Golf mk8.5R news, questions and chat

[Rossdh91]

I see from the official Volkswagen R Instagram channel that they will now be offering a "Racetech" covered steering wheel. Looks good! may have to get myself one! 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQZbusFldF5/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[Scudgie]

45 minutes ago, Rossdh91 said:

I see from the official Volkswagen R Instagram channel that they will now be offering a "Racetech" covered steering wheel. Looks good! may have to get myself one! 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQZbusFldF5/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

That won't be cheap

[Rossdh91]

11 minutes ago, Scudgie said:

That won't be cheap

 

Probably not. Going by the German configurator, it's a €230 option. 

[Booth11]

3 hours ago, Rossdh91 said:

I see from the official Volkswagen R Instagram channel that they will now be offering a "Racetech" covered steering wheel. Looks good! may have to get myself one! 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQZbusFldF5/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Good to have choice but it’s not for me, I really dislike alcantara. Hate the feel of it. 😄 Prefer the standard leather wheel.  

[Scudgie]

2 hours ago, Rossdh91 said:

 

Probably not. Going by the German configurator, it's a €230 option. 

Not too expensive if you're buying a new car, but I imagine it would be closer to £2k to replace an existing wheel

[AHG]

4 hours ago, Rossdh91 said:

 

Probably not. Going by the German configurator, it's a €230 option. 

that is still relatively modest 

 

I wonder how much it would cost to get one aftermarket 

[AHG]

2 hours ago, Scudgie said:

Not too expensive if you're buying a new car, but I imagine it would be closer to £2k to replace an existing wheel

A new ‘regular’ R wheel cost half of that

from those who had to swap after warranty was out

we know it was around 1k. No ?

[Rossdh91]

8 hours ago, Scudgie said:

Not too expensive if you're buying a new car, but I imagine it would be closer to £2k to replace an existing wheel

Oh for sure. Will be interesting to see how much it’ll actually be when the part numbers become available. 
 

It’ll likely be cheaper to get then standard retrimmed. 

[Phoenix]

What privacy settings are you guys on with your 8.5’s?
I’m sure something popped up briefly saying something like some things were not available due to privacy settings with maximum privacy in brackets.
Is it saying it should be set at max privacy or not?


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[Booth11]

32 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

What privacy settings are you guys on with your 8.5’s?
I’m sure something popped up briefly saying something like some things were not available due to privacy settings with maximum privacy in brackets.
Is it saying it should be set at max privacy or not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I always have mine set to minimum privacy (or maximum visibility) makes for much less restriction of some services.  

[Phoenix]

I always have mine set to minimum privacy (or maximum visibility) makes for much less restriction of some services.  

Thanks Rebecca, I’ll give that a go


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[Suki]

So, I'm in my 3rd week of the 8.5R, and I am convinced it's a much better car than my last two Mk8s. I'm also at nearly 800 miles - only a few hundred miles to go before I let it rip. I think this one will be a longer term keeper than the other two, so I wonder what everyone's thoughts are on a 1000 mile oil and filter change? The (former) engineer in me tells me this is the right thing to do. I've already bought the oil and filter, but I'm interested in everyone's thoughts. If it's run-in after 1000 miles, then this bedding in of components will surely carry contaminents in the oil, however small. Sorry if this has been talked about before.

[garykane1980]

On 10/11/2025 at 18:26, Suki said:

So, I'm in my 3rd week of the 8.5R, and I am convinced it's a much better car than my last two Mk8s. I'm also at nearly 800 miles - only a few hundred miles to go before I let it rip. I think this one will be a longer term keeper than the other two, so I wonder what everyone's thoughts are on a 1000 mile oil and filter change? The (former) engineer in me tells me this is the right thing to do. I've already bought the oil and filter, but I'm interested in everyone's thoughts. If it's run-in after 1000 miles, then this bedding in of components will surely carry contaminents in the oil, however small. Sorry if this has been talked about before.

Interested in replies to this. 💡 

 

As for letting rip, it’s a 600 miles or 1,000km run-in, so go for it now!! 😈 

[Parky-SPP]

1 hour ago, garykane1980 said:

Interested in replies to this. 💡 

 

As for letting rip, it’s a 600 miles or 1,000km run-in, so go for it now!! 😈 

1500km I believe the manual says

[R_wannabe_owner]

1 hour ago, garykane1980 said:

Interested in replies to this. 💡 

 

As for letting rip, it’s a 600 miles or 1,000km run-in, so go for it now!! 😈 

IMHO it’s still wise to exercise some mechanical sympathy whatever the car and its age / mileage. I’ve always ensured the engine oil temperature is up to around 90 C before driving enthusiastically, and my enthusiastic driving is also probably quite sedate compared to some 🙂.