Golf R - The Car So Nice I Bought It Twice

You know how they say hindsight is 20/20? Well, a few years ago when I was picking the car that would replace the WRX, a friend of mine told me “You should just get a Golf R”.

Boy, I should’ve listened…

Why’d You Get Rid of the WRX?

When I traded in the WRX, my rationale was…complicated.

• Our daughter was going to be born in a few months
• I was getting tired of daily driving a manual transmission, not to mention that obnoxious clutch creak seemed to be back
• Having a garage spot taken up by a car my wife couldn’t drive felt silly, especially with the kiddo on the way
• I’d kind of stalled out modifying the WRX - it was about as good it could get as a daily driver with my budget

So, I got to shopping for a replacement. There were a few strong contenders, but the Golf R wasn’t one of them. Honestly, I didn’t have any real desire to own a VW after the Dieselgate fiasco, and generally felt like they weren’t very interesting cars.

V Dub Who?

It wasn’t like I hated Volkswagen or anything. My dad had owned an early 2000s Passat turbo when I was growing up, and I loved that car! I learned to drive primarily in my mom’s CR-V, but once and a while, my dad would toss me the keys to his car, and boy was it fun.

I was 16, so anything with a turbocharger was cool. But the Passat was extremely well built, refined, and made some cool turbo noises on full throttle.

I had considered a GTI around the time I was looking for my first car. I thought they had some dope wheel designs (seriously, are the OEM VW Detroit wheels not the coolest?) and being a hatchback was handy, but my Subaru-addled brain was too busy earmarking non-vital organs I could sell to get behind the wheel of an STI, so the practicality and refinement of the GTI was completely lost on me.

But, I do remember when the Golf R hit US shores around 2011.

Midway through college, I was in no position to afford one, but the recipe sure seemed right: AWD, big turbo, hatchback practicality, VW refinement. It was a tempting prospect, but never felt attainable.

Ultimately I spent most of my 20s oblivious to anything with a VW badge, but during that time the Golf R was quietly evolving - often cited as a competitor to the STI, albeit one that prioritized refinement above sheer driving enjoyment. Unfortunately, the reverse of my priorities at the time.

Adulting Is Hard

Fast forward to a few years ago when my wife and I found out our daughter was on the way, I decided it was time to make a few changes. After five years with the WRX, I was ready for something new, more comfortable, and with a bit more refinement than my last few cars offered.

I did a detailed post on which cars I considered, but for reasons mentioned earlier, the Golf R didn’t make the short list (even though I got several recommendations for it). The combination of timing (coming off the 2020 pandemic and used car prices being batshit crazy) and being between the Mk7 and Mk8 generations meant the R was once again not on my radar.

I ultimately ended up in the Legacy, and for a short time I was loving extra refinement and familiarity of being a Subaru.

But, the honeymoon period was short-lived, and after only a year or so, I was restless and desperately missing having a sporty car in the garage. Granted, with a newborn around, there wasn’t much time for car-related shenanigans.

We decided we wanted a bigger family car (young kids travel with SO. MUCH. SHIT.), and we had to decide whether to capitalize on the nutso used car market and trade in my Legacy, or dump our beloved Outback.

In the end, we couldn’t bear to part with the wagon, and the trade-in values on the Legacy were so much better, it just made sense that I’d inherit the Outback.

I wasn’t sure if it’d be for months or years, but I ended up loving daily driving it! The Outback was quiet, extremely practical, and the less-than-perfect paint + dents and love marks meant I felt zero pressure to always keep it clean.

This was also the perfect time to really slow down and reflect on what I really wanted in a car.

Now that the kiddo was getting a little older and I had more time and energy, I felt ready to own something fun and special again.

Shopping Time (Again)

I considered two paths this time around:

1. Keep the Outback as my daily driver, and pick up a dedicated sports car OR
2. Find a good, do-it-all fun car.

I spent a lot of time fantasizing about a multi-car configuration. I could pick up a new BRZ or Miata, and have the best “no compromises” solution with a beater daily driver and dedicated sports car for when I was in the mood.

But the reality of maintaining, insuring, and storing three cars sunk in quickly. With just a two car garage, I’d be stuck parking the Outback in the driveway year-round, and it would get annoying shuffling cars around all the time.

Furthermore, the reality that I would only drive the sports car maybe six months of the year, and only when I wasn’t going anywhere with the family meant it just didn’t make much sense.

So I settled on, once again, searching for the perfect all-rounder. But this time I set myself some stricter and simpler criteria:

1. Automatic transmission
2. Practical (hatchback or wagon)
3. Fun to drive (as fast or faster than my WRX was)

Frankly, the list of options was…short. But then I remembered the Golf R, and started doing some searching. I was initially pretty set on a cheaper 2018-2019 Mk7.5 R, but not only were they difficult to find, the ones that did pop up were high mileage or had questionable ownership histories. So, I expanded my search to the newest-generation Mk8 R.

