2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R First Drive: Small But Still Mighty

It’s been five years since Volkswagen launched the current Mk8 Golf. While the standard Golf model left our shores at the end of the Mk7’s series production run due to poor demand—and because buyers instead continue clamoring for its crossover SUV replacement, the Taos—we’ve been left with only the hot and high-performance GTI and Golf R models for us Yanks. And we’ve been totally fine with that.

Naturally, because they’ve recently reached the age of five years old, a mid-cycle refresh was in order to help keep them fresh while also potentially addressing some of the first version’s shortcomings. And that’s exactly what the Wolfsburg-based automaker did. Although they largely look the same, the 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R benefit from a few revisions and tweaks. To see how they stack up, Volkswagen of America invited me down to its headquarters in Virginia for some seat time both on the road and at Summit Point Raceway.

2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R First Impressions

If the new 2025 Golf GTI and Golf R look pretty much the same as the ones sold at dealers over the last five years, it’s because, at their core, they essentially are, MQB platform and all. The updates for their mid-cycle refresh might be small. But they do add up. Mainly, in the form of some visual exterior tweaks, a new infotainment screen, and other changes to address customer and critical feedback.

You’d have to really put the two cars side-by-side to see the differences. But in case you don’t have both cars to perform such a comparison, the GTI and the R mainly get revised front bumpers that incorporate a new lower front fascia design, sleeker headlight designs, and a slightly reworked grille. Both gain new Adaptive Front Lighting arrays featuring dynamic cornering lights, while the GTI gets some new wheel designs. The Golf R incorporates the company’s latest illuminated logo and LED light bar.

Exterior Dimensions

Driving Impressions And Performance

While the GTI remains mechanically unchanged from the outgoing and original Mk8, the Golf R is the one that benefits the most from the update in the form of some additional horses under the hood. Despite there not being significant changes with either, it’s mainly because neither the Mk8 GTI or the R really needed one. The subtle improvements and tweaks instead amount to the car’s handling nuances, rather than changing their game entirely.

And these nuances definitely made themselves apparent at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia, where VW allowed us to put the GTI and R through their paces, with even some coaching and hot laps with Tanner Foust. The GTI and R still deliver the sporty hot-hatch experience both are very well-known for, on the road and on the track. I’ve always said the GTI is an excellent educational tool for track driving, and it continues demonstrating its excellence in this department.

The GTI establishes the baseline with all the performance and characteristics befitting of a far more expensive and well-oiled sports car, with snappy and grippy handling, quick straightline performance, and sophisticated composure. The R is simply just the GTI on steroids, thanks to more power, extra grip, and more balanced handling from its trick all-wheel-drive system that can send up to 100% of its torque to the rear wheels.

What does seem to improve things is the Golf R’s new optional Euro Style Package. Not only does it add a bunch of aesthetic upgrades, it also deletes the R’s standard sunroof and equips an upgraded Akrapovič titanium cat-back exhaust to dial up the noise and fun-factor.

The sunroof deletion also saves an additional 80 pounds. It may not sound like much. But for such a small vehicle, it does noticeably improve the handling from a lower center of gravity and less top-heavy weight, which translates to less head-tossing and even slightly more composed handling, particularly in aggressive directional switchback changes and quick steering inputs.

Braking And Acceleration

The bigger story for both, however, is that the six-speed manual is no longer available for both models, which now only make do with VW’s seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic. Both hatches still utilize VW’s ubiquitous EA888 2.0-liter TSI evo4 turbocharged, intercooled gasoline four-cylinder. But the R gains an additional 13 horses from an updated tune mapping.

The GTI remains plenty quick with a 0-60 MPH sprint in just under six seconds, while the R smashes it in around 4.5, according to the classic butt-o-meter and with a smartphone stopwatch handy. The brakes also remain another highlight, now with excellent initial bite. But the pedal remains naturally progressive with great feel, which made modulation easy, particularly when it came to trail-braking on the tighter radii turns of Summit Point Raceway.

All in all, if there’s one big takeaway from the GTI and the R, both remain excellent hot hatches, perfectly set up for a grand time on either a nice, curvy B-road or even a day of fun at the racetrack or autocross. And while the GTI is wholly capable, the Golf R is just the sharper and more aggressive tool in the shed.

• Acceleration 0-60 MPH: 5.5 Seconds (GTI, est.); 4.5 Seconds (R, est.)
• Top Speed: 130 MPH (GTI, est.); 155 MPH (R, est.)

Performance Specifications

2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and R Fuel Economy

The Environmental Protection Agency rates the GTI as capable of up to 24 miles per gallon in the city, 32 MPG on the highway, and 27 MPG combined. The R’s figures are slightly and expectedly lower, from delivering almost 100 extra horses and weighing a couple hundred pounds more from all-wheel drive. But they’re still rather impressive, at 22 MPG city, 31 MPH highway, and 25 MPG combined.

