My Golf R Estate has arrived

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,047
I've been waiting over 6 months but finally today my perfect car arrived and it is every bit as good as I hoped it would be; very quick, a plush auto box, traction everywhere and loads of space.

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The interior seems to be of higher quality than my 1 Series (F20). Sport R seats, gloss black fascia, carbon door trims and felt lined door bins :)

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The reason I went for the estate version; the boot has over 600 litres of space, it's larger than a 5 Series Touring and Audi A6 Avant. There is also a handy load through middle section which saves dropping the seats for longer items.

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Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) - The Eco, Normal and Race driving modes determine when it auto shifts and there are paddle shifters for manual changing behind the steering wheel.
Four wheel drive was another reason I wanted a Golf R. Hopefully no more embarrassing, getting stuck moments, when the grass is damp or there is a light frost, which happens to render my road impassable in my BMW.

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Standard kit is pretty good – adaptive cruise, power fold door mirrors with puddle lights, auto lights/wipers, dual climate, DAB, F & R visual parking sensors, xenon lights with unique to the R double U-shaped DRL’s and ambient blue lighting. Most of this list are options on the other considered cars listed below.

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Quad exhausts – the only obvious visual separating it from a standard TDi Golf. In Race Mode flaps in the outer pipes open up for more noise.

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The engine – not much to see. Just a 2 litre, 4 cylinder petrol turbo delivering 300 PS (296bhp) and 280 ft/lb torque @ 1,800rpm.

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For a Golf the price is quite high (RRP £33.5k, discounted £27.2k), but there is no other car on the market which offers similar levels of performance, traction and luggage capacity in one package any cheaper. Also, the amazing lease deal offered on the R made the final decision very easy.

The other options I considered:
  • Seat Leon Cupra Estate DSG: £31k, (no AWD and less power)
  • Focus ST3: £27k (much smaller boot, no AWD, no auto and slower)
  • BMW 3 Touring 335D X-Drive: £42k, (much smaller boot)
  • Audi S4 Avant: £45k (much smaller boot)
  • Audi S6 Avant: £58k (smaller boot)
  • Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC: £43k (much smaller boot)
  • Jaguar F-Pace 3.0 S: £52k (pretty much identical package but not available until April 2016)

Lease vs Purchase Cost comparison (2 years, 10k miles pa)
To buy the car would have cost me £800+ more and I would have had the hassle and cost of selling it on.
  • Lease : £4.2k per year. Total rental cost £8.4k
  • Purchase: Finance at 6%, £13.6k per year. Total purchase cost £27.2k. GFV after 2 years: £18k. Total ownership cost: £9.2k

Some arty photos

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Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
28,822
Looks really nice and that boot is massive! I just bought a 5 Series touring myself so I can see that the Golf estate is bigger

Any reason you didn't opt for leather seats though? I guess it doesn't matter on a lease car but if you have bought it that would surely have affected the resale value?
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
Looks nice. You've sold me on the felt lined door bins - too many cars don't have those!

Bizarre to quote the list price of the 'considered cars' though, especially given that the Golf is leased. Whats the purpose behind that?
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
39,655
Location
Surrey
I would love the engine and how it drives but for some reason I just can't get on with VW styling of late, especially the interiors. I think the interior looks strangely dated.
 

IC3

IC3

Soldato
Joined
3 Dec 2011
Posts
9,830
The only thing I don't like about this car, are those exhausts. It reminds me of 'boy racers', apart from that its one of the best colours available IMO. 300HP should be fun to drive, let us know what MPG you're getting. :p
 
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mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
19,999
That boot is gigantic, but the only way it's bigger than the Passat, A6, 5 Series, etc is because the rear passengers have much less legroom.

The other cars must have a larger load capacity with the seats down though.
Surprised you went with this over an S6 if that really was in budget. V8 > 4 pot any day of the week and the S6 is a much nicer place to be.

The A6 Avant has all of 20 litres less space, so that's hardly a big deal.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Apr 2009
Posts
24,796
[TW]Fox;28760734 said:
Bizarre to quote the list price of the 'considered cars' though, especially given that the Golf is leased. Whats the purpose behind that?

Probably to try and pre empt all the LOL HOW MUCH FIR A GOLF HUUURRRRR posts.
 
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