With all the commotion and news going around about the regular versions of the seventh generation of the Volkswagen Golf that will premiere at the Paris Motor Show next month, it’s easy to forget that the Germans are also working on several other variants including a flagship sports model with the ‘R’ moniker.
Our spies didn’t forget and kept a lookout for any suspicious looking Golf prototypes. Their diligence paid off this week as they snagged the first photos of a Golf R prototype while testing in Europe.
The car is heavily camouflaged but it’s easy to spot the larger “R” style alloy wheels shod in low-profile tires, the bigger disc brakes and of course, the quad exhaust outlets (instead of the current model’s twin pipes), though we can’t be sure if VW will keep this setup on the production version,
Like its lesser siblings, the Golf R will benefit from a weight reduction, which could be as much as 100kg or 220 pounds, partially thanks to the use of lighter body panels and the new MQB modular platform.
Under the hood, the next generation of the Golf R should get a revamped version of VW’s 2.0-liter force-fed inline four, which in its current form, produces an output of 266hp (270PS).
How much more stronger it will be on the new model depends on the performance numbers of the next GTI. For example, if the reports about the GTI churning 222hp (225PS) turn out to be true, then we could expect a similar boost for the ‘R’ model.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoop
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