2021 VW Golf R review | Is the new MK8 the best one yet? 

I bought my Mk7.5 Golf R three years ago and expected to move it on by now. But I just can't let it go, its the most competent car I have owned (yes I have owned a few). It does everything excellently. I was expecting to move into the Mk8 R but there is nothing here that sells the new model to me which I enjoy already.

This guy articulates the experience so well and he’s so natural and there’s no “try hard” about him he’s just so easy to watch. Be coming back for more from him, top review, thanks a lot!

This channel is really underrated (in terms of view) Dan does a great job hosting the videos :) I hope you get more views in the coming months of this year, Cheers piston heads!

Dan's doing a good job againnnn! Excited to hear this weeks DN podcast!

First video that I watched from this channel. The production and quality earned an instant subscribtion!

Is this anyone else’s first piston heads video?

Great description of how it handles. I could actually imagine what you were experiencing. Top job.

Background music just beautiful, soothing. Not to take anything away from the review, its really good Dan.

one of my favourite reviewers on you tube keep up the good work 👍

Fantastic review. No dramatics, just clear, useful information. I cannot fall in love with it’s design but it looks like a hell of a drive!

Fantastic video Dan, you’ve come a long way.

Best reviews at the moment. Great job!

Awesome and congratulations on 100K subscribers 🥳👍🏼👍🏼

Thanks for a brilliant report Dan. Ordered one in Jan can’t wait to take delivery

Great presentation Dan. Have to say will always love these. Nothing irons a road out quite like a golf.

This video is like a video version of the Golf R itself. Just nice thing. Good work pistonheads

🇨🇦Brilliant review!! Best review of a car I have ever seen, honestly!

You rory are the new top gear all day great review 👍

Congrats on 100k!

Great review big fan of the Golf R👀🔥

Subscribed! Cant wait for the US to receive these.

Great driving Dan - loving the new R mk8 Golf

Again just a brilliant summery and video by both Dan Prosser and piston heads. Superb stuff that just cuts through the shit that gets put on RU-vid as a review. You can’t beat the professionals. Car manufacturers please take note We the general public don’t want some dick head influencer telling me it’s “well fast” in a drag race, or that drift mode is “sick”. We want professional content and valences reviews about how a car feels and drives! Give these journalists more of a chance to do that for us!!

Dan is by far the favorite car reviewer for me.

@1:45 digging the new blue plaid. Finally someone mentioned the bigger R paddles.

amazing review

Forgot to mention the awesome sounding exhaust that comes with the sport package. I would want that. Very good review by the way.

Best review out there !

Awesome review....

Loving the “through the windscreen “ camera angle

Great description of VW paddles, and I've finally been able to understand what it is I don't like about them

Solid review .... thanks

Great review of a great car, exceptional value for money for the performance on tap. We ran a four door R32 in this blue here in Switzerland for a while and it was a beautiful daily drive. ( it was my wife’s car ) after that an S3 and now a Mini JCW Countryman All 4. The Mini is nice and sounds great but you definitely notice the difference between 231 and 310ps and miss the power. This is definitely one for us when we are getting rid of the Mini..I just hope if we commit my wife will let me drive it ... 👍

I look forward to testing it out too

very good Dan , just ordered my which is due with me at the end of this month, I was particularly interested in the ride as I did not wish for a hard core suspension but i want the power, keep up the excellent work

Nice review BTW :-)

Good car Gold R for Boston... cool test drive... cool video

A M A Z I N G Car ... also with this smooth spec!!! In add to this ... this the best review and footage of the mk8 R.

Superb review. You really know your shit. Subbed!

Excellent presentation of a car on my list.

The base model's exhaust tips remind me of those standard cars from Gran Turismo 5 with the unfinished textures. It needs the R-Performance pack to finish off that rear-end in my opinion. Otherwise a great car!

Great review! I want to trade in my mk7.5 for a mk8 after your review!

Great review! Important to hear feedback from someone who has lived with the MK7 R for a good amount of time. Lots of people will find this very useful in deciding whether or not it's worth stepping from a 7R into and 8R 👍

Nice and all but dont want the drama of getting car jacked, house broken into and people thinking I'm a drug dealer.

Fantastic content, well filmed, informative and most of all, well written. Subbed.

Why is no one reviewing the new Golf R fully loaded? Show us a review of the one with the sunroof, leather, 3 way climate control, heated and cooled seats, etc etc!

Can u do another video talking more about the drift mode!! Pleaee

I have literally just ordered one today , looking forward to owning it 😍

Its extraordinarily expensive with the options you want for a golf. Different cars but I’m still in love with my I30N. Anyway, this new Golf is lovely but as I say, just crazy with the options that you would want.

Oh, that blue plaid is cool. One of the things I dont like about the current R is that you can't get tartan seats, but those are sweet. I'll take it in a manual please.

Great commentary and production value. Congrats on the 100k. Should be 1 mil very soon. Thanks for content!

