Review | 2018 VW Golf R | Specs Often Lie 

Dead on Henry. Mark by far is the best. Tells it like it is.

True to that.

He's like Garrison Keillor if the sex pest rumours were true.

@ That is just gross to think about.

same with me

Personally that is a similar reason to why I plan to purchase a Veloster N in the coming months, styling wise it is pretty tame compared to say the Type R but enough to stand out and make people wonder what's special about it. Also it fits my budget better than a golf R would and the RS was sadly placed on the chopping block by Ford

@@coser293 I preferred the Focus ST more than the Focus RS for the same reasons. Enough flare to know there's something up, but not enough to be garish.

Though given its tuning potential you can get quite the kick from it while keeping the sleeper look. How's the reliability?

I am with you 100% even with the Subaru STI- if i do get that one it will be with the WHALE tale DELETE option:) The SHOCK of when you put your foot into it especially in a plain white etc color will shock most-UNLESS an enthusiasts. FYI, the R can be upgraded to a stage 3 with a porting solution and 0-60 n 3.3 FLAT all day long- it beet my super charged mustang by a LARGE distance- i was CRYING inside:( did not expect a vw to shame a supercharged mustang!

Good , you should buy what you desire.

I'm 49 and looking so hard at the Golf R. It doesn't strike me as a teenager's racer.

@@patrickbyr I bought my Golf R October 2017 it's an 18 model in manual and it's a peach , I love it and would recommend the R to anyone.

I bought my R in 2019 after two Mk 6 GTI’s. All have been reliable, 250k in my first GTI without a problem and in Australia, all VW’s come with 5yr unlimited km warranties. I love the subtle looks. I love my R and about to get a software upgrade.

@@rongambol9910 who are you going with for the tune? I have a '17 Audi A5 2.0 TFSI and I am also looking closely at what options are available in Australia.

Way to go sir!

Cru Jones hi, do you have an oil catch can on your 2017 R? How are you addressing carbon build up on a Direct injection engine with a turbo on a performance car?

@@bennyang8049 Hi Benny - depending on the version NA -DI or EU-MP some models come with MultiPort injection. Low RPM engages port injectors which helps keep the valves in better condition. My Au R16 has the port injector rail from factory.

How much was your ‘17 R?

@@gavinwilliams9828 Just bought mine, 2017 with 57K miles for $29,599

@@kfritz3that’s funny. I’m looking at a $29k 2017 R with 57k miles tomorrow lol. I’m in MN and it came from Florida. You still think your price was worth it? I’m kinda scratching my head on spending that much on a car with 60000 miles on it.

But does it tickle your rectum though?

Honestly if it weren't for the GTI and R there wouldn't be much compelling reason to buy a VW.

No joke - every other model in their lineup is fucking dogshit. (lifelong VW owner...currently on numbers 11 and 12 in my garage)

@@MozzaBurger88 Its a "Duality-Car" as stated in the video! - So its bound to do Both! 😄 (From a GTI Clubsport owner! Check it on my Channel!)

@@break_it_bill Might wanna check my Clubsport here if ur true VW fanboy!

ECS tuning makes a kit to make the console usable.

63,250lbs? You could stand to lose 63,000lbs or so

chad jaeckel lmfaoooooo

Damn near killed em!

It IS Valentines day..

ぴーちゃん ... Can you possibly sound any more homo-phobic? You should see a psychiatrist about that.

burned to death

You don't need to hide anymore, man, people will accept you for who you are :) good luck!

@ピーチャン lmao!

He loves the word shit box

R32s are so sick, you never seen them around. My uncle has one too, such a blast to drive.

The 6 cylinder is reason you still own it

@@RM-tn4lo you are right. If it was just a mk 5 golf we would have sold it years ago. It's all about the feel and noise of that engine plus there's the added bonus that I can hear her arriving from miles away....gives me time to stop doing whatever it was I was doing.....

The best way to get rid of this carbon build up is choosing and using high quality synthetic oil which has the lowest percentge of NOACK volatility

So much shiny plastic, horrible .

It's weird because 2015-2017 Golf GTIs and Rs had a gloss black trim with a matte hexagon pattern on it. This really helped cover up a lot of smudges and dust since it wasn't as reflective. It looks like they are using the gloss black plastics from the base Golfs in these models now.

The R has had the gloss black since 2015.

The piano black trim pieces in out Kia Sedona drives me absolutely nuts! Dust magnetic POS.

Yup, personally prefer what they did on my 2015 GTI or even cooler the fish scales on the toyota 86. Still anything is better than GM grey plastic.

I'm glad that turbowski is gone these days to be honest

I'm not sure I've heard Turbowski ever saw anything positive about a car. He may be a phenomenal mechanic, but the "everything is Sh*t" attitude makes me discount his opinion.

@@billmic9039 I think all technicians have this type of contempt for the cars they work on. I enjoy it

@@billmic9039 I would say that as he is a mechanic and only sees the cars when they are broken, i would also think that everything is Shit

@@ameraldas3641 this is exactly correct. That engine is not “a piece of shit” lol. Sure it’s not Honda reliable, but it has a lot of advantages over simpler engines. It’s good stuff. I love the one in my GTI.

"... Also a restriction valve on the clutch line..." Everyone(OEMs) is guilty of doing that on their manual cars at one point or another. I remember when LS F-Bodies came out people doing the same Mod on the manual cars.

BMW does this too.

I doubt the upcoming Maybach S680 will have analog gauges.

Coming back to read this after more recent Maybachs have come out is simultaneously ironic and sad 😅

@@fakestig1913 lol looked up the new one after seeing your comment 2 hugggggee screens

Agreed!

It's a Volkswagen (people's car). The brand was never about being extravagant but being functional and then, affordable. Which now it is not anymore for a lot of people but I digress. It is still all about function, perfect sleeper car.

