Maybe not your classic hot ‘hatch’ but the BMW M240i for me, all day long. The VA group would need to get back to class leading interiors for me to pay that price point. They’re well off the quality curve since diesel gate and as consumers we can’t let them get away with it. Plus who cares whether the top speed is 90 mph, 120 mph or 180mph, unless you’re going to track your car or drive on the autobahn which 99% of drives aren’t going to do, it’s completely irrelevant. Wake up manufacturers!
10 months into MK8 R ownership, and i'm still loving it. Car also transforms when esc is off. Couldn't imagine paying an extra 14k for this one tho. Amazing video and driving!!
4:30 Blimey Joe, never seen you so happy! Good to hear you're having a great time and the opportunities to bring us these reviews. Another excellent vid. 👍
My friend purchased an ID Buzz and the quality of the plastics is shocking, golf suffers from this also, everything feels cheap but of course they aren’t.
VW have really messed up the interior quality and design of their current generation of cars. And don't get me start on their horrid use of awful touchscreens and haptic things, at the expense of tactile, easy to use and much safer buttons and switches.
Yeah, the interior quality, infotainment system and haptic buttons on the wheel aren't great! The rest of the package is brilliant though, engine, gearbox and chassis are spot on.
Have to say I disagree. Infotainment has genuine issues, but the interior of the mk7 is absolutely no better. Plenty of scratchy plastics and bits that move. Some things are slightly better and some slightly worse.
@@inorganiccash334 my Mk7.5 does have some cheap plastic bits, but the car is rattle free and the infotainment isn’t stellar, but also is hassle free… except at start up it can take a long time to upload. Honestly, I rarely use it. I pair my phone, put on tunes, and grin like an idiot in my Golf R Estate (Variant hier in Deutschland). I may have to look for a new one in a few years… before they either hybridize it or EV it. 😢
£50k!! In 2019 I exchanged my Mk7 Golf R for a fully loaded new RS3 for £53k which was eye watering but good value compared to this!! Crazy crazy prices nowadays.
I had a M4 Golf GTI in Australia and as I remember the motor was the 1.8 litre 20 V motor that Audi used in the A4 at the time. It was well made but the Mk 5 was a big improvement with the DSG and improved handling.
Your enthusiasm and grin says it all of how much you enjoyed this mk8R and snow/ice driving perfecting your drifting - it all looked (from the sofa, at least) relatively easy. The price of these hot hatches has just got silly. If the infotainment (UX) was better and had buttons then it would be worth £50k.
Great video Joe, like many comments you can see in the video your having an awesome time and captures the feeling us petrol heads get in that pure driving moment which can be hard to quantify unless you've experienced it...
Mate that part at the end Needs its whole series with different cars That would do insane viewing figures Wow that looked like some joyful driving and some skill to on your part 🏎️
The steering wheel is one reason I prefer the Cupras. Real buttons instead of Haptic Touch and driving mode selector on the steering wheel. Price and kit combo also works out better with Cupra. Still, the R is a force to reckon with! I love the GTIs but after living with both GTI & Cupra, I would take Cupra for all configurations except this one ☝🏾
To be fair I’ve looked on autotrader and seen 1.6 Vauxhall astras and 1.6 Peugeot 508 cars between 40 and 50k. And I’ll take my mk8 any day over cars like that. I agree the infotainment is slow and buggy but I Don’t have any problems with the steering wheel buttons and I’ve had my golf r now over 12months and still love it. It’s not perfect but what car is. Each to there own 😊
"I need to slow down so I can talk" - Joe, I would love to see some pure driving clips in these videos, focus on the drive and let the video do the talking. I've missed that from your BMW videos too
It's crazy to watch the behind-the-wheel bits because half the time the input seems to bear no relation to what the car appears to be doing. No doubt you could feel what was going on beneath you - driving with your arse as well as your eyes!
