Volkswagen Golf R32 Car Review

Overview

There are two available style options with the Volkswagen Golf R32-the three door option and the five door option.

The inside of the vehicle depends heavily on what type of option you pick-the three door option or the five door option. The three door option does not have any features besides the fantastic seats, making it the bottom option of this car. The car has regular audio and temperature controls. The Golf R32 will run you about $54,990 if you pick the three door option and $56,490 for the five door option.

Details

As soon as you set foot in the vehicle and sit down, you will know that this car means business. You don’t even have to start it up all the way to hear it preparing for a drive. You know that as soon as you do push your foot down on that gas and rev the engine, it is going to make a loud sound. And that could not be more accurate. We will save that discussion for below.

There are two available style options with the Volkswagen Golf R32-the three door option and the five door option. No matter which option you pick, the exterior of this car will most definitely catch attention as it drives by, no doubt about it. Despite the fact that the Golf R32 is not that significantly different from the Golf GTI, it still has the ability to turn heads. Maybe that is due to the fact that the Golf GTI's design was eye-catching as well. Who knows. All I do know is that the design of this vehicle is enough to have people stopping you randomly and asking you questions about your vehicle, some even lamenting decisions they made to purchase another car when they had a chance to buy the Golf R32. You might even see others that are in an earlier model of the car that are jealous you are in the newer model and would love to quickly switch driver's seats with you. The last R32 that was made did not have a very wide range of customers, actually only about 200 Australians. This time, there more than enough of the R32s to go around, meaning that as long as you want one and can pay for it, you can get one. Nevertheless, there are many body aspects that make it very noticeable and not hard to figure out what kind of car it is. Volkswagen purposely put at least a couple of badges on the exterior of the car that will let onlookers know that it is not only a Volkswagen, but that it is a Golf R32. This actual title is exhibited on the outside of the vehicle.

As far as driving the Golf R32 goes, it is meant for that. With a get up and go of just 6.2 to 6.5 seconds, depending on what gearbox you use, the Golf is impressive. The shifting with the Direct Shift Gearbox is out of this world-it is faster than the shifting on any other vehicle that I've ever heard of-an amazing 3 to 4 milliseconds!!!! First and foremost, it has one heck of a sound that comes out when you give the throttle some power. It is an extremely strong sound for a 3.2 Liter V6 engine-it almost even sounds like a V8 it is so loud! The car has a great deal of power-184kW if you get to 6300RPM and 320Nm of torque between the speeds of 2500 and 3000RPM. If the aesthetics of the car have not attracted anyone's attention, rest assured that this noise will attract them all. In addition, if you rev the engine over about 3000RPM, you are guaranteed to trigger the noise made through the exhaust, and man is it loud. One of the unfortunate things about this car is that it is picky about what type of gas it will take, and you must use 98 Premium Unleaded, which is often one of the most expensive to use. Fortunately it has a great average fuel efficiency of around 10L/100KM in the city and a maximum of 14.8L/100KM on more curvaceous roads where you will be using the car to its full potential. With a fairly large tank of 60 Liters, you probably will not have to pull up to the pump as often as you would have to with other vehicles. Though there are many positives to driving this vehicle, such as the amount of understeer that is present in the AWD system, the average suspension, and the fact that it is best driven only on well made, paved roads. Despite this, the positives strongly outweigh the negatives. The steering wheel is perfect and is easy to control, making maneuvering around tricky curves a pleasure! In addition, the pedals are easy to get to, which has actually been quite a problem in other cars I have reviewed-the Golf has plenty of room for the driver to move their foot around while driving. Another strong point is the strong braking system that the Golf R32 has. Despite some more rigorous braking, the car still will never fail or lessen in ability, and will brake accurately and successfully every time, no matter what the conditions. Despite having the Electronic Stabilization Program (ESP), the car was still very pleasant. Though this program can be somewhat of a hindrance sometimes, it is not in this particular vehicle-it is not as overbearing as it tends to be in some other vehicles. One of the only times that it kicks in is if an oversteering situation occurs, particularly in a turn of some sort. Thank goodness, in a little more intense driving situations, the ESP does not kick in. Sometimes it kicks in during these situations and ends up hurting more than it helps, since a lot of times the driver can bring themselves out of the situation without the unwanted help of an automated system.

The inside of the vehicle depends heavily on what type of option you pick-the three door option or the five door option. One thing is for certain-just like the outside may greatly resemble the Golf GTI, the inside resembles it as well. The three door option does not have any features besides the fantastic seats, making it the bottom option of this car. Those seats may cost you a little extra, but they are well worth it when you start hugging this car around the bends. The only downfall with the seats is that they create a type of hurdle for your passengers to jump over as they attempt to get into the back seat. On the other hand, choosing a five door will get you a lot more features and an equally attractive vehicle. On the inside you will find a satellite navigation system, cruise control, automatic Bi-Xenon headlights, with washers, an electric driver's seat and electric locks, a sunroof, and parking sensors, which are really helpful, and I wish I had some in my own vehicle. While the satellite navigation system sounds like a fantastic feature for the car to have, its not really worth it. Unlike easier systems, it was not user-friendly and took quite some time to learn. Even then, it is a slow system that takes forever to process information, which is not what you need when you are driving. It requires a lot of attention from the driver, probably more than is necessary and safe. Considering the cost of the system, it is not worth it. Even the actual graphics of the system do not look up to par. The five door option also has wood panel inserts in the interior, which the three door option does not. There are also other options available in the vehicle. For instance, the automatic locking hijack protection system, which locks the doors after the car is accelerated to a certain speed. While still remaining true to the Volkswagen style, the inside is very new and fresh-it easily is nicer than anything else that is competing with it. The car has regular audio and temperature controls. The audio system is a 6 disc CD player with a 10 speaker stereo, which is pretty nice for this vehicle. There are basic controls for the stereo that can be found on the steering wheel, which is always one of my favorite things in a vehicle since I have always wanted but never had it in my own. The temperature controls are worked using a dual-zone climate control system. There are average safety features included, such as many increased brake functions like Anti Lock Brake System brakes and Brake Assist. In addition, there are also multiple airbags in not only the driver and front seat passenger area, but the back seat as well, the ESP program that I have mentioned, and other programs that also assist the driver. Nothing else about the interior really blows you away, but considering it is not a car that is meant to be focused on interior features, I think it is pretty adequate!

If a high price is what you are trying to avoid, you might want to keep looking. The Golf R32 will run you about $54,990 if you pick the three door option and $56,490 for the five door option. Though the three door option is just as aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, it is almost worth it to take the five door option since there is more components to it on the inside of the car. In addition, if you get the highly recommend additional gearbox, you will be spending an additional $2,300, but it is well worth it for the increased shifting capability. Even without adding on this feature, the Golf is worth a look, since it has great driving quality and a long list of valuable safety and standard features. Luckily Volkswagen is not going to limit the Golf R32 production to 200 as it previously did, so this time more people will have the option to purchase this car. While that is a great thing, it's also bittersweet since it will no longer have to be the car that people lust after. Can it be surpassed in driving quality by other cars in its class? Sure it can. But if you are looking for a car with the dependability and quality craftsmanship that the Golf R32 has for that price range, it is a good option that has a lot of power and a nice design.