The 2022 Volkswagen Golf R Is Great, But Not Perfect

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2022 Volkswagen Golf R review! Today I'm reviewing the new 2022 Volkswagen Golf R -- an impressive high-performance hatchback. I'm going to take you on a thorough tour of the Golf R and show you the quirks and features, and then I'll get it out on the road and drive the new Golf R and show you what it's like to drive.

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DOUGSCORE CHART:

[ChadChapman]

I appreciate the fact that even with Doug being where he is in life, he can still acknowledge that 45k is a lot of money for most people.

[daarupappe]

As a Mk 7.5 Golf R owner, I test drove a Mk 8 Golf R and here are my observations;
The interior was no doubt worse than the previous generation, the 7th gen had an amazing quality interior which made it feel more expensive than it actually was whereas this feels adequate, wouldn't go as far to say cheap, but certainly lacks the soft touch materials and now they use a scratchy hard plastic although it still feels solid and sturdy.

The UI is the biggest culprit, the previous gen MIB unit was simply practical. Tuning and Volume knobs with a physical HVAC system. The Infotainment in itself was very easy to use thanks to the shortcut buttons on either sides. Might I also add that the steering wheel also felt better in Mk 7 due to physical buttons and the general design of the VW logo and shape. The new one with the capacitive touch has ruined it all and is harder to use than before although it isn't a deal-breaker for me.

The exterior of the Mk 8 is growing on me, initially I hated it but it has certainly improved in my eyes, I saw a few on road and the rear 3 quarters certainly look better whereas the front end still is slightly off my taste. I love the Mk7 but it has started to look slightly more common because it's not different enough from the Mk6 and while the Mk7 still looks great and understated, I'm glad that VW went a bit more aggressive with this one.

The driving experience, this is one category where the Mk8 is far more fun to drive thanks to the LSD in the rear as well. the Mk7 felt like a GTI with Haldex and would still understeer a lot whereas the newer one feels far more lively and confident at its limit. The day to day drivability remains largely unchanged so there's that.
To sum it up,
Mk 7 has the better interior with worse performance,
Mk8 has the worse interior with better performance.

Overall I wouldn't really upgrade to a Mk 8 anytime soon because the pros and cons equal out them and they both are equally good if they're compared as a whole.

[Bacender]

Coming from the Golf R Mk 7 I have to say the usability of the Mk 8's interior was a massive regression. I'm surprised Doug didn't spend more time railing on just how truly awful the full "touch" interior is. EVERY SINGLE THING you might need to interact with in this car either goes through a god awful touch sensitive slab of plastic, or it involves diving 3 menus deep into various sub-menus while you're trying to drive and keep your eyes on the road. Reaching down to your climate control and clicking the wheel a couple notches left or right to control the fan speed is no longer a single smooth movement, now it involves taking your eyes off the road, tapping a tiny touch screen button, waiting for a menu to load, then tapping a vague slab of glass, or looking for the temperature "slider" that isn't even lit up at night. Turning the wheel too sharply or palming the wheel results in your hand brushing up against a touch sensitive piece of plastic which randomly alters your driving mode or skips a track and it's honestly just a massive exercise in frustration. The Mk 8's interior needs to be a case study in awful design in the pursuit of cost cutting. Every single button and dial that Volkswagen replaced with a touch sensitive piece of plastic saved them a couple cents in plastic, spring, PCB, membrane, and wiring costs, and it's disappointing that more reviewers aren't completely dumping on this braindead design.

[philipbrewer]

Doug nailed some of the "come on VW, how can you not include at this price?" As the owner of a 2018 7.5, I agree the lack of a fully electronically adjustable passenger seat is a shortcoming, but not the most glaring one. How can VW omit seat memory buttons for the driver's seat on a car that is, by design and intention, a "practical" hot hatch. Practical means it is likely to be driven by more than one person. Having to manually adjust the driver's seat each time I enter is a major hassle. And where is the programable garage door opener? All the cars I have purchased over the last 20 years have had one. Not having one is not just an inconvenience, it also means access to my garage is less secure when the car is parked outside with a bulky garage door opener hanging from the visor. It appears VW did not address either of these shortcomings with the new model.