I can remember when the R32 was first released this was when I was too young to drive and u was amazed. Then when the Golf R replaced it and it didn't sound like a V6 just turbo noise and dsg bangs I was like wooow whats that engine. Didn't have a Internet phone so could just look up what it was
I wanted to like this car as it seemed the logical step from my mk7 - but it just seemed underwhelming. My mk7 was three doors, manual and had a working infotainment system plus it was relatively cheap and involving to drive. The mk8 was none of these for me - so I went completely left field and bought a G22 M440i - which is brilliant! Even more so now I’ve got rid of the Pirelli run flats and fitted a full set of Continental Sport Contact 7 tyres!
2.0 mk4 GTI was pretty woeful but I understand the direction, and pretty much anything in the ‘90’s with a GTI/S/r was fun. The 1.8t was a way better option though, insurance aside. Didn’t some country drop the GTI badge for the 2.0? Was it us 😅 115bhp IIRC? This isn’t a knock, far from it, it was just a toss engine. My first was an ‘82 Mk2 Polo wagon in burgundy 😅 fastest thing ever recorded from Heythrop to Chipping Norton.
I agree with you about the infotainment. And switches. I have a 7.5 GTI. Which has just the right amount of touch screen. They have gone to far with the 8 . To the point where its dangerous. Whilst driving.
they dont make them like they used to, special edition cars had special parts. now its just extra badges and tuning. look at the buckets in the original r32, ONLY that car got them. same with the brakes at that time, only r32 had brakes that big. and of course the dsg. mk2 ttrs had full carbon mirrors, not just mirror "caps". b5 rs4 had full real aluminum mirror housings, not just aluminum "look", i can go on and on...
that looks fun as hell. I always sing Hendrix when I watch your videos. Cant help it... Hey, Joe Where you gonna run to now? Where you gonna run to? Hey Joe, I said Where you gonna run to now? Where you, where you gonna go? Well, dig I'm goin' way down south Way down to Mexico way Alright
Piano black surrounds on instrument binnacles - NO. STOP. Do manufacturers actually test their cars on roads any more? Do they not see that reflective surfaces in eyelines are a bad idea?
hahah, £48K for any Golf is ridiculous. But when you look at what you get the money it not allot, they even have the standard 1 pot brake system which come on the GTI PP. I would rather spend the money on anything BMW who give you a mush better drive, more power, and performance brake that work.
£55k for a golf is ridiculous. Don’t think that’s what was meant by the people’s car. Vw have lost their way and are trying to compete with bmw and merc which they can’t.
They can bring what they like in this golf r but this mk8 is the worst looking golf they done who passed this design want sacking it awful. Give me the golf mk4 any day also mk 7 looks much better and the reliability on this mk8 golf have been very poor wit electronic gremlins with vw struggling to fix
![[TH] RNT vs SPG - VCT Ascension Pacific - Day 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RUTkf8Detj8/mqdefault.jpg)
Not your typical 1st Drive video, but what an experience! Which (New) Hot hatch would you buy for £50k?
Top Class driving as per usual 👍
@@Nateclrk Thank you!
Skoda Octavia vrs with my sensible hat, or a cupra 4 drive, no silly touch buttons
Would have to be the new Civic Type R.
Maybe not your classic hot ‘hatch’ but the BMW M240i for me, all day long. The VA group would need to get back to class leading interiors for me to pay that price point. They’re well off the quality curve since diesel gate and as consumers we can’t let them get away with it. Plus who cares whether the top speed is 90 mph, 120 mph or 180mph, unless you’re going to track your car or drive on the autobahn which 99% of drives aren’t going to do, it’s completely irrelevant. Wake up manufacturers!
10 months into MK8 R ownership, and i'm still loving it. Car also transforms when esc is off. Couldn't imagine paying an extra 14k for this one tho. Amazing video and driving!!
Great to hear Adam! Yeah they're so much better on road/track/ice with everything switched off. Mega cars, keep enjoying yours 🙂
4:30 Blimey Joe, never seen you so happy! Good to hear you're having a great time and the opportunities to bring us these reviews. Another excellent vid. 👍
Haha I genuinely didn't stop smiling and laughing for 3 solid days! Cheers 🙂
Woah, you've got that Finnish flick down!! Nicley done. Great opening shot.
My friend purchased an ID Buzz and the quality of the plastics is shocking, golf suffers from this also, everything feels cheap but of course they aren’t.
VW have really messed up the interior quality and design of their current generation of cars. And don't get me start on their horrid use of awful touchscreens and haptic things, at the expense of tactile, easy to use and much safer buttons and switches.
Yeah, the interior quality, infotainment system and haptic buttons on the wheel aren't great! The rest of the package is brilliant though, engine, gearbox and chassis are spot on.
Have to say I disagree. Infotainment has genuine issues, but the interior of the mk7 is absolutely no better. Plenty of scratchy plastics and bits that move. Some things are slightly better and some slightly worse.
@@inorganiccash334 my Mk7.5 does have some cheap plastic bits, but the car is rattle free and the infotainment isn’t stellar, but also is hassle free… except at start up it can take a long time to upload. Honestly, I rarely use it. I pair my phone, put on tunes, and grin like an idiot in my Golf R Estate (Variant hier in Deutschland). I may have to look for a new one in a few years… before they either hybridize it or EV it. 😢
@@JoeAchilles1 katastrofalan golf
Im a simple man. I see a new Joe's video, I watch it and enjoy it. Keep up the fantastic content m8 :)
Joe out here living his best life and I am happy for him! Damn it looked like you were having a blast.
£50k!! In 2019 I exchanged my Mk7 Golf R for a fully loaded new RS3 for £53k which was eye watering but good value compared to this!! Crazy crazy prices nowadays.
Enjoyed that. Loved my Golf R 7.5 before getting the M340i touring which I also love. That POV at the end is awesome, would love to try that one day!
Cheers man! If there is one driving experience to try, it's this one 🙌
I had a M4 Golf GTI in Australia and as I remember the motor was the 1.8 litre 20 V motor that Audi used in the A4 at the time. It was well made but the Mk 5 was a big improvement with the DSG and improved handling.
Your enthusiasm and grin says it all of how much you enjoyed this mk8R and snow/ice driving perfecting your drifting - it all looked (from the sofa, at least) relatively easy. The price of these hot hatches has just got silly. If the infotainment (UX) was better and had buttons then it would be worth £50k.
Great video Joe, like many comments you can see in the video your having an awesome time and captures the feeling us petrol heads get in that pure driving moment which can be hard to quantify unless you've experienced it...
Mate that part at the end
Needs its whole series with different cars
That would do insane viewing figures
Wow that looked like some joyful driving and some skill to on your part 🏎️
This video showed how much fun iy is to drive arguably the king of the hot hatches. This one more so being the R 20th anniversary
Can never be the king of hot hatches when the Audi RS3 exists! Not to mention the A45s
0:43 look at that golf quality, new car and already has some moisture in the headlights
I’m so lucky to own a Golf R and live in Canada! It’s so much fun on snowy country roads!
1:50 Ha Ha Nappa leather everywhere :))) A pillar hard plastic, dashboard plastic, rear doors hard plastic for 50K ... feel so cheap
Great stuff mate, looks like you had lots of fun!
Wow Joe, you drove the VW so well. Another great review Thanks for sharing Joe
Oh my the MK4 R looks so well
I agree with Adam below - 8 months for me. A significant step up in refinement from my Mk 7. Great video ... looked to be an absolute hoot.
Once again, great to see your talents used testing non BMWs. Great stuff.
The steering wheel is one reason I prefer the Cupras. Real buttons instead of Haptic Touch and driving mode selector on the steering wheel. Price and kit combo also works out better with Cupra. Still, the R is a force to reckon with! I love the GTIs but after living with both GTI & Cupra, I would take Cupra for all configurations except this one ☝🏾
Once again Joe, what a fantastic video keep it up mate
Great video Joe!!! You really are a good driver mate 🙂 Cheers Don, Perth WA (Dons Shed and Xplor Overland)
Thank you buddy appreciate it!
