch will only last you 1/4 mile. If you gave me one of those cars to drive, I would walk to work instead. Not because the car is the worst thing I've ever been in, and the interior is absolutely fantastic, but because Volkswagen took a bunch of wonderful ingredients, built a recipe for the Golf R, and still managed to produce a disaster from the mix. Its too boring, too dull, it feels like they took inspiration from the Toyota Camry when they designed this car.
A hot hatch shouldn't be like something you would order on a night out at an expensive steakhouse, that's too grown up and sophisticated. A hot hatch, rather, should be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You shouldn't feel like you have to put on a suit and tie when you hop in your hatch; imagine getting all dressed up to make a PB&J, it would be ridiculous. The Golf R is incapable of having fun, the tires won't spin, quick shifts seem to baffle and confuse the car, and I swear I can turn in harder in the front wheel drive GTI. If you own a Golf R and hadn't realized how miserable it is until now don't be alarmed because you do have options. First off (and my personal recommendation) you can sell your car and buy something else. Seriously, your useless AWD car has a base price of almost $40,000 so you can easily trade it in on something better and still come out with money in hand. Secondly, you can modify it to make it less boring. It really doesn't matter what you do, any modification will be an improvement. If you were to hacksaw the roof off, and remove the tires entirely the car would be better. I could talk for days about all the things I didn't like about the R, but that much negativity is bad for the soul, so lets get on to the 2015 GTI.
For 2015 the new 2.0 turbo engine pumps out ten more ponies than the last Golf, but more importantly there's a massive jump in torque. Imagine taking an already decent PB&J and adding 25% more peanut butter. The result: simply brilliant. I don't feel the need to wear a suit when I drive this car, I hardly feel the need to wear pants when I drive it! Volkswagen has finally regained some of that childish fun that made the original GTI's such a hit. Launch the car hard and you get some good old fashioned tire spin. Shifting into second yields a delightful bark of the tires unlike the R. There's still a noticeable amount of turbo lag, but the wave of torque paired with the much improved sound makes it all okay. I didn't get the chance to really push the GTI, but I did find myself driving it much quicker than an ordinary car, and enjoying myself in a Volkswagen for the first time in a long time.
Volkswagen may have only pumped in 51 more foot pounds of torque to the equation, but that gave the car the attitude its ancestors would finally be proud of. While I still prefer the Focus to the GTI, Volkswagen has done something truly special with this new car. Although you don't feel the need to wear a suit and tie every time you drive, the Golf is classy enough that you could if you wanted to. Can you imagine pulling up in a "Tangerine Scream" orange Ford Focus ST and getting out wearing a suit and tie? Of course not, it would be more ridiculous than when Kia had the Hamsters hop out of the Soul all dressed up. The GTI isn't as thrilling as the Focus, but its light years better than its big brother, the Golf R, or as it should be called: the Golf Zzzzzzz....
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