2025 Mini JCW Countryman All4 vs. 2025 Volkswagen Golf R: Fun things, small packages?
This week: Volkswagen Golf R
Price: $52,416 as tested. Monster Mats and trunk liner, $296. More whined about below.
Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes the “inconspicuous hatchback exterior, mighty turbo four, tenacious all-wheel-drive chassis,” but not the “manual transmission option gone for 2025,” that it’s “one expensive Golf,” and that the “cool wagon version not sold in U.S.”
Marketer’s pitch: “Legendary performance, updated.”
Reality: The funner and smaller contestant.
What’s new: The Golf R is the hatchback that out-GTIs the GTI, with faster performance and all-wheel drive.
More horsepower (another 13), some design tweaks, and some new packages highlight the Golf R for 2025.
Competition: In addition to the JCW Countryman, there are the BMW X1, Ford Mustang, Mini Cooper, Subaru WRX, and I guess everything else listed in the Countryman review last week.
Up to speed: The 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine creates a whopping 328 horsepower. In the small package that is the Golf R, that translates into some winning performance, getting the little hatchback to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds, according to Volkswagen.
Oh, and it sounds pretty awesome doing it.
Much fun was had getting the Golf R up to speed. How much? A state trooper showed up to check speed in my neighborhood for the first time in 22 years during the week I had the Golf R. Coincidence? You decide. (Of course I didn’t get pulled over. Moi?)
Shifty: The 7-speed dual-clutch transmission operates via a small toggle à la Audi, and shifting happens through toggle switches on the steering wheel. Shifting is fun and easily done, and maximizes performance from the Golf R. A lack of stick shift disappoints real enthusiasts but my last experience with a Miata clutch left me with extended hip issues that makes me wary of such machines anymore. Plus, once you get sub-5-second 0-60 times — you can’t shift as fast as a computer anyway.
The real disappointment I found in the transmission was the split-second lag when pulling from a stop sign or otherwise starting from zero. It was worse in Comfort or Normal mode; in Sport or Track mode the Golf R seemed to overcompensate and acceleration started out pretty wild.
On the road: The all-wheel drive plus torque vectoring in the Golf R make for a road-gripping experience. As much as the Golf R performs admirably on the straightaways, it’s most at home on curves and corners. I could enter highways from the right at 35 mph without any slide (I regret I never remembered to try Drift mode). As fun as the JCW Countryman was, the Golf R was just a little bit more.
Driver’s Seat: The black cloth seat looked a little low-budget, but it felt quite nice. Comfort and support like you wouldn’t believe.
But I’m not sure where it’s worth 50k for a seat that only has a power recline function and not full power control. And while the seat material was cool, ventilation really should be offered here as well; the Countryman also lacked this necessity.
But wait, the seat coverings, ventilation deletion, and silly half-power recline were all part of a $3,795 option package, which also provided titanium exhaust and other decorative features. What?
Friends and stuff: The rear seat is cloth and leather, and it’s fairly comfortable. Legroom is tight, but foot room and headroom are awesome. Entry-exit is difficult because of the tight doors and the tight legroom.
The center seat should hardly have a seat belt, as the hump is quite tall and console creeps pretty far back.
Cargo space is 18.9 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 34.5 with the seat folded.
In and out: It’s not as low as most hatchbacks out there, and certainly easier to get into than the Honda Civic (which I had the week before) but much worse than the Countryman.
Play some tunes: Oh, for the days of simpler operations. The touchscreen is big and not hard to follow, with its icon menu right in front of you. But the sliders in the ebony frame underneath the screen go temperature-volume-temperature, and they offer zero feedback by feel. Some designer is pleased with the clean aesthetic and nifty operation but thousands of drivers are shouting “WHY?!”
Sound from the system is pretty good, about an A-, but you have to enter the equalizer graphic interface and try to make the pixel sliders move up and down to just where you want them. Argh.
Keeping warm and cool: And then the HVAC is in the touchscreen as well. The controls are in no discernible pattern that I could find, and even the fan speed adjustment requires entering this arena. We experienced 80- to 100-degree temperatures the week I had it, and believe me, the fan speed is something you want to adjust frequently.
On the final night of the Golf R, I drove home from dinner out with friends in a torrential downpour, but first I wanted to find the rear defroster. Of course it’s grouped in the touchscreen right? No! It’s over there on the left with the light control cluster, another ebony touch something that has little haptic feedback.
Fuel economy: The Golf R didn’t have very clear menus on the screen but the average fuel economy was 22.5 mpg for the duration of its visit, so I assume that’s a forever-ish number. Sounds about right, and pretty closely matches the JCW Countryman.
Where it’s built: Parts breakdown includes 28% from Germany and 18% from Hungary.
How it’s built: Consumer Reports didn’t have data on the Golf R but they did say, “We expect the 2025 Golf R to be less reliable than other new cars.” Safe bet.
In the end: Saying the Golf R is more fun than the JCW Countryman is like saying a Chihuahua is more high-strung than a poodle. It’s really close.
But the Golf R has that stupid seat adjustment and insufferable touchscreen. The Countryman has such a neat interior and great feel, and that bonus space can’t be ignored. What can I say? I’m a man from the country, and never liked golf.