Although we only drove the vehicles for a few hours on the highway and on some county backroads around the Virginia and West Virginia border, leading to and from Summit Point Raceway, the GTI’s on-board computer reported an average fuel consumption of around 27.4 MPG over the course of around 120 miles. The R registered 22.1 MPG. The latter is from the fact that both my driving partner and I were having far more of a heavy-footed hoot pushing the R’s more powerful turbo-four on the back roads.

Interior Design And Comfort

Because the 2025 Golf GTI and R only benefit from a mild refresh, the core layout and interior design remain the same as the outgoing model. Being hot and hotter versions of the already very practical five-door Golf, the GTI and R offer the same roomy confines as their standard siblings. Comfort and space remain highlights for both as they live up to the practical reputation that Golfs and all their variants are known for, with plenty of space for up to four adults (or five, if you squeeze three in the back row).

Interior Dimensions

Technology And Ease Of Use

On top of the minor exterior and packaging tweaks, the infotainment sytem and in-car technology are where the other brunt of the mid-cycle updates take shape. The center floating screen grows in size from a more-than-acceptable 8.25-inch one to a far more substantial and iPad-like 12.9-inch display. Whether that’s a good thing may be a subjective matter. The larger screen certainly allows for better visibility of the menu and system’s inner workings. But its massive size means it sticks out and protrudes out of the center console like a sore thumb. For minimalistic drivers like myself, I found it overtly distracting and obtrusive.

The GTI also reverts to physical buttons for its steering wheel controls, which may appease those who complained about the previous model’s haptic touch-based ones. But after previously spending a week with the original Mk8 GTI, I really couldn’t see what all the fuss and complaining was about. The Golf R retains the touch-based steering controls, which VW execs said was necessary to retain the special one-touch “R button” for the Race drive mode.

Cargo And Storage Space

With up to 19.9 cubic feet of cargo room, which doubles to 34.5 cubes with the rear seats down, hauling space and practicality continue being hallmarks. There’s certainly no shortage of cargo or storage space, and it really raises the question as to why anyone with more family members than a couple would want or need anything bigger.

2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R Vs. Its Competitors

As one of the few and only remaining sporty and high-performance standard hatchbacks available in the States, the Golf GTI and Golf R continue leading the pack in their game with an already limited pool of players. It’s not only a sad indicator of how SUV-obsessed our private car-owning society has gotten. But it’s also a shameful sign of how underappreciated hatchbacks have truly become. They’re just nearly as spacious and practical as all the pudgy top-selling SUVs out there at similar price points and yet, hatches drive a thousand times better and are far more efficient.

The only other rivals that come close are the Honda Civic Si and Type R, and the Toyota GR Corolla. Whether the Civic Si and Type R are genuine hatchbacks remains a hot topic of debate. But the GR Corolla, while an absolute hoot of a high-performance hatch with decent space and comfort, isn’t nearly as spacious, practical, or sophisticated and as well-rounded as either the GTI or the R. The only other upside to the others is that they still offer manual transmissions.

To Golf R over the GTI, or not to Golf R over the GTI?

With a starting price of just over $32,000 ($32,445 to be exact), the GTI remains outstanding value for bundling so many great attributes into a single package—a feat that’s defined the nameplate ever since the model launched 50 years ago. Many will find the base model plenty of car, especially if they’re enthusiasts embracing the pure sports and driver charisma that the GTI has always been known for.

The higher trims only add a bunch of tech and convenience features, which don’t really add too much to the GTI’s experience, other than some luxurious amenities. The mid-range SE at $37,420 represents a nice, happy medium, adding in the high-end Harmon-Kardon sound system, diamond-cut wheels, and iconic Art Velours GTI Clubsport seating. The only things you miss out on compared to the $41,000 Autobahn Edition are adaptive electronic dampers, radar-guided cruise control, multi-zone climate control, Parking Assist Plus, and Dynamic Cruise Control with steering assist. But the ride and handling balance is already so darn good on the GTI, the electronic dampers aren’t really a necessity.

The bigger question, however, is whether the Golf R is worth the major price hike, which starts at a whopping $47,100 and goes as high $48,415 for the special Black Edition, without the optional Euro Style Package. You do get quite a lot more car, including all-wheel drive, an extra 87 horses, and all the standard equipment found on the GTI Autobahn.

But the GTI is already so darn good, it provides nearly 90% of the experience of the Golf R for quite a bit less money. If you do plan to make use of your annual Sports Car Club of America membership and attend a bunch of track days or autocrosses, you’ll definitely find the R to be the sharper tool. If you do spring for the GTI, however, you really won’t be missing much and you’ll still be able to get most of the experience and have plenty of fun at the track or local auto cross, while being able to pay for the SCCA membership, and perhaps, go on an extra vacation.