To be fair I’ve looked on autotrader and seen 1.6 Vauxhall astras and 1.6 Peugeot 508 cars between 40 and 50k. And I’ll take my mk8 any day over cars like that. I agree the infotainment is slow and buggy but I
Don’t have any problems with the steering wheel buttons and I’ve had my golf r now over 12months and still love it. It’s not perfect but what car is. Each to there own 😊
There's something unique about your videos. Keep it up Sir 👏🏾🔥🥂
What an opportunity! Solid vid Joe!
That’s some epic driving. Rally of Sweden vibes. Lucky man for sure…
I've been lucky enough too have a ride in that exacly mk4 r32, and it was a dream come true!
I paid £26200 for a 8 week old static demonstrator Bmw m140i in 2017 . How have prices come to this
"I need to slow down so I can talk" - Joe, I would love to see some pure driving clips in these videos, focus on the drive and let the video do the talking. I've missed that from your BMW videos too
It's crazy to watch the behind-the-wheel bits because half the time the input seems to bear no relation to what the car appears to be doing. No doubt you could feel what was going on beneath you - driving with your arse as well as your eyes!
Always love a hot hatch and the Golf R, despite some of the negatives, is at the top of my list, especially if I needed a back seat.
I can remember when the R32 was first released this was when I was too young to drive and u was amazed. Then when the Golf R replaced it and it didn't sound like a V6 just turbo noise and dsg bangs I was like wooow whats that engine. Didn't have a Internet phone so could just look up what it was
good work as always
Thank you 🙏
Drift mode can have traction completely off if you go back to the settings not have it in ESC SPORT 👍🏻
It’s that man in my notifications again 👋
👋👋👋👋👊
Good skillz at the wheel mate!
Great video, great driving skills Joe 👊
Doooope. Snow drifting is now on my list.
Best driving experience I've ever done bar none 👌
@@JoeAchilles1 high praise!
I'm 63 years old. The fact that you can pay 55k for a VW Golf is staggering.
Brilliant 👌
I wanted to like this car as it seemed the logical step from my mk7 - but it just seemed underwhelming. My mk7 was three doors, manual and had a working infotainment system plus it was relatively cheap and involving to drive. The mk8 was none of these for me - so I went completely left field and bought a G22 M440i - which is brilliant! Even more so now I’ve got rid of the Pirelli run flats and fitted a full set of Continental Sport Contact 7 tyres!
Amazing car - I have a mk8 R-Line now and love it - I would love a "Full Fat" R
That just looked like too much fun mate! 👊😎
Nice, welcome to cold Sweden and enjoy the R.
Looks like it was tons of fun driving the R on this ice circuit
Infotainment can be fiddly/dangerous when driving , I only have the 1.5 etsi but it has proper buttons on the wheel not the silly haptic ones
Looks so much fun! Can you drop a link to the driving experience place? 😊
2.0 mk4 GTI was pretty woeful but I understand the direction, and pretty much anything in the ‘90’s with a GTI/S/r was fun.
The 1.8t was a way better option though, insurance aside.
Didn’t some country drop the GTI badge for the 2.0? Was it us 😅 115bhp IIRC?
This isn’t a knock, far from it, it was just a toss engine.
My first was an ‘82 Mk2 Polo wagon in burgundy 😅 fastest thing ever recorded from Heythrop to Chipping Norton.
Awesome!, yes we have some nice events in Sweden :).. Agree with your points on the Mk8R! :)
Was a 2L MK4 GTI? do yo research thoroughly sir, I know was only 1.8T in GTI.
Looks like a great handling 4wd.
Can you still get performance pack in the UK as of 21/02/23.
