Why Volkswagen is Testing a Five-Pot Golf R

Volkswagen has recently been spotted testing what seemed to be a five-pot Golf R. Now the company explains that yes, it is an RS3-powered Golf and why they’re doing it.

At a recent VW product launch, Volkswagen Australia Product Manager Todd Ford explained. “It’s a bit of an arms race, constantly,” he told Whichcar Australia, speaking about the hot hatch battle for supremacy.

The company’s R division is trying out different product ideas and plans. Investigating what works, what doesn’t, and how to get it to market.

“Sometimes we look to other power sources so it’s great for our market to have that drive to have a greater performance product, it’s just the R division working on that. It’s their car, so it’s just them testing the 5-cylinder engine as a large percentage of their work is evaluating and looking at new engines and technologies to see if there’s a business case for putting something to the market. Certainly, there are no plans that we’ve been made aware of, but it certainly wouldn’t be the only thing they’re evaluating in terms of different drivetrains.” Ford said.

The Golf R’s current 2.0L turbo four generates 292 hp. The RS3’s 2.5L inline-five puts out 400 hp with 354 lb-ft. More importantly, that oddball engine offers significantly more character than the Golf’s four.

So is the Golf R five headed to market? “Again, no plans, but there are always discussions.” VW Australia is pressuring the home office to offer something more potent than the R. If other markets do similar than the car could just become reality.

[source: Whichcar]

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