Clubsport or R, your choice?

[Exonian]

But still just a money isue?, a bit disapointed that the CS didn´t offer something that the R already has..

But is a bargain! 

I wouldn’t call £37k a bargain.
Maybe a mk8 GTD is a bargain compared to the rest of the range.

Money will nearly always play a part but a Clubsport isn’t just an R with a few horses strangled, a prop shaft removed and a couple tail pipes left off.
The Clubsport is at last a non limited edition, non overpriced (300PS) series GTI that benefits from a good few years of intense chassis development that went into the CSS, Ed40 and TCR.
The mk8 Clubsport is a standalone model that has its own character, look, positives and drawbacks.
Yes it’s slightly cheaper than an R but it’s not significantly so in the UK at least. 
It’s aimed at a slightly different niche and arguably looks nicer than an R to boot.
A Clubsport is a GTI for those that want something a little more hardcore than a 245PS model, an R is an R.
Like Apple, Volkswagen make a lot of money out of people buying a top of the range model just because it has the biggest numbers on the tech sheet. That’s rarely the whole product story though.

[Wide]

The clubby has several things the R doesn't have....different front end geometry and a 80kg crash diet for a start. Oh and a wing that you have to pay for on the R.

The R you are paying heavily for heavy awd and then paying on top for things they could have easily included on the base vehicle.

Vw clearly knew their audience though, no shortage of people who want the R it seems... Or are those all just YouTube comment fantasies?

I hope that the CS is faster on some tracks compare to the R with that less weight!. But when i talked to Benny L the VW testdriver.
He says that he never liked the R on track, i always prefer the FWD GTI, so much fun and faster..

But now the R is in a another league according to him!

[Wide]

But still just a money isue?, a bit disapointed that the CS didn´t offer something that the R already has..

But is a bargain! 

I wouldn’t call £37k a bargain.
Maybe a mk8 GTD is a bargain compared to the rest of the range.

Money will nearly always play a part but a Clubsport isn’t just an R with a few horses strangled, a prop shaft removed and a couple tail pipes left off.
The Clubsport is at last a non limited edition, non overpriced (300PS) series GTI that benefits from a good few years of intense chassis development that went into the CSS, Ed40 and TCR.
The mk8 Clubsport is a standalone model that has its own character, look, positives and drawbacks.
Yes it’s slightly cheaper than an R but it’s not significantly so in the UK at least. 
It’s aimed at a slightly different niche and arguably looks nicer than an R to boot.
A Clubsport is a GTI for those that want something a little more hardcore than a 245PS model, an R is an R.
Like Apple, Volkswagen make a lot of money out of people buying a top of the range model just because it has the biggest numbers on the tech sheet. That’s rarely the whole product story though.

But i am am CS fanboy!, was that close that i order one!. In Sweden the CS is a Bargain!, is like 10 000 Euro cheaper than the R..

[king monkey]

Good point about the CS being niche. That makes the Ed45 extreme niche or something! CS might well appeal more to a gti/Vw fan whereas the R has a bit of a different audience if the mk7 is anything to go by. That probably doesn’t make any sense!

[clubsport]

I'm not sure I see the mk 8 CS as niche? It is a more powerful Gti option as we first saw when VW bought out the 16V mk2 in 1986 to sell alongside the 8V.

This time, I think VW have worked hard on the mk8 R, they have seen how well the mk7 R has sold and importantly, they realise there is now a market where a £40-50k hot hatch is actually something the consumer will buy, who would have thought?

As this "super", " uber" hatch market is there, VW have upped the game on the R, it seems to dominate road tests in this sector.

Of course it will all come down to the monthly's once production and demand is somewhat back to what normal now is on a post covid world.

I am unlikely to buy either a CS or R as I don't need a dsg car, but the R package looks very impressive, if you like that sort of thing?

[king monkey]

Do you not think that Joe average will just get a gti rather than a CS? It’d be interesting I suppose to see the split between Mk7 non PP and PP. Might give an indication.

[Exonian]

In Sweden the CS is a Bargain!, is like 10 000 Euro cheaper than the R..

A bargain or is the R just horrifically expensive? Is price based on emissions with the R falling into a higher group?

CS might well appeal more to a gti/Vw fan whereas the R has a bit of a different audience if the mk7 is anything to go by. That probably doesn’t make any sense!

Yes that makes perfect sense and I agree.

I'm not sure I see the mk 8 CS as niche? It is a more powerful Gti option as we first saw when VW bought out the 16V mk2 in 1986 to sell alongside the 8V.

This time, I think VW have worked hard on the mk8 R, they have seen how well the mk7 R has sold and importantly, they realise there is now a market where a £40-50k hot hatch is actually something the consumer will buy, who would have thought?

As this "super", " uber" hatch market is there, VW have upped the game on the R, it seems to dominate road tests in this sector.

Of course it will all come down to the monthly's once production and demand is somewhat back to what normal now is on a post covid world.

I am unlikely to buy either a CS or R as I don't need a dsg car, but the R package looks very impressive, if you like that sort of thing?

Yeah, I do think the Clubsport will be pretty niche as it’s reasonably close in price to the R and the latter will be the main focus for most people.
It’s understandable that these 4WD über hatches are a big market now as they’ll often be bought as a second household car to the now semi-ubiquitous SUV or a sole car for the downsizers who are seeing their V6/V8 saloons getting either stratospherically expensive or losing the huge power plants to high powered 4 cylinder motors with supposedly greener credentials.
These hyper hatches have a decent power to weight ratio, all the modern must have toys can be specced as extras, they have a good image and have the right badges on their noses for those that have £50k budgets. 

VW have thrown a lot into the new R because they had to, this is their bread and butter market and the R badge will be the brand image builder that carries us into the electric age where a GTI will mean nothing. It’s not like the R badge has no heritage as it’s been around a good while now and isn’t linked to a 2wd 4cyl hatch only set up like the GTI has been kept as (post Jetta).

For GTI’s maybe we are seeing the end of the line now.

[clubsport]

For GTI’s maybe we are seeing the end of the line now.

Personally having owned a few GTi' over the years, starting with my mk1 Campaign BRM152, I feel the game changed for me when the GTi performance variant (mk8CS) only became available with 5 doors and Dsg?

One thing I have not heard much about in regard to the new 8 R, is any upgrade to the security system?

As exciting as the performance figures appear, the ownership proposition may depend on the area you live and where you use the car?
Will this put any potential buyers off owning one?

[king monkey]

According to the dvla the Golf is the third most stolen car in the UK. How many are performance variants of any kind would be interesting to know. I reckon both cars are desirable to the undesirables.

[Snoopy]

For GTI’s maybe we are seeing the end of the line now.

Personally having owned a few GTi' over the years, starting with my mk1 Campaign BRM152, I feel the game changed for me when the GTi performance variant (mk8CS) only became available with 5 doors and Dsg?

  Similar GTI story. I can deal with the 5 doors. Not keen on DSG.
The UI is a slight concern, VW were always simple easy to use.