Quick orderer already has almost 28 extra hp as standard!
What do you buy a station wagon for? In principle for practical loading convenience, but can such a car also be a bit of fun? Yes, for example, you should buy a Golf R Variant, like Casper Smit did. Then we can put ‘Fast orderer’ at the top of the story again!
Casper Smit from Diepenveen is a young guy without a family and without a dog and he buys a Volkswagen Golf R Variant. What’s up with that? “I wanted a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or better yet a Golf in sheep’s clothing. This Volkswagen Golf R Variant is a very rare car, but nice and fast, so that’s why I bought it,” says Casper. This sympathy for a Golf is not surprising. “My previous car was a Golf GTI. When I was done with that, I started looking for a successor. I actually had my sights set on an Audi S3, but then I came across this one.”
Casper likes fast German stuff
Casper is a car mechanic by profession and he works in his father’s car company. This car company is universal and mainly carries out maintenance and repairs on ‘normal’ cars. When something special or particularly fast comes in, Casper pricks up his ears. “Yes, I enjoy working on and driving those cars the most, especially those of German origin. I find other brands much less interesting,” he admits. So no Civic Type R or an Impreza Turbo for Casper. Hence the search for an S3, which did not make any progress, and his choice for first a Golf GTI and now a Golf R.
No experience in the R, which the GTI did have
However, there is one big ‘but’ with this Golf R, as far as Casper is concerned. “I miss the experience in the car that I had in the Golf GTI,” Casper explains. “That Golf I had, it was alive. He pushed and he pulled, something happened while driving. I think this one is too good. He does everything fine, but that’s it,” said Casper. He is not the first Golf R driver to think this way. The Golf R seems a bit too smooth, too well-behaved, too stable, too steady, too over-engineered. It’s never right. The fact is that Casper had a lot more fun in the Golf GTI, a car whose front tires he had smoothed over within two and a half weeks…
The 310 hp does not diminish
The Golf R Variant from Casper also comes from Germany. “I only bought it four months ago, from a dealer who brought it from Germany. It is completely original and according to the papers it would be good for 310 hp and 400 newton meters,” says Casper. Does it also feel like that’s in there? “That is exactly the problem. It could very well be, but if it is, I don’t feel it,” he says. That sounds as if Casper, who often changes cars, will not keep the Golf R Variant for very long, although he does like the fact that no one at the traffic lights expects the car to move so quickly.
Dynamometer man Ghisbert knows 2.0 TSI inside and out
The two-liter TSI power source from Volkswagen is a popular device on the dynamometer of Beek Auto Racing. “It always performs slightly above expectations, in whatever form,” explains dynamometer manager Ghisbert van Ginhoven. “Tuning the turbo block always provides something extra. Moreover, they are strong and can have a lot of extra power.”
We will see whether it also applies to this Golf R Variant from 2017 with more than one and a half tons on the clock. Without a doubt a neat, fresh car. “I’m just disappointed about those damaged wheels, they really don’t look good,” grumbles Casper. When the Golf does its trick, the disappointment makes way for satisfaction. The Golf sounds healthy and scores nicely.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl