VW Golf R Estate (Mk8.5) | Cars to be thankful for
The Golf R wagon has soldiered on as T-Roc, Tiguan, Touareg and Arteon have fallen by the wayside - here's why
The fast estate car has always been an automotive niche, which is probably why it’s so dearly loved by those who get it. The very definition of if you know, you know. By their nature, by packing an awful lot of performance into an ostensibly practical shape, the uberwagon is typically quite under the radar. (We’ll exempt the latest BMW M Tourings from that classification.) Most folk who buy estates are happy with middle-of-the-road performance; those who need something fast will tend to buy a dedicated performance car. But as ultimate one-car solutions go, there remains something exceptionally persuasive about the very fast, family-focused machine.
Or so we like to think. But like every small subset of automotive, the quick wagon market is being squeezed. Things look great if there’s £100k to splash on an M3 or E53; not so brilliant at half that money. The Focus ST is no more, and the Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake is now electric; if there is another 45 AMG, it’ll likely be a very different proposition. Something like a 3.0-litre 3 Series was always an interesting premium alternative, and that still exists - but an M340i xDrive Touring is now from £63,880.
Thank goodness, then, for VW. Across the Group, there is an Octavia vRS, a Cupra Leon and this Golf R, all offered in estate form. For all the missteps made with the current generation, that feels like a nice concession. Across the Touareg, Taigo, T-Roc, Tiguan, T-Cross and Tayron (they are all VWs for sale, promise), there isn’t an R. And while there isn’t the choice there once was (no more manuals, no more three-doors), there is still a Golf R - that’s got to be good news. Furthermore, given the wagon was always DSG only, it really is just like the good old days of 2015. Even the blue is the same. Only now a Golf R Estate is £10k more expensive…
Like so many cars we're thankful for, the Golf R Estate is notable for not trying to overcomplicate things. Which sounds daft for a car with optional suspension of 15 settings and a drift mode, but fundamentally this is just a car with lots of space and lots of easily accessed performance. It’s a conventionally shaped wagon, complete with more than 600 litres of boot space and a nice, low load lip; it isn’t a swoopy shooting brake that compromises capacity, or a car attempting to be something that it’s not. What you see is very much what you get.
Furthermore, the Golf R (perhaps for the final time) doesn’t have to house a big battery of any kind anywhere, it doesn’t need a mode for full power, and it doesn’t require active anti-roll or four-wheel steer to compensate for a two-tonne kerbweight. Twenty years ago, an Evo IX wagon featured a 2.0-litre turbo, clever all-wheel drive, a bit less than 300hp and a bit less than 1,600kg; in 2025 a Golf R equivalent features a 2.0-litre turbo, clever all-wheel drive, a bit more than 300hp and a bit more than 1,600kg. Sometimes things, for now at least, don’t change that much at all.
And there’s more to the Mk8 Golf R experience than just going fast with loads of clobber in the back - however entertaining that can be. It’s very far from a one-trick pony. The DCC dampers really ought to be standard, especially with the price being what it is; they bring a breadth of ability that the passive equivalents can’t quite match. As with the hatch, Special is all that’s really needed, supple and sophisticated enough for whatever challenge you can throw at the car. Inevitably the extra weight dulls its responses just a tad, and there isn’t the infallibility of body control possessed by something like the old CLA AMG, but the R Estate remains a deeply impressive fast car in any scenario.
Crucially, too, there’s some fun on offer - fun that wasn’t quite there in the Mk7. It’s more willing to turn, more willing to rotate, a better-balanced proposition than the old car thanks to a more significant contribution from the rear axle. That’s not Drift Mode mayhem, either; with even modest commitment there’s the sense of being pushed out of the bend from behind as opposed to being dragged out from the front. And that’s nice, particularly in a car that doesn’t feel like it’s taking up every inch of a B-road, either. There’s a rightness to the Golf R’s scale, performance and dynamic ability that’s still satisfying, everything nicely in sync; no doubt it’s an hour (or less) with a laptop away from 400hp, though you never yearn for it.
What you might yearn for is the old interior - sorry to be that guy. While improved in terms of usability compared to early Mk8s, there are still cheaper and fiddlier elements that detract from the overall appeal. While there’s not very much wrong with the fundamentals - everybody can sit how they want to sit with plenty of space, most things are where you’d want to find them - the aura remains uninspiring. The light panel in particular, feels very cheap.
But if disappointing, it isn’t enough to spoil what remains a likeable, capable, accomplished fast car. It’s more fun and faster than an Octavia, less overt than a Cupra with all its bronze bits, and much rarer than the hatch equivalent.
Perhaps too rare and too under the radar for its own good, in fact. When we reviewed this updated Mk8.5 last year, the Estate in all its forms was said to account for around five per cent of Golf sales. That won’t have changed drastically since, so you can imagine how many 333hp examples that must mean. Indeed, there isn’t a single Mk8 R wagon for sale on PH of any kind; for the Mk7, it’s around 10 per cent, or 20 cars at the time of writing. Try the VW configurator and you won’t find the R Estate at all, in fact.
Fear not, though - there are cars in stock, they just can’t be individually optioned up. And while the appeal of something lightly used will always hang around a £50k Golf - to say nothing of those old Mk7s with 23hp less - there’s equally no denying that a Golf R wagon delivers a new car package with considerable appeal. Prevailing attitudes have made this Golf less popular than ever, which feels like a shame given all it’s capable of. And as the great R cull continues, it might be the time to take advantage - before another one falls by the wayside.
