ariharry

Has anyone ordered yet? I don’t think I’ve seen any .... “I’ve done it, to hell with the reviews, the car looks awesome!” type comments.

Agreed. I think VW are cashing in on the reputation of the R by dressing up other cars with the R badge, and the Golf R more than the others is a halo product to push the standard Golf, so more a marketing product to keep VW ICE products in the press and social media. On the GR Yaris .... so, so tempted... ! I’d be happier keeping my R and supplementing that with the Yaris!

It was a simple choice for me when specifying my 7.5. 1. Keep it under 40k and put up with the regret, year on year of not having the spec that I wanted 2. Pay the extra tax I went with the 2nd option, once I justified to myself that is was “only” a few hundred extra quid each year. Had I gone with (1), the mental anguish over the ownership period would have been too much (I’ve had poverty specified cars before and hated it ..).

The 8R does nothing for me, e.g. I don’t get the “wow, that is cool” feeling I got when I saw the original 7 and then 7.5. As such I’m keeping the 7.5 R until I’ve saved enough for a ... Porsche Taycan (probably turbo S). Yes, I know it is in a completely different league, price wise, and I’m crazy bonkers for considering a car that costs nearly x3 more, but I want to change to something different and jumping to what is ultimately a mild improvement to an already excellent car doesn’t excite.

I’ve often wondered that. Brits may associate SUVs with perceived wealth/status due to our long affiliation with Range Rovers (footballers, royal family), or just general ride height. My wife feels ‘vulnerable’ in our R Estate, our other car is a new shape v6 Touareg. She prefers ‘height’, and whilst I see the attraction in driving a bus-like SUV, you really appreciate the R when you switch from one car to the other!

Agreed. It is proper ugly! 🤮 I think it is a blessing in disguise, saves me money as I’m not getting the itch to upgrade, which normally happens when the newer, shinier model comes along!

Yep, agreed, and I did “the math” when I bought the 7.5 (compared to an equivalent Tesla). The calculations didn’t stack up, but ... ... if an EV comes along, with significant power with all the benefits of an EV drive train (instant torque), I’ll do the calculations again and weigh up my willingness to pay the premium. BTW, saving the planet doesn’t figure into my buying decisions, and the Polestar isn’t ‘special’ enough and I’m not looking for straight line performance (none of the EV’s apart from the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, handle as well as the R). I could be waiting for some time, but I’m in no rush as I’m happy with my 3 year old 7.5.

The ID3 is good but you can see VW are gearing up to enable Audi with a more premium variant of that platform, thus the hard plastics, cheap looking interior, mk8 display, etc. After the mk7.5 I’m likely to switch to EV, and the competition for performance EVs is heating up with the release of the Polestar 2, model 3 performance, plaid model s, etc. VW better hurry up with the ID R, though I expect it won’t be bonkers to avoid embarrassing their ICE variants!

If the mk8 offered something substantial, like a significant power increase or a much lighter chassis/more go kart handling, I’d ignore the looks and upgrade, no doubt. I can’t get over the fact that VW are pushing ambient lighting as a key feature. Hell, my old 2007 R56 Cooper S had user selectable ambient lighting, even on the B pillars! I know the mk8 R hasn’t been announced yet but based upon on the Arteon shooting brake, leaked images, we more or less know what to expect.

VW are ploughing resources into EV and digitisation, so the mk8 is as small-a-delta as they can get away with, e.g. reuse most components from the Mk7.5, add some cheap gimmicks (ambient lighting, multi colour leds are low cost), and reduce costs where they can (dash is a massive saving over the previous 7.5, reduction of parts, reduction of raw materials, etc). Saying that, there will be subtle improvements in handling through mostly drivetrain software changes, latest hardware for control units, and new ‘premium’ options like HUD, so it isn’t all bad. All things considered, it is the same car but with uglier looks Putting aside styling, I think the Mk8 will sell but not as well as the mk7.5, partly because of COVID and partly because of EVs.

My estate has reached 3 years but it is on variable service. The car infotainment system seems to suggest I can go until the end of the year. It has covered 18k miles. Should I ignore and book a service now? Do VW care about the service status reported by the car?

IIHS (American highway safety) rated the headlights as poor (halogen) though the LED units achieved acceptable ratings. Dynamic light assist helps improve visibility. It may be why it became standard on the latest production run.

And here comes a new tax ... ... “Blackout Charge”, designed to discourage EV charging during busy periods!

Putting aside the state of the charging infrastructure which is set to dramatically improve over the next 5 years, I am seriously considering a switch to a performance Tesla, possibly model Y, as that on the surface appears to provide range, performance, and space. The rate of change to EVs is likely to be far quicker than everyone originally imagined, so investing in another ICE vehicle for me is less attractive, and I expect the economics will make more sense in 2-3 years. Before purchasing my 7.5 R estate I did the math comparing a model S Tesla against the golf, and it made no economic sense to shift to the Tesla back then.

I have to say it is a step back from the 7.5 from an external design perspective. The interior is improved in parts. I like the ambient lighting, new DSG selector, cleaner dashboard look and HUD. Not too sure about the two display panel config and ugly surround around the dash display. I expect to hold onto the 7.5 and switch to a high performance EV at some future point, but my initial thoughts are ‘meh’.