Driving the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R, the grown-ups Evo

If the Volkswagen GTI has been one of America’s best cult cars, then its Golf R and R32 offshoots have been the cult-within-a-cult.

These are cars for a wafer-thin slice of the population willing to drop $35,000 and more on a hot hatchback with performance cranked to boiling point. The problem is that, while previous editions of these uber-Golfs have been a blast, they weren’t always blast-y enough to justify spending several thousand dollars beyond the already excellent GTI.

The 2015 Golf R changes all that. First, the redesigned, seventh-generation Golf makes an ideal building block for high performance. The Golf GTI captured our 2015 Yahoo Autos Car of the Year award, and both Motor Trend and North American Car of the Year followed suit handing out their trophies to the Golf family a short while later. This hyper-engineered German machine shares its luxury-level platform with the Audi A3 and S3 sedans and upcoming TT sports car. Yet a Golf is affordable, fun and comes in multiple great versions: A gasoline Golf TSI for $18,995 to start; a fuel-frugal TDI diesel at $21,995, and the 210-horsepower GTI at $25,215, with a fully optioned GTI sneaking past $30,000.

The all-wheel-drive Golf R is the fourth and most luxurious flavor, a spicy, caviar-topped morsel that’s the fastest Golf in history: A smoking 4.9-second trip to 60 mph and a 155-mph top speed, with 292 horses from an amped-up version of the GTI’s 2.0-liter turbo four. Just don’t choke on the price: $37,415 to start, equipped with the brilliant six-speed, dual-clutch DSG automated gearbox. Where the previous Golf R couldn’t be had with a manual transmission, this 2015 model will lure enthusiasts with an optional stick in the coming months, saving roughly $1,100 in the process. And what a manual: Light, buttery and perfectly mated to a sensitive clutch, it feels as good as any Porsche stick. On our test drive from San Diego to Julian, California – torching the Cleveland National Forest on some of the most adrenaline-pumping roads in the continental U.S. – the stick-and-clutch version proved notably more engaging than the automatic DSG model.

Kick the price to $39,910, and the Golf R adds a slick driver-adjustable magnetic suspension with a notably wide range of ride-and-handling settings – definitely recommended for drivers who deal with potholes and crusty pavement. That version also adds larger 19-inch alloy wheels, touchscreen navigation, Fender premium audio and Park Distance Control. That price is roughly $700 more than the 305-horsepower Subaru WRX STi Limited, and on par with a loaded Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, a car that’s enjoying its farewell tour in 2015.

The difference? The Golf R is the grown-up’s tuner car, with a vastly quieter, more luxurious cabin and fewer compromises than its Asian rivals. As fun as they are to drive, the STi and Evo are loud, brash, harsh and occasionally exhausting. And with their fast-and-furious bodywork, including gaudy rear wings that slice the air like a backwards baseball cap, the Subie and Mitsubishi have an adolescent, even delinquent vibe that’s charming to some, but immature to others.   

The Golf R, in contrast, is a car that a 40- or even 60-year-old could drive without explanation or embarrassment – while keeping up with the whippersnappers when no one’s looking.

Offered only as a four-door, the ultimate Golf is handsomely understated with more-aggressive bumpers, side skirts and enlarged air intakes; adaptive Xenon headlamps with LED turn signals and daytime running lamps; 18- or 19-inch alloy wheels, four oval exhaust outlets and a tasteful sprinkling of “R” badges. The interior is like the GTI’s – roomy and sumptuous, with a near-perfect relationship between driver and controls – only better. The flat-bottomed steering wheel and sculpted shift levers look like gear from an $80,000 luxury car. Gauge needles and ambient door lighting glow in cool blue, with aluminum and dark carbon-look trim and robustly bolstered, ribbed-leather seats. The 5.8-inch infotainment touchscreen features a proximity sensor that switches the display to input mode when your finger approaches.