Volkswagen will retire the current Golf next year, as the eighth generation will be unveiled in mid-2019, and the Germans might just send off the current iteration with a special edition.
This model could be the production version of the R400 concept. The R400 was officially confirmed to hit the assembly line more than three years ago, but has since been shelved due to the cheating emissions scandal.
Now, an alleged prototype spied lapping the Nurburgring appears to be fueling the idea behind it. Only there’s something strange about it. You see, the show car was powered by a 2.0-liter TSI four-cylinder making a whopping 400 PS (394 hp / 294 kW) and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) of torque. With those kind of numbers, performance was up there with previous-gen supercars: 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) came in just 3.9 seconds and top speed was 280 km/h (174 mph).
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As for the Golf prototype spotted at the Green Hell recently, well, it’s rumored to be powered by the turbo’d 2.5-liter five-banger of the Audi RS3 Sportback. We cannot confirm nor deny the rumor, but it does have a soundtrack which resembles that of a turbocharged five-cylinder.
According to the same sources, instead of the 400 PS (394 hp / 294 kW) and 480 Nm (354 lb-ft) of torque produced by the mill in the RS3, this one could make as much as 420 PS (414 hp / 309 kW). Quite a bump from the recently reworked, to meet the new WLTP emission standards, 300 PS (306 hp) Golf R. And, like the latter, it should come with VW’s 4Motion all-wheel drive in order to put all that power down efficiently.
Assuming this info is accurate, then the mega hatch will steal the crown of the segment, in terms of power at least. Moreover, we expect it to use a beefed up body kit, alongside possible interior upgrades and, of course, a tweaked chassis, compared to the non-too-shaby Golf R.