As you may have heard, the 2015 VW Golf R arrives in U.S. dealerships this spring exclusively with a six-speed double-clutch gearbox, but fans of manual transmissions need not despair.
US magazine Car&Driver reports that VW will also offer a six-speed manual transmission, already available on the European model, for the 2016MY which will launch in summer 2015. While the price of the automatic version ($37,415) is expected to carry over for the 2016 model year, the manual version will reportedly be $1,100 cheaper.
The downside is that the manual Golf R will be around half a second slower to 60 mph (96 km/h) than the DSG model, but very few drivers will notice the difference. The 2015 VW Golf R with DSG accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, which means that the manual will do it in less than 5.5 seconds.
With 292hp from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, the VW Golf R is the fastest and most powerful Golf ever to be sold in the United States. Compared to the previous model, the engine produces an additional 36 horsepower and 37 pound-feet (50 Nm) of torque.
Still, it is considerably more fuel-efficient, with an EPA estimated highway fuel economy rating of 30 mpg (7.8 l/100 km) with the six-speed DSG transmission, up from 27 mpg (8.7 l/100 km) for the previous generation model with a manual transmission.
While the 2016 VW Golf R with a manual transmission will be less economical than the DSG model, it will definitely return more than the previous generation model’s 27 mpg.
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