I highly doubt that a £43k 400ps Golf (+ options to add for some) will command great money on the used market over a standard R. It will always be worth more than a GTI or a standard R, but £9k more than a GTI at 3 years old (to maintain same GFV as a GTI)? Just about possible while that car is in the dealership network and they set the nearly new prices, but it will plummet beyond it. There are just far better options out there at £43k or thereabouts – it’s no sports car, it’s a rocket propelled family hatchback that handles better than most family hatchbacks. You’d have to be a very well heeled VW nut to buy one of these over a Cayman or TTRS. Top of the range cars that go beyond twice the price of the most basic variant of that car don’t generally hold their value well. If you look at the Scirocco R, on the used market they only have around a £1500 premium over the 2.0TSI with the GTI engine. A 400ps Golf is still only a Golf, people expect more badge kudos on a £43k car than VW can give, even a 400ps Audi RS3 to the same spec would be the more desirable buy to most with £43k to spend on a car. In a similar vein, why would anyone drop £70k on a Phaeton with a VW badge?
Most people who can afford to drop £43k on a car will not be using it for the school run, they’ll buy that Cayman and have something like a GTI for the practical stuff. If they limit it to 400 units then they will sell them all, because there will be 400 VW nuts out there across Europe that’ll have one, but £43k is too much to be asking for a VW Golf.
Price it at £33-35k and it’ll be a lot more palletable to the new and used market. An extra 100ps can be achieved by remapping a standard R – how much could you add to the RRP by simply adding a bit more robustness by way of a bigger turbo, beefier clutch, possibly harder piston rods, bigger injectors, further suspension tweaks and a few interior and exterior styling changes? £13k over a standard R? That’s crazy money.
