The Volkswagen Golf R will next year celebrate a quarter of a century in production, with its lineage dating back to the Mk4 Golf R32 of 2002, which became the first all-wheel drive flagship performance version of the hatchback.
25 years later, Volkswagen is taking the Golf R back to the race track, announcing it’ll compete in the 2027 Nürburgring 24 Hour endurance race with a specially developed car, based on the all-wheel drive model.
Replacing the three-year-old, front-wheel drive Golf GTI Clubsport, the Golf R 24H is currently being developed by Volkswagen in collaboration with motorsports outfit Max Kruse Racing, whose co-founder Benjamin Leuchter is leading the program.
Volkswagen Golf R 24H show car
Details are limited, though we can already see the Golf R 24H is a lot beefier than the production car upon which it’s based, with a wide and long front splitter, pumped-out guards, a vented bonnet, and huge rear window-mounted wing.
Interestingly, it has also adopted a side-exit exhaust. While Volkswagen has yet to confirm technical specifications, the launch of the Golf R 24H race car aligns with reports that the production model would get a five-cylinder swansong.
Speaking to Auto Express in January, Sebastian Willmann, the current head of chassis development and driving dynamics for Volkswagen, said there’s “some room for improvement” for the Golf R, before adding, “let’s see what, over time, is possible”.
Volkswagen Golf R 24H show car
Autocar last year reported a special edition of the Volkswagen Golf R will adopt the turbocharged five-cylinder engine from the Audi RS3, something VW’s iconic model has never done.
While the Golf has had its fair share of turbocharged four-cylinder and even Volkswagen’s niche ‘VR6’ narrow-angle V6, it’s never featured a five-cylinder engine.
That’s despite the Golf being twins under the skin with not only the RS3 but also the Cupra Formentor VZ5, one of the few models outside of Audi’s lineup to adopt the ‘2.5 TFSI’.
Volkswagen has been spied testing an even hotter Golf R at the Nürburgring, suggesting development of the five-pot powered model is well advanced.
Hot hatch hero to get special send-off
Theoretically, putting the five-cylinder engine in the Golf should be a straightforward task. It runs on the same MQB platform as the RS3 and Formentor, while third-party firms have also fitted the five-pot engine to not only Golfs but even Skoda’s Superb, among other models.
At the time, Autocar claimed a reveal of the five-cylinder Golf would take place in 2026, though it reported it may not go on sale until 2027, aligning it with the 25th anniversary of the Golf R which debuted as the Golf R32 in 2002.
Given Volkswagen has previously revealed its hottest special edition models alongside its 24 Hour race cars, a 2027 unveiling of the 24H and five-cylinder Golf R seems likely.
It’s understood the Golf R’s future with petrol power is also limited, as the flagship performance model is set to move to Volkswagen’s SSP EV architecture underpinning the upcoming ninth-generation Golf.
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