Been waiting for mine for over year now. No build date in sight yet :(
Awesome car. I would love to have one.
Such a scenic drive. Love it. Can't remember the car though 😂.
Great video Joe. It was like watching the Laughing Policeman goes drifting 😂
Car prices have gone utterly mad. 55k£ is 5k£ more than a V8 E92 M3 when it launched in 2007!
Looks better with the black wheels 👏👍
Agree!
I agree with you about the infotainment. And switches. I have a 7.5 GTI. Which has just the right amount of touch screen. They have gone to far with the 8 . To the point where its dangerous. Whilst driving.
that looks like so much fun!
This looks like fun! 👍
In your opinion is this the best Golf ever made?
This 20 edition does anyone think VW should of gone to town with this and made it into a A45 & RS3 killer? A hybrid with 400hp?
Sorry i missed the name / link to this place. Thanks
Joe When’s the MK4 Golf R review ?😀
This should be 60k it’s a limited edition after all, plenty of mugs up north would pay it
they dont make them like they used to, special edition cars had special parts. now its just extra badges and tuning. look at the buckets in the original r32, ONLY that car got them. same with the brakes at that time, only r32 had brakes that big. and of course the dsg. mk2 ttrs had full carbon mirrors, not just mirror "caps". b5 rs4 had full real aluminum mirror housings, not just aluminum "look", i can go on and on...
Darun shots
all the toys should be included... it's a joke of a price
that looks fun as hell. I always sing Hendrix when I watch your videos. Cant help it...
Hey, Joe
Where you gonna run to now? Where you gonna run to?
Hey Joe, I said
Where you gonna run to now? Where you, where you gonna go?
Well, dig
I'm goin' way down south
Way down to Mexico way
Alright
Haha amazing! One of my old friends used to sing that to me every time we would meet up 😂
50 k for a golf these car prices getting crazy now
love it
50k for a Golf ? 😮
in germany we pay 55k for a civic 😀
Piano black surrounds on instrument binnacles - NO. STOP. Do manufacturers actually test their cars on roads any more? Do they not see that reflective surfaces in eyelines are a bad idea?
Loads of Haldex equipped cars are debuted on snowy videos to make them look interesting... In the real world, not so much
Don't care if it's special edition or not, I am not paying 50k for a Golf.
way over priced but while idiots pay it they will charge it
2023
hahah, £48K for any Golf is ridiculous. But when you look at what you get the money it not allot, they even have the standard 1 pot brake system which come on the GTI PP. I would rather spend the money on anything BMW who give you a mush better drive, more power, and performance brake that work.
sweet views
It is now RS3 money …. Or was…. Except that an RS3 is almost impossible to get at that price point.
50k for a Golf! Absolute piss take.
Who eat all the pies 🥧
£55k for a golf is ridiculous. Don’t think that’s what was meant by the people’s car. Vw have lost their way and are trying to compete with bmw and merc which they can’t.
It's 2023 and everything is overpriced. It's miles better Dynamically compared to the M135i.
£50k and Golf in the same sentence is an instant no for me.
Don't mind the looks now but interior is terrible.. similar to an id3 and that's so tacky
Interior is the low point, although the quality leather helps.... Thankfully the rest is really good!
@JoeAchilles1 agree joe
I'm a mk7 golf r owner and think the interior was better in the day
50k 😆😆😆😆😆😆 it looks like a 20k tdi.
Vw know how to build cars but the also known how to bite a euro in half in quality
My son’s Tonka toy has way better quality plastics than the MK8
Crazy expensive
🇸🇪👌🏼
Buy a 2016 Audi s3. Far far far superior build quality!!
£25k for a 7 year old car 🤷🏼
@@pauldavies7251 you did?? You crazy!!
They can bring what they like in this golf r but this mk8 is the worst looking golf they done who passed this design want sacking it awful. Give me the golf mk4 any day also mk 7 looks much better and the reliability on this mk8 golf have been very poor wit electronic gremlins with vw struggling to fix