As luck would have it, while I was out of town on a business trip, a mint looking 2022 Mk8 Golf R popped up on my saved search, and was available for reservation at a local CarMax!

We had a great experience with CarMax and buying our Outback, and the ability to reserve the car while I was out of town made it completely stress-free. So, the day after I got home I headed down to the dealership and checked out the R!

R You Kidding Me

I was immediately in love. When the sales guy pulled it out into the sun, the Lapiz Blue paint just popped so beautifully, and it reminded me of my WRX (ironically similarly named Lapis Blue Pearl). The styling of the car was aggressive without shouting about it, and I loved the massive brake calipers - something I always dreamed of upgrading on my WRX.

Admittedly, the interior felt pretty spartan and intimidating, but within a few minutes I understood how most of the controls worked. The responsiveness of the infotainment (something of a pet peeve of mine) was immediately apparent, and in spite of how screen-dependent the experience was, it wasn’t frustrating to use at all.

Out on the street, I was blown away by how different the car behaved in its Comfort and Race modes. One second it felt like a high-end, comfortable hatchback, the next it was a snorting, popping, raucous rocket ship! The latter reminded me so much of my Fiesta ST, but with the ability to turn off the harshness and craziness at the literal touch of a button.

On my short, 30 minute test drive, I got several thumbs up and compliments, which I’d been accustomed to in my WRX, but I had been flying incognito for years in the Legacy and Outback.

What really sealed the deal was pulling over to inspect the car more closely and noticing it had a full frontend PPF installed! This plus the low miles (~12k) told me it had likely been garaged/babied for most of its life.

After the test drive, I was told the car would go back up for reservation if I walked away, but I still felt conflicted - did I really need this much car? Was I thinking this through logically? I ended up handing the keys back, heading home and sleeping on it. I truly had no intentions of buying it - I was “just looking” after all…

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It had been years since I was behind the wheel of a car that felt truly “special”, and I had never driven anything with such duality before. It checked all the right boxes, and when would I find another one with that low of miles, PPF, clean, the right color, etc.?

With my wife’s support and encouragement (have I mentioned how awesome she is?) I reserved the car again and started the process of setting up the financing!

I decided to go with CarMax financing not only because it was the lowest rates, but because they made the entire process so freaking simple. I was curious/optimistic after our last experience with them, and can honestly say it was another great experience!

The Mk8 Experience

A few days later, the Golf R was in our garage and I couldn’t believe it had actually happened! It felt surreal to own a fun performance car again, and knowing that it was something my whole family could enjoy made it feel all the more special.

I spent the following weeks and months doting on the car; detailing it, and doing some light mods - gloss black mirror caps, Tuxmat floor mats for the winter season, OEM forged VW 18“ wheels - and took the car on a few road trips.

It was a great, and I was still loving the duality of the car! Having fun blasting the backroads in Race mode on the way to the office or grocery store, and rolling around in Comfort mode with my family. But after a few months, some doubt was starting to creep in the back of my mind, too.

Dynamically, the Mk8 R was undoubtedly fantastic! The engine had plenty of power, the AWD system handled winters perfectly, and the adaptive suspension made a real difference in daily drivability, especially when I swapped to the 18“ wheels. However, I couldn’t shake some frustrations that were starting to crop up.

Not so Gr8

The first issue was some intermittent “Travel Assist” warnings that would BONG loudly and pop up while driving. This appeared to be a widespread issue with the Mk8 generation, and after getting the steering wheel replaced under warranty, I had moderate confidence the issue was sorted.

Unfortunately the replacement steering wheel was noticeably lower quality than the original. It wasn’t as soft, didn’t feel like real leather, and was measurably worse at heating up in the winter.

It might seem pedantic, but a lesser quality steering wheel was noticeable 100% of the time, being the main touch point of the car.

While the all-touchscreen infotainment was still very responsive (especially after updating to the latest firmware), after the honeymoon period, using it day-to-day felt…unnecessarily frustrating.

In addition, the front suspension developed a really annoying and intermittent creak. It was extremely difficult to diagnose, and after having the lower control arms replaced under warranty (right before the warranty expired in fact), the issue persisted.

None of these things were unbearable on their own, but layered on one another, they resulted in a degraded trust and appreciation of the car, and frankly became the dominant experience driving the car day-to-day.

After doing some searching of my complaints in the forums, I realized I was far from alone, and many Mk8 owners expressed frustration that the car was a measurable step backwards in quality from the Mk7 generation.

