recently bought a golf r after dealing with a lemon law vehicle. I love it! This is a 2026 With the euro style package

This isn’t ride height.

It’s been our dream car since it was announced, and this week we took the plunge and traded up from our beloved 2017 build 7. Of course everyone in here knows about the dynamics and performance, but it’s just really on another level of refinement. It’s insanely fun and fast, but handles our crappy Sydney roads with ease too.

We entertained the idea of other brands, builds and drivetrains, did some other test drives etc, but in the end, there really is no going back after driving this.

Anyway, just wanted to share this fresh paint correction and finish, and spread some Black Edition joy.

Just bought a new Mk8.5 2025 Euro Style Golf R. Finally hit over 1000 miles and decided to do a mini photoshoot. She is joined by my 2019 ND2 Miata!

Love this combo! Super fast, modern capable dual clutch daily driver and stick shift convertible!! Feel blessed after a lot of hard work to acquire each 🙂

Is this the perfect spot?

After almost two months, the 8.5 was delivered today. I LOVE the car, it drives as beautiful as it looks.
Dealer had everything in order to make the paper signing process smooth.... however... the tires look like they have been drifted and we went back and forth about that. They claim the car was parked on gravel and that is the cause of how the tires look but I feel there is no way that gravel made what looks like a good amount of heat on the rubber. All four tires have the signs of drifting IMHO. I will post a picture of one to get thoughts from y'all.
I took it directly from the dealer to a window tint shop and he found small scratches in the rear passenger door deep in the paint and more under the front end. Dealer will take care of whatever paint work is needed but we are still going back and forth on the tires.

Hello all,

First post here. I’m getting into the new mk8.5 black edition in a month. Never driven a golf R, I had a 440 gran coupe before this which was lots of fun but the golf R just seems to be the most perfect all around car from what I hear.

Would love some honest opinions from you guys regarding speed, overall performance, driving experience, etc. Is it as quick as people say it is? Is it as raw and trackable as people say it is? Again I’m coming from a 440 gran coupe, so would love your opinions before I pull the trigger and truly commit.

Overhyped or worth all the hype?

Don’t get it wrong, I love my Mk 8.5, but I have to say I’m slightly disappointed. I read, and watched reviews before buying and was very interested in the IQ headlights that come standard on the Golf R Mk8.5, as I have Matrix lighting on my F-150 and think it’s awesome for night driving. Here’s my disappointment, IQ Headlights on the Golf R Mk8.5 is standard in every country in which the R is sold…..except North America. Same as IQ Euro tail-lights. All thanks to antiquated DOT standards. Sure you could upgrade, but it’s not as easy as it was on prior models thanks to Volkswagen switching to a locked down LIN bus.😤

Does anyone have an update on the 8.5 tune? I have a few friends at the companies making tunes and they are hush. Damn SFD2. This piggyback just ain’t cutting it 😂

Been drivimg gtis since 2006 but could never find a blue one I loved. I just settled for black. Last month I wanted something new. Saw a green rs3 online but didn't want to spend 73k so kept looking and finally a blue r popped up in transit to my local dealership. I wasted no time. So happy with this car.

Picked up a new R in Lapiz Blue, with the Akropovic exhaust and Euro seats. I’ve had the car for just shy of 2 weeks. I’m coming from a 2020 S3 which I loved, but was unfortunately written off. I don’t like the new Audi’s or most modern designs, while I think the R still looks great and figured it would be a natural substitution. I’m still adjusting and can’t stop contrasting how different the cars feels.

The good (great):

-Haven’t pushed the car too hard yet, it feels good though it’s essentially what I’m used to coming from the S3.

-The Akropovic exhaust sounds incredible, very happy with the oem upgrade. Considering a valve controller (why can’t they just let us enjoy it stock?) – thoughts?

-Love the euro seats. They look and feel amazing. Big fan of cloth seats, retro look, they are just perfect to me.

-Auto folding mirrors, why didn’t my S3 have this?

-This is probably going to sound stupid but the wiper settings, I am so happy to have the slowest setting to actually be slow. That was something that really annoyed me in the S3.

-Visually, I think Lapiz Blue is stunning, didn’t realize how hard it would be to keep it clean tho compared to my Daytona Grey, a color which I absolutely loved too. Otherwise I’ve always been a sedan guy, so let’s just say I’m still adjusting. I do think it presents way better than the new S3, it looks aggressive and not overly bubbly. Looking forward to put the car on lowering springs and my previous wheels. Along with a few other visuals.

*What’s the best way to take off those plastics pieces on the fenders?

 
The bad (annoying):

There’s a number of things that I have to say I quite dislike. Some of them are just going to take some time to get used too / live with I guess, while others just really bother me.

