It looks a decent car, but the more you read about it the more it feels like a parts bin special.
The old engine from the S3, a few new light bulbs and a haldex with an electric pump.
Run-out special like the ED30, perhaps?
I don't share your view that the new Golf R is the parts bin lash-up that you accuse it of being. What tips the balance in its favour for me is its new 4-wheel drive system. it's significant because it is a substantially different and better from previous R32 system. It should be very good on icy winter roads and generally make the R a very fast point-to-point machine with fully usable grunt.
The brakes are also new. The suspension is new with considerably better shocks than on standard GTi. The differences between 2-litre EA113 and EA888 are slight. The EA888 was primarily designed to be cheaper to manufacture, so it would need to beefed-up in order to ensure reliability at higher outputs. To develop a performance version of the EA888 put would have been riskier and taken longer than to go with an already excellent unit proven in the Audi A3 and TT. New isn't always better. Personally, I think the EA113 is the better unit, that's why it takes longer to make.
I understand that ACC and xenon lights are standard on the Golf R too, so only DSG, leather and SatNav options will be real price-boosting options.
And, perhaps the most important thing to say about current VW pricing - which has just increased in the last week by the way (sorry if mentioned elsewhere) - is that given soft demand for all brands of cars, VW are just trying to start from a strong position when you negotiate the price down...
I am fully confident that discounts even on this will be available by February 2010. There won't be an extension to the UK's scrappage scheme, so dealers everywhere will be discounting everything they've got.
Still, the basic price is steep. Even so, I'm very tempted.