SPECIFICATION | 2025 VW GOLF R ESTATE (MK8.5)
Engine: 1,984cc, four-cyl turbo
Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 333@5,600-6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 310@2,100-5,500rpm
0-62mph: 4.8 seconds
Top speed: 155mph (optionally 168mph)
Weight: 1,621kg (unladen, with driver)
MPG: 34.6 (WLTP)
CO2: 185g/km (WLTP)
Price: £47,065 (price as standard; as tested £51,960 including Adaptive Chassis Control for £735, Area view for £335, 19-inch Warmenau wheels for £1,120, R Performance Pack (168mph speed limit raise, Drift and Special drive modes) for £0 (when ordered with the wheels), Curtain and side airbags for £315, Harmon Kardon sound system for £615, Carbon decorative trim for £810, Vodafone tracker for £270, Lapiz Blue for £965)
the problem with the golf is that most fast estates look better than the saloons (imho), but the Golf just doesn't somehow. It looks like an elongated hatch, which I suppose is what it is, rather than a properly sorted estate. I suspect that's why it doesn't seem to sell that well.
The Golf R Estate is a car I should have owned, but haven't. The TDi variant was the perfect family car, or used to be, and I would happily have replaced it with an R, except that the Mk7 couldn't have a towbar (seriously VW?), and the Mk8 has That Steering Wheel.
A perfect all-rounder, ruined by the silliest dealbreakers.
I think it's clear there won't be a Mk9, so it will remain a frustrating car for me. So close!
These are exactly the sort of cars I don't care about being driven into extinction by EVs. Farting four pot, inert handling, ruthlessly penny pinched build and materials. Not feeling very thankful I must say.
When they were giving them away with cornflakes on leases I could sort of see why you'd bother but now... nah.
These are exactly the sort of cars I don't care about being driven into extinction by EVs. Farting four pot, inert handling, ruthlessly penny pinched build and materials. Not feeling very thankful I must say.
When they were giving them away with cornflakes on leases I could sort of see why you'd bother but now... nah.
It will mince your Jag across country, especially when damp, it’s more practical, it’s cheaper to run, doesn’t need two parking bays and nobody will think you are a retired major.
They are a proper Swiss Army knife of a motor that suit a lot of people, don’t get the ire, it’s us that are the oddballs !
New car prices have gone a little craxy compared to spending power.
These are exactly the sort of cars I don't care about being driven into extinction by EVs. Farting four pot, inert handling, ruthlessly penny pinched build and materials. Not feeling very thankful I must say.
When they were giving them away with cornflakes on leases I could sort of see why you'd bother but now... nah.
It will mince your Jag across country, especially when damp, it s more practical, it s cheaper to run, doesn t need two parking bays and nobody will think you are a retired major.
They are a proper Swiss Army knife of a motor that suit a lot of people, don t get the ire, it s us that are the oddballs !
I am, as you say though, a bit weird, I've got a brand new >500bhp BMW EV in the car park I've not used for a month because it's.... well.. s
t.. and I smoke around in cars that cost me buttons in preference 
I get to pick up the keys to pretty much everything that a leasing company leases whenever I feel like it and I have to say it's pretty much all dull as ditchwater and I rarely bother.
You want fast and inert to point and stamp your way around in then there are god knows how many EVs that are better than this now and doubtless even cheaper to get into. I bet even my electric megahippo on trickle charge downstairs would make this feel like a lump to drive if it's anything like every other fast Golf I've driven.
I liked how they democratized performance I suppose, in a really quite safe way, but it would be nice if the end of ICE was to be seen out by V8s and screaming sixes rather than a droning four with a cuckbox and crisp packet build quality
These are exactly the sort of cars I don't care about being driven into extinction by EVs. Farting four pot, inert handling, ruthlessly penny pinched build and materials. Not feeling very thankful I must say.
When they were giving them away with cornflakes on leases I could sort of see why you'd bother but now... nah.
king clappers. People go on about the launches but the real party piece was the way it could haul itself out of a bend. Maybe not that fast at higher speeds but in normal road use, up to about 70, it felt stupidly quick.
You'd need a Performance to beat a Golf R in a drag race, and the Golf would win on a twisty road, so let's call that a draw.
The screen tech is, I grant you, better than VW's terrible effort, but this is offset by VW still offering buttons for some functions. So that's a draw.
The Model Y boot is bigger in volume, but a far less useful shape, so I'd call that a draw too.
That's it, that's genuinely all I can think of where the Model Y might hold an advantage.
The Model Y loses on ride, comfort, ergonomics, materials and build quality (even with VW's penny pinching), dealer network, range, handling...
It might win on overall running costs eventually, but loses on insurance costs and purchase price.
I love EVs, and I don't care about the politics or Musk, and I test drove a Model Y with the intent to buy one, but it was absolute garbage.
It was a great car - very spacious, quick, AWD grip and nicely put together. The DSG gearbox mostly worked well, only occasionally would it take a moment to deliver the power when coasting up to a roundabout and then pressing the accelerator quickly. I wasn't a fan of the 'Fart' sound and in 'Race' mode it sounded like a race car in the cabin
However, most of the time I was using it through traffic so couldn't make the most of it and then they started to get a chavvy image. In 2017 I changed it for a new BMW 520D Touring, which I actually preferred.
For me, back then 300bhp seemed a massive amount of power & performance. Now you can get this in a low to mid spec small EV
It is amazing how attractive things become when they're pretty much given away for free isn't it? EVs would also hit an absolute brickwall sales wise if they weren't being given away for peanuts as well.
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