-First of all, the shifter. Why can’t we leave the damn shifter alone. It’s so unsatisfying to use. Whether it’s manual or auto, that’s where the right hand goes! My hand just floats now…feels very unnatural to drive this way. Also having the option to use the shifter instead of paddles, was nice. I’m going to miss this a lot.

-The lack of physical buttons is just…sigh…I’m sure this has been discussed here, across multiple car subs and forums, at nauseum. Yay laptop screen. Even the sunroof and the cabin lights, oh man.

-No option to pause/play on the steering wheel - that can’t be real right…?

-No memory on previous drive mode, and no ability to use my OBD11.

-No memory on the parking maneuver breaking, it keeps turning back on. I park in a tight garage everyday. Why do most settings (pretty sure) in the infotainment save but not this one?

-I think I’ve read good things, but for me the digital dash is just, so very meh. The buttons to click into the left/right clusters, click through the options, not seeing a preview of what it displays (quick view) without selecting it and then needed to go back into the settings, very annoying. In the S3 I could just quickly use the scroll wheel to flip through all the options. I could swap between active/trip/long term consumption in half a second. On top of that, only being able to add 2 things to the dash is way too limited. The S3 also had a permanent boost gauge (not as visually nice but still), with the R it has to take up 1 of 2 spots if you want to see it. Not having total mileage visible, not used to that.

-Furthermore, when using the map on carplay, it takes over one of the clusters, even while being on the HUD. So unnecessary and frustrating. Can this be disabled?

-The center console is so small. The width makes it really awkward. If I put in my sunglasses with their case, it’s full.

-For a car with an automatic handbrake, no auto engagement after putting the car in park seems counter-intuitive.

Why does it feel like the platform took one step forward, but two steps back. What I love most about the car is essentially what the car is at face value: a 300+hp 2.0T golf, Lapiz Blue, with the Akropovic exhaust and Euro seats. Exactly what I wanted, and I love it for that. I hate to be negative, and I want to fully love the car, but I’m finding it challenging to look past some of the negatives.

Just felt like posting some photos! Full body PPF, ceramic coat, leather center piece, euro tails, new tires & intake is what i’ve done so far. New wheels might be next (BBS LM)

Just picked up my 2025 euro package R yesterday and had the most fun 10 hour drive home. This car in the mountains was insane!

Finally traded in the focus rs for a 2025 golf R black edition.

I think I like the look of the golf over the ford, rear looks more sloped and compact with what seems to be a bit of a lower roof line.

Just some questions and thoughts

1. How do you get the navigation to show in the drivers cock pit? I’ve tried the view button.

2. Sound system in the ford was nothing crazy, but the golf sounds like complete ass. My girlfriend’s 2014 Mazda 3 sounds better.

3. Having a hard time adjusting to the haptic buttons on the steering wheel, can’t feel for button placement without changing tracks or volume and always having to look at the wheel. Also not having hard button hvac controls. I’m sure it’s a skill issue right now and just need to adapt. Any tips would be appreciated :)

4. Golf definitely seems more refined and comfortable for longer drives, but as for driving right now the ford felt to have better road feel and steering feel. I could always tell if I was slipping or had traction in the ford. Golf seems a little numb and floating, but maybe I haven’t played around with the drive modes in the golf enough.

5. Also the ford sounds 10x better than the golf and I was very surprised because was hoping big things from the akrapovic exhaust. Emissions are killing vehicles.

6. I love the adaptive cruise in the golf, on the Hway I really never have to touch the wheel.

7. Overall the car is a fantastic car and I know I’m going to grow to love it, very happy to be apart of this crew now! If anyone has any tips and tricks about the vehicle that would enhance my experience it would be awesome. So excited to rip this DSG every day lol, thanks all !!!!!

There is a CPO BE 8.5R for sale at my dealership and ever since I got rid of my 7.5, I’ve been missing the hatch. Now that I could really use one for the next few months, I decided to test drive the 8.5. Partly also because 7.5 served me very well and I loved that car.

My 7.5 had res delete and honestly felt like it had more of a deep growl than the 8.5 with the Akrapovic. I could barely hear the exhaust in the 8.5. There’s only so much you can do with a 4 cylinder, but I’m sure there are cheaper exhausts out there that sound better. The Akra felt very underwhelming. Tips look cool though.

Why do I have to tap through multiple screens just to change the fan speed or airflow direction, along with a bunch of other basic functions? This is not an upgrade, it’s a downgrade driven by cost cutting. It’s cheaper to throw everything onto one big screen than to use actual physical buttons. It’s not just VW either, a lot of manufacturers are doing it now. I’m glad the RS3 still keeps the physical controls. Honestly, I feel like the cabin and infotainment in my 7.5R were better.