[jakebean]

I appreciate the honest review. The cost cutting at this price point is such a penny pinching move. Not a good way to keep people upgrading to newer models.

[xa-]

The Mk8s biggest problem is how nearly perfect the mk7 was

[thevuntzer]

As always, what a great review. As a '19 Golf R owner I can say I'm not enticed to upgrade to a 22' Golf R. Anything I move up to will have silver arrows, four rings, or a flat six.

[darrenprior]

Good one Doug. How about the other cost-cutting misery - The removal of gas struts on the hood in place of a cheap steel pole. God help us all. I get the feeling the GTi and R engineers have got their eye on a transfer to the electric division and this car has now become a bit of an afterthought.

[michaelw]

My only qualm with this Mk8 is that interior. I despise this whole trend of moving to everything being a touch screen and digital displays. I can forgive the gauge cluster, but I need to feel the buttons. No hepatic feedback will ever make up for a physical button's touch. I also would prefer not to sift through several layers of menus to adjust something. Make it a dedicated button or something that saves the settings instead of resetting every time the car turns back on.

[privilegejunkie]

I drive a Civic Type R and I came here to listen to Doug call it childish street trash. I was not disappointed. I love your reviews Doug. All I gotta say is I embrace the hate.

[jaredkelly]

For the sunshade: I love being able to keep it shut with the sunroof open. If you want the sunroof open but the sun is getting in your eyes coming through it, being able to have the sunshade shut is just amazing.

[mfvrptp]

Doug's review is fair, thorough and accurate. And I presume he hasn't even been driving one for a month like I have.

Those commenting are the problem here. Probably just all bent out of shape because they missed out on one. How many here have even sat in one, driven one or own one? Not many. The snippy snippy sniping about the interior controls are a daft pile-on. After a month of living with one, I'm across it all and like the system. It takes a bit of getting used to but after that it's quite intuitive. For example, swipe down on the screen and hit the air recirculating button icon; it's quick and easy.

Miss a rotary volume control though, although the Mk 7.5 didn't have that either.

I bought a 7.5 in 2020 and a Mk 8 a month ago.

Would I go back to a Mk 7.5? No chance. This is more fun, much faster (it's a weapon!), more refined, more slideable, quieter and better riding. It's a hundred times better.

Would I buy it again? In a second.

The interior is a bit plasticky? Who cares? They put all the money into the drivetrain, which is brilliant, and faultless.

And the electronics will fail in a few years from now. Who cares about that? It won't be my problem. I'll be on to the next one then. It will be someone else's headache.

The new Golf R is adult entertainment. Comparing it to the world's most ridiculous looking piece of automotive juvenilia, that stupid Civic with all the junky cladding and spoilers is like comparing George Carlin to Howdy Doody's ventriloquist doll.

[AdamFusionGh]

It's unfortunate the Mercedes A45 S isn't in the state side, that would've changed Doug's perspective on super hot hatch.

[pavelppp]

Doug, about the heated seats - there is no need to enter the climate menu in order to turn them on. It is enough to hold simultaneously the touch buttons for the increased and decreasing of the temperature and the heating will be activated or deactivated!

[CroakerOutdoors]

Interesting how the manual version is only in the US. I get it because personally I wouldn't buy a sports car that has an automatic no matter the performance improvement. A stick shift is just too much fun.

[jamesbrook]

The cost cutting reputation on the golf has been around for years and is why I bought a Volvo V40 T5 instead and for less than a Golf GTI of similar years.

[mattgreen]

I owned a 2011 GTI so I was interested in this car. However, I cannot freaking stand capacitive buttons. That alone is a deal breaker for me.

[idkj]

Headed seat can also be activated by double taping with two fingers on the AC temp control. :-)

[carbonio]

Went crazy 3 years ago with the mk 7/5 golf R manual ..this looks definitely better in all aspects..if I'm alive in 10+ years might get another one of that particular year for sure 😃👍 cheers to you and all 👋

[EdwingH]

This car reminds me of Seat/Cupra, specially the Leon. The interior and the “buttons” are the same as the new version of the Leon.
Doug should reach out someone from Tijuana in order to test the Cupra Leon or Cupra Formentor, those cars are from the spanish auto maker that belongs to VW, they recently started doing some interesting cars based on the same chassis as the Golf MK8.