@@TheChannel1978 Idk, they're actually perfectly affordable still. The lower base and even mid models always have great lease specials being run and you can get 4 to 6k off sticker on almost every vehicle they produce on finance or cash, sans the Golf R regrettably. But the higher models are value bargains compared to the competition for the most part as long as you can live with fwd(in the R, most obviously awd) and '18 and 19's have wonderful warranties which carry over if you buy them a year or 2 down the line at a steep discount as well. GTI Autobahns are overpriced on sticker, but get one a year and a half old with 14k miles, it still has 5 and a half years of bumper to bumper with almost 60k and it goes in the higher mid-20's, that's pretty great.

I agree but disagree that they don’t have souls. Germany has given us the likes of Schubert and Goethe.

VR6 is a somewhat bullet proof engine, but the electrical stuff tend to be a problem. I'm still searching for a VR6.... Too hard to find

_"Some VW's really do last"_ - True, but the problem is that it's so hit-or-miss, and they tend to have serious issues like high pressure pump failures that hit hard. For those who aren't leasing and truly care about reliability, VW will never be an option.

Maybe you should...

@@georgehugh3455 Not generalizing much, are we? I"ve had a '87 Golf II (bought at 100k km, sold at 160k km), a "96 Golf III TDI (bought at 46k km and gifted my brother-in-law at 160k km when I moved to the US. He then traded it off after having a family of his own). There I had a 2012 Jetta SE which I boguth with 10k miles and traded it in at the dealer with 155k miles. All of these above mentioned vehicles just received regular maintenance and had repairs due to accidents (not at fault). I am now 6k miles into a 2019 Jetta GLI DSG and have so far loved every mile. I am not saying this is typical for VW, but my track record of having zero issues somewhat contradicts your "if you truly care about reliability you can't buy this" statement.

@@dereklohmann6681 _"Generalizing much"?_ Of course! That is how we judge reliability, not by the anecdotal evidence of a couple besot VW owners. _Consumer Reports_ takes GENERAL data across the wide spectrum of VW owners and found the Golf and Jetta to have its WORST rating on the Fuel System Reliability up thru 2013 and, second lowest rating on models since then. If you want some specifics, do a Google search on high pressure fuel pump failures and read a few of the horror stories on how costly and ugly this can get. *Like most brand/model design reliability problems, YMMV.* Hell, you _could probably_ drive pregnant women to the hospital in a Land Rover without a breakdown, but I'd pack a lot of blankets and sterile water.... I'm glad your purchases worked for you. I was seriously considering purchasing one for my wife but opted out based on the data. *The VW fuel system failures are fairly well known,* but certainly vary from model to model. The 2011 Recall of over 168,000 '09-12 Jetta/Golf/A3's TDI's for debris developing in the high pressure fuel pumps leading to $8-9,000 repairs mirrors what I said. The Fed'l Transportation Safety Board investigation that was initiated into 241,000 VW's for fuel system problems indicates that not everybody had perfect cars like you. The 2016/7 Recall of five years of Passats and eight years of CC's for fuel pump problems sounds less than "reliable."

Some of the cars I often desaturate a bit and push out shadows. But thanks nice compliments.

Thanks for letting us know..... I'm considering buying one of these and too bright a screen would be a turn off

Any chance you’ll give an update 2 years later? Do you still have it? Any issues? I’m looking at a 2016 and a 2018 golf R. I’m have very novice/surface level VW knowledge and don’t know about the longevity, maintenance, or any known issues on these things.

Unfortunately I sold the car. Not because there was anything wrong with it but I don't keep cars beyond two or three years of age. Big regret though. Still waiting on the 20th anniversary MK8R. Meantime I've bought a GR Yaris, which is also fantastic and I probably won't ever sell it. Regarding reliability, not a lot goes wrong with a well maintained MK7. My advice would always be to buy the best car you can afford with the lowest mileage, that has proof of a service history with a VW-Approved mechanic. Definitely wish I'd hung onto mine, that's for certain. Cheers

@@darrenprior6339 Thank you for responding!! Much appreciated!

Played out????

And please tell us... what is it?

Any mods Gary?

@@Agency323 Nope.

You still have it? If so, how’s it holding up

@@MikeyG003 No, I sold it and bought a new Toyota Camry XSE. Not as fun to drive, but more room and appx. 10mpg more.

@@garyleibitzke4166 niiice I have a 22 SE as well, great car. How many miles were you at when you sold it and any issues?

Varun-ditto on color and timing-bought my red a month ago-Tom

indian have money to buy this .. omg lol

Laser Beam thanks for bringing the racism to the comment section

Keep the car to 85-90k and enjoy replacing oil pan gasket and the power steering fluid container gasket. Dont' worry though... it'll only cost a few grand at an independent.

+bassandtrebleclef Yep, to hell with owning a car you have to replace something on after enjoying it for years! Better to buy an old Corolla that won't ever need any of that done! And you can enjoy how much of a fun to drive, sporty, nice car it is too...oh...

@@Shintsu2 Why should BMW oil pan gaskets, hoses and rubber materials have significantly shorter life spans than every other car on the road? I know they're made out of elfin tears and unicorn farts, but come on...

You must be joking. Audi’s are just a premium VW and have long been the leader of interiors that BMW and Mercedes have chased. Audi interiors have been renowned for their uncluttered simplicity of design.

What did you get instead?

Michael Ezebuiro brz ts in white. Saw it in person all dressed up and couldn’t walk away. Such a fun car to drive despite the power difference.

@@FreshlyBaked13 lame

@@malcolmn.5222 You're more than welcome to buy me something else.

@@FreshlyBaked13 I would but im in the process of getting a 2016 Golf R 6 speed