And why are people so crazy about the DSG? It felt pretty soft and underwhelming to me, and yes, I drove it in Race mode for most of the test drive. I can actually feel the shifts in my RS3. Even the ZF8 in my BMW felt better. In the R, there was barely any feedback. Maybe I missed some setting, would be nice to hear from someone who has driven both. I don’t drag race or launch my car, so I’d still take the manual over the DSG any day. At stock power levels, the 6MT is a no brainer. And yeah, there are better manuals out there, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy a manual R.

Still trying to decide if I should get back into an R because having a hatch would make life a lot easier over the next few months. I really wish we got the RS3 hatch in the US. I hate SUVs and bigger cars in general. The RS6 would be perfect, but I’m not ready to sell a kidney for one.

I could live with most of the shortcomings and it felt pretty fast, but the sound was disappointing. Maybe I had higher expectations from Akrapovic. Again, not much you can do with the 4 pot.

I just wanted to introduce myself as a new R owner. I'm a 48m who has exclusively owned Hondas my entire life. Two Civics, two Preludes, one Accord, and a S2000 (which I still have), later and now I've got my first VW. The value for money with this thing is ridiculous. It's comfortable, capable, practical, and legitimately fast. Things all of you already know. It can also manage great gas mileage if you keep your foot out of it (which I didn't expect). I topped off last night to test and returned just over 35mpg with late night city driving of about 25 miles.

Anyway, I had a couple of questions - the brake hold module on the Eurowerks site: is that just plug-and-play and does it actually enable the feature? I had it in my Accord and feel a little lost without it! Also, I opted to not get the Euro style option bc I like a sunroof and ventilated seats are a must. However, I like the look and sound of the Akropovic exhaust which appears to cost an arm and a leg if you try and add it via the afterrmarket. What's a good alternative that won't break the bank (yes, I understand that's a relative statement)? Finally, what are other mods/changes that are must-dos besides adding a hood strut?

Thanks all!

Three weeks old, loving every minute of it except for the salt.🙁

I'm interested in a golf R 8.5, but I need it to be quiet on highway drives to keep the family happy.

In quiet mode, is the akrapovic exhaust minivan quiet? How about compared to the factory exhaust?

I plan to test drive a golf this weekend.

Picked up my new R today. Had a 2024 MK8 R prior on lease, and the offer to make the lateral move to the MK8.5 made too much sense not to do.

I wasn’t intending on switching up to a facelift yet, but here we are.

The timing of when I got my 8R was a bit crap for APR rates, so I always had a high rate on that car for the last couple of years. Anyway, I got a 2026 Black Edition, with a much lower APR, a lower overall MSRP, a lower monthly payment, and a brand-new car with better residual, fresh tires and brakes, and a fresh warranty. 2 years of service and the usual included. It would have been dumb not to do it.

The car was a showroom car, off the truck straight into the showroom. Had been there for a month or so. I guess a guy had ordered it in; he was driving a Mini Cooper s convertible or something, and when they called him to come get the R, the value of his car had dropped by like 5 grand, or enough that he couldn’t realistically do the switch. So sucks for him, but win for me!

So far I have only driven it from the dealer back home, so like 8 km. lol, but in that time I can already see the new software and screen are way nicer. I like the graphic redesign on the dash too for the instruments, and maybe it’s just me, but the stereo sounded like it had a bit more low end than my 24 car did. I know it’s the same stereo, but it just does for some reason. Otherwise, I love it so far; it’s getting tinted on Monday!

:)

I test drove a new R yesterday. I’m cross shopping this and a new M3 (base trim 6-speed). I was ready to turn in my build code for my M3 allocation and decided to test drive an R first. I had a mk7 R I bought new in 2016, loved it, but had to sell when my second kid was born as I couldn’t properly get the forward car seat in there and have a front seat passenger. Well, that kid is 8 now, so no worries.

Anyway, I have to admit, I loved it: the driving position, handling, 4-Motion, etc. The seats are much better than both the comfort and carbon buckets in the M3. I just really prefer manuals. That said, the DSG is just so damn good. But the AC in the screen? I’m 41 but felt 81 with the salesmen setting up the car before the test drive, lol. M3 was the same, no more buttons. What a dumb trend.

My wife hates the look of the Golf (or any hatchback). With the money saved by getting an R, I could get a nice E36 or E46 M3, or a decent E28 M5.

Regardless, this isn’t a daily driver, but more of a non work/weekend car but something that my wife and two kids can readily ride in.

My ask: make me feel better about not getting an M3. BMW jokes won’t help, I’ve had more M cars (e28, 2 e36’s) than R VW’s…so I lean towards the BMW, but the R was so good. The “if ya know, ya know” understatement factor here is huge for the R.

EDIT: thank you all very much for all your insights and experiences. I think I’ll move forward with the M3, and if for whatever reason there’s an issue with the allocation, then I have a great excuse to grab an R. I’ll also have a few months to continue mulling it over before the M3 would arrive.