The flagship of the Volkswagen Golf lineup – the Golf R – will go on sale exclusively with a dual-clutch transmission this summer, Motor1 reports quoting a confirmation received from the U.S. branch of the German automaker.
In January, the company has facelifted the entire ‘normal’ Golf lineup, including the GTE and GTI variants. The plug-in hybrid has always been available solely with a DSG box, but the petrol car could still be obtained with a manual transmission. It is now no longer the case, officially.
The new Golf R will go on sale with the same DSG in Europe and the United States. In late January, the company posted the first official photos of a disguised hot hatch wearing a sophisticated body kit with blue brake calipers. In all likelihood, the car will retain all of its principal tech features, such as an AWD system with torque control, a stiffer, lower suspension, and a dedicated drift mode.
It is unclear whether the 2.0-liter turbo four-pot will get a boost from its current 320 PS (316 hp / 235 kW). The recently revealed Golf GTI got a 20-horsepower bump and now churns out 265 PS (261 hp / 195 kW), so it would be logical for the R version to keep up with it.
Note that Volkswagen never confirmed that the wagon version of the Golf R was being facelifted, but it has been spotted testing multiple times.
