America’s 2025 VW Golf GTI Misses Out On 262-HP Euro Engine, But 328-HP Golf R Is Most Powerful Ever

Volkswagen has dropped details of America’s 2025 hot Golf lineup, and there’s good and bad news depending on whether the GTI or R is on your radar.

The bad news for Golf GTI fans is the world’s most famous GTI lands in the US minus the power upgrade European buyers enjoy for 2025. Over there, the GTI got a boost from 242 hp (245 PS) to 262 hp (265 PS), moving it closer to the Clubsport, which generates 296 hp (300 PS).

Related: VW Golf R Is Probably Getting A Hotter Clubsport Model

But America’s 2025 GTI is rated at 242 hp this year, making it one measly horsepower punchier than last year’s car. There’s no mention of the Clubsport, and worse still, you can no longer buy a GTI with a six-speed manual transmission. A seven-speed DSG is compulsory.

The R also loses its manual option, but does at least console you with the promise of more power than any production Golf has ever deployed. Last year’s R made 315 hp (319 PS), but the 2025 hatch makes the same 328 hp (333 PS) as Europe’s 2025 R and last year’s 333 special edition, which wasn’t available in the US.

Both Mk8.5 Golfs benefit from a bigger 12.9-inch touchscreen that’s a more useful size and fixes one of the problems with the old Mk8, that being touch-sensitive temperature sliders at the base of the display that were previously invisible at night. They’re now illuminated, though we’d still rather have physical controls for both, and the volume control between them. VW of America also seems not to have opted to take the ChatGPT voice assistant that Euro cars feature.

The Mk8 GTI’s awful haptic steering wheel buttons have also been replaced with old-style physical alternatives, thankfully. But based on our experience with a new Golf R in Europe last week, the R appears to have stuck with the nasty switches.

Both the GTI and R now have an illuminated VW roundel in the middle of the standard light bar running across the nose, new headlights and bumpers and improved equipment levels. As in 2024, the GTI is available in S, SE and Autobahn trim, while the R is available in either standard trim or as a Black Edition with dark detailing, black wheels, brakes and a smattering of carbon.

Or if you’d rather make a noise than travel stealthily, there’s a Euro Style package consisting of fabric seats, sunroof delete, 19-inch forged alloy wheels (20 percent lighter than stock) and an Akrapovic titanium exhaust.

Prices will be revealed later this year, but based on the figures for the DSG versions of the 2024 models, we’d expect the GTI to start at around $34-35k and the R to come in at ballpark $49k.

Note: these images are all of European-spec Golfs