It’s the 40th birthday of the VW Golf next year, and the Wolfsburg crew look like they’ll have an ‘ultimate’ version of the classic FWD platform to bring to the party.
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In these latest photos the rear wing has shrunk a little from the R400 proportions we saw earlier in May and the whole car just looks more ‘finished’.
I can also confirm that this particular version is definitely a manual gearbox. Add that to the expected 290hp (as quoted by Autobild) and this could be FWD hot hatch that VW offer up to battle it’s own platform-sharing SEAT Leon Cupra 280 and even the Megane RS.
With a VAQ ‘differential’, this could very well become the fastest and most driver-orientated 2WD MQB-platformed machine. Options should include proper bucket seats and a half-rollcage supplied by German experts Wiechers. Though at sub-300hp it’ll still be outgunned (on paper at least) by the Honda Civic Type-R, maybe the Golf is still aiming in the right direction of the trackday enthusiasts.