Elephant in the room. My Mk 7 Golf R cost £27,500 new after some fairly strong haggling down from £32k. This Mk 8 offers not much more and is almost £40k, don’t get me wrong it looks a superb motor but is that increase really justified? Also, I’ve never ever been close to losing grip at insane speeds through corners or thought this cars a bit slow (well once when a BMW M5 showed me it’s backside on a straight) I’ve embarrassed Ferraris, Porsches and Astons on cross country lanes - so was the old R just too good and this new one is just about finessing? Finally, no manual, no three door, only 3 colours and no red ☹️ that’s a lot of options to lose and my Mk 7 is all of these! Still, I would buy one, but maybe wait a while for the inevitable deals to kick in when VW realise they ain’t going to sell as many at this price.

Im so gonna get this, would be awesome side by side with fk8 👍

Proper review! nice one mate , still I'm not impressed with the look of the new Golf R

They’ve finally made the seats look interesting. Had a 7.5 GTi and didn’t even consider an R as it was so boring inside. Saw one of these on the road earlier and they look clean and modern. Don’t think anyone will have any regrets if they buy one.

I have close to 100 lap session in my mk7.5 R and the way Dan describes the handling at the apex makes me think of how much the car changed with a rear anti roll bar upgrade to 25mm. Anybody knows if the mk8 has a thicker RSB?

Steering wheel in the right side lane of the right side am happy.

Sounds very capable but you cant stop repeating its an all rounder. For something with "R" in it and that much power. Ill rather go Trophy/CiviC/GR Yaris etc... A regular golf GTI is also an all rounder

You had me at squishy engine cover

I wanna see some sort of concept model whenever they're ready to release a convertible sedan.

Lockdown has been so shit for me I actually got excited being the 1000th like. FML!

I’ve heard the steering crispness is improved when you use the nerburgring mode, so you would have to get the R performance pack upgrade

When will all new golf R be available for sale in Australia？

How's the handling and steering in this compared to civic type r? I hope I see a comparison between the 2 eventually

Everything is an improvement over the previous version except for the looks and wheel design's. I'm sure they'll sell / lease loads, but they could have styled it better. Horrible....

2:02 that A pillar seems have a gap?

nevjerovatno pametan pogon na sva 4 kola,nešto fantastično

Sure it handles great but I couldn't handle looking at it every day. And even after you get in there's those tacky moldings around the screens...

Is the adaptive chassis same as the Golf GTI? Does GTI have the same comfort levels as this with 15 settings?

a very good and fast daily driver for petrolheads, a little bit expensive but for customers where have a little bit more money it´s perfect I think.

Do you have to turn the lane assistance off each time you start the car? And is this just a button press or buried beneath 3 or 4 touch screens? Could prove annoying.

Room for possibly a Golf RR with circa 400bhp and more responsive steering??🤔🤔

I have a 7.5 think I'll wait for the 8.5 when they've sorted the touchscreen / button thing

Well, this, an older R or keep the 18 focus rs... Hmmm

EA888 is the best 4-Cylinder engine in the world...ba far...Its close of perfomance to amg a45 and rs3 ,which have almost 100 HP more..Incredible...

Would love to know what the song is at 6min

It's a very capable car but still dull. It's for PCP heroes who will be trying to get 30mpg most of the time. They might have the occasional squirt up to 80mph but there is no need for drift mode or Nürburgring mode lol.

does this use the same dsg as the rs3?

"Glue-py" steering will be the deal breaker.....Now I have to test drive it this October when it comes out.

U hit the nail on the head. The chassis definitely can take more than 320ps! It should be more like 400ps from the factory...shame...

Its nice but it isn't exactly a step forward in comparison with the already great 7R. Its mad how you could pick up a 7R for 30k and now you need 40K for this.

Hope they bring back the sirocco

Sounds like it would be a better hoot on track

Proper good

...vs Civic Type R facelift on track pls

great car but I like the gti club sport’s front grill better

Why would a R need an upgraded R Performance package? Isn’t that the point of an R in the first place??? Sounds like a VW money grab for a car that is already so expensive! Having said that, I need a 2nd mortgage!

Nice

Dan, all you have to do is compare your videos of the Golf R and Civic Type R, and tell all of us, and be honest, what car you love driving and enjoy driving the most ❓Answers on a postcode 😳😛 Everything is subjective and different for everyone but watch your brilliant videos and tell us what makes you feel like a racing driver. One car on lockdown makes ME think of any excuse to go for a drive !

They should have put the outgoing Audi 5cylinder into this, would have rocked in this chassis

9:30 you braking through that bend?

400hp? Amg did spoil the market with A45s which is my favorite pocket rocket atm bt if vw decide to pump up the number for golf r that might be different story.

It looks nice and pretty good deal while having a minimum level of equipment to call it sporty.

I bought mine 14 months ago and couldn’t agree with you more. Amazing car with all the speed you could want. Best, Grant

Acceleration times??

Phew. I’m glad he likes the seating position. I was getting worried there for a moment 😰 Also, cool blue light in the centre console. Can we retro fit them in older cars?

Its absolutely massive compared to the Golf 7 and 7.5

Still think a Mk 7.5 with a tune and a couple of bolt-on mods is the way to go, that easily gets you flirting with 400hp. I just can't get over that face, and I really dislike the move to all-touch controls with piano black surrounding the driver. The constant presence of fingerprints and dust would really bother me day to day.

What a car 👌

The irony, 'the roads have next to none of them on' its now 16/11/21 and still we wait for them to resolve the semi conductor problem so we can actually get our R's! Ordered mine March 21 doesn't look like im getting mine now until March 22!! Real shame ...