In no particular order, here’s a list of things about the Mk8 Golf R that frustrated me:

• No backlighting on the haptic temperature or volume sliders so they were unusable at night
• Extremely cheap feeling and creaky window switches
• Terribly cheap-looking faux carbon fiber dashboard pattern
• No spare tire
• Lackluster sound system w/ a laughable subwoofer
• No hood strut
• Extremely sensitive and overreactive parking sensors, especially in reverse
• Cheap, chicken-nugget shifter
• Extremely cheap feeling backseat leather + door materials
• Trunk struts not strong enough to completely open the hatch
• Tinny and hollow door feeling
• Random low-resolution fonts and half-finished looking gauge cluster screens
• Climate controls difficult to use when driving (especially at night)

Ultimately, no single thing led me to consider getting rid of the Mk8. But as a whole, they made the ownership experience a lot less special than it could’ve been.

But dynamically the Golf R was still fantastic - by far the most versatile and well-rounded car I’ve ever owned. It was hard to argue against the “do it all” prowess of the platform, and I couldn’t imagine anything else coming close for the money.

So I knew I loved the idea of the Golf R, this particular execution just felt too flawed for me to truly enjoy fully day-to-day.

I found myself trawling forums and YouTube, reading and watching comparisons of the Mk8 and Mk7 generations, and feeling validated but disheartened at the almost unanimous opinion that the Mk7 was the so-called “peak” of the Golf R.

I imagined in what scenario it’d make sense to trade my car for an older model, and just felt conflicted and stuck. I told myself I’d keep an eye on listings for Mk7/7.5 Golf Rs, and if the right one popped up, I should at least consider it.

Zuckerberg to the Rescue

After a few months of stewing uncertainty and angst, I woke up one morning, pulled up Facebook Marketplace, and found this listing staring back at me:

A low-mileage, mint-looking, lightly-modified 2018 Mk7.5 Golf R.

I could tell from the photos alone that the car had been extremely well taken care of, and the description was like a dream - Quality stage 1 mods, skid plate, front PPF, Pretorias, stored in a heated garage…and I had been trawling listings for months, so I knew they were asking a fair price.

My initial thought was “This is too good to be true.”

My second thought was “There’s nothing wrong with your Mk8, this is silly.”

My third thought was “But it wouldn’t hurt to just look, right?”.

Right?

…

Welp, as it turns out, the car was even nicer in person than in the photos. It had been fastidiously cared for, had a thorough service history, and the couple that owned the car were exceptionally wonderful. It was every enthusiast’s dream situation.

And to further cement things, my first look and a short test drive confirmed what I had suspected for a while: The Mk7.5 was the Golf R I’d been looking for all along.

I considered sleeping on it, but I knew the car would be getting a ton of interest. So, I messaged the owners that night, put down a deposit, and about a week later I was handing the keys to the Mk8 back to Carmax and driving the Mk7.5 home!

Mk7.5 First Impressions

I’ve only had the car a few weeks, but I fell in love with it immediately.

So far it’s addressed almost every complaint and frustration I had, and more importantly - to borrow James May’s word - gives me a “fizz” the Mk8 never did.

I now firmly believe (and I’m not alone) the Mk7/7.5 generations are the peak of the Golf. Incredible build quality, wonderful driving dynamics, wonderfully tactile switches, buttons, and knobs, and just the right amount of screens to look modern without ruining the driving experience.

After just a few weeks with the car, here’s a few of my favorite things so far:

• Wonderfully tactile and smooth gear shift lever (no more sad, stubby nugget)
• Doors have the most solid “thunk” of any car I’ve ever owned - it’s like closing a bank vault door
• Physical steering wheel buttons (and the quality of the steering wheel itself)
• The sliding cover for the cupholders satisfies me way more than it should
• Soundaktor noise is chefs kiss and gives the car so much character - like a VR6 had a baby with a Subaru Boxer
• Felt lined glovebox with an air conditioned/cooling vent is almost silly, but very useful
• The Virtual Cockpit gauges still look modern and extremely polished eight years later
• Exterior design of the car is much more understated and refined than the Mk8
• Entire car feels like it’s milled out of a solid block - no creaking, flexing, or rattling

There’s certainly things I miss about the Mk8, but I feel unbelievably lucky to have found such a mint Mk7.5. It may not be as new, high-tech, or luxurious as some of the other cars I’ve owned, but this Golf R is quickly becoming my favorite!

Conclusion

So to sum up, the last few years have been quite eventful as it relates to cars!

The thrill of living with the Mk8 R was a much-needed reminder of how much joy and excitement cars bring me, and opened my eyes to the practicality and sheer do-it-all dominance of the Golf R platform. And now, having been incredibly lucky to find a cared-for Mk7.5, I feel so fortunate to be able to own what I feel is the ultimate daily driver.

Life continues to be full of surprises, and I look forward to living with and enjoying the R with my family!

July 2026 Note: After a two year hiatus from the blog, it feels great to write something again! I likely won’t be posting as much as I want to, but hope to challenge myself to write a LITTLE more regularly. Stay tuned, and thanks for sticking around to the end of this one!