I can't blame anyone for not buying a Golf R in the US.

"Carbon Fiber Sasquatch" (turbopumpkin)
12/29/2016 at 22:42 • Filed to: None

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Road and track says no one bought the golf R but I doubt they’ve tried to buy one. I was test driving GTI’s in the spring and every VW dealer I talked to acted like I was asking about a 911 R when I asked about the Golf R. Some said they only had an allocation of 5 or less for the year!

I’m sorry, the Golf R is a great car and I’d love to have one in my garage but it’s not anything special or rare. If VW dealers and perhaps even VW of America would stop treating it like a Ferrari, maybe they’d sell a few.

DISCUSSION (33)

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 22:44

The dealership that I turned my TDI in had one sitting inside across from a GTI. My dad wandered over to it and looked it over and when he saw the sticker he asked me why a “Golf” was over 40k.

wiffleballtony > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 22:45

Probably confused with golfers.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 22:51

I see a few around here. At least one grey one and one blue one that I’ve seen repeatedly.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > Phyrxes once again has a wagon!
12/29/2016 at 22:52

I don’t think VW realizes that they need to build up a customer base before charging the premium that they do. I mean, $40k puts me into a ford fusion sport!

PWRandSPD > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:10

At the same time, the Focus RS starts at $36k vs the Golf R starting at $39k. I don’t think they are that far off. Those two are pretty comparable, and I would even say the R is a bit more premium than the RS hence the $3k difference.

Chasaboo > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:13

The Golf R looks like a shoe, not a car.

camarov6rs > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:16

Doesn’t help that 2017 R’s are now fully equipped with nav and DCC only options are trans and safety suite I believe. Everything I see online seems to show that VW would do good to increase US R numbers both from a brand recognition and from a people will pay for it pov.

camarov6rs > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:19

For the sake of comparison that’s like saying why buy an M2 when you could have a fully loaded 340 xi? They may be charging $40k but for the most part people are buying all the ones that hit the market.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > PWRandSPD
12/29/2016 at 23:28

True, but the RS is faster for less money and Ford is a strongly established brand in the US. Either way, they shouldn’t be treating it like a rare sports car.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > camarov6rs
12/29/2016 at 23:34

Funny enough, I’ve seen more M2's around here than Golf R’s and if you talk to the BMW people, they treat it like a Mustang and let you sit in it and take it for a test drive (sadly I had my toddler and had to decline)

I’ll admit, the Fusion isn’t the best example lol

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > camarov6rs
12/29/2016 at 23:41

Yeah, VW has a bad brand perception around here and would do well to try and get more people behind the wheel. Especially Golfs because they are great cars but aren’t competitive in price with their competitors (good luck haggling at a German car dealer)

for Michigan > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:43

In regard to the 3-series, they speculate that people are going to other brands for their sporty luxury cars, but I would say it makes more sense that the 3-series is simply a victim of the decline of the sedan at the hand of increasingly popular crossovers.

And despite how much everyone claims that no one buys Toyobarus because they’re underpowered, they actually outsold “the world’s most popular sports car” (aka MX-5) by more than 20%. I’d say that’s a victory for Toyota/Subaru.

camarov6rs > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:44

BMW never seems to be one to hold back availability even on higher end models so I’m not surprised they are selling every M2 a dealer can mark up...I mean have on the lot. As far as M2=mustang in a way it kinda does for BMW, it’s a high performance model that MSRP’s in the $50's but it’s not anywhere close to the most expensive performance model they sell unlike the Golf R. In a way it’s nice that the VW dealers keep tire kickers from putting miles on a car.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > for Michigan
12/29/2016 at 23:53

Yeah, I figured that was why the 3er was down. Plus it used to compete with the C-class and A4. Now there’s the XE, ATS, IS, and soon the Giulia while the 3er is getting long in the tooth.

for Michigan > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/29/2016 at 23:58

Cadillac and Jag have both fielded other 3-series competitors in the recent past and the IS has been around for quite a while now. Even though the competition are easily in their best form yet, I don’t see a reason to think any of them are eating into BMW’s sales figures in any meaningful way.

ETA: Based on the numbers , it looks like the C-class, A4, and IS aren’t hemorrhaging sales quite as fast as the 3-series, which is the best that can be said for any vehicle in this segment.

Just realized all this speculation is missing a very important piece of information: BMW split the 4-series off from the 3-series recently. Combined, the BMWs still outsell the next-in-class C-class by more than 25K units.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > camarov6rs
12/30/2016 at 00:07

True! I still wish they’d keep a few in the showroom. Especially since the local VW dealer shares its building with Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Bentley showrooms. MB, Audi and BMW are the neighboring buildings

facw > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:11

Can I just say that I hate the new facade they put on that Brutalist building over the blue one? I know that the style is not to everyone’s taste, but slathering it in mirrored glass (even over the concrete) does absolutely nothing good for it.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > for Michigan
12/30/2016 at 00:13

I think they’re kind of in a perfect storm right now. This isn’t the best 3 series they’ve made, the competition is actually good this time around and people are going for crossovers at almost every opportunity. I hope that the next 3 series will be more exciting as most comfort oriented people will get an X1 or X3 instead

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > facw
12/30/2016 at 00:15

To which building are you referring?

for Michigan > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:18

Yeah. The new A4 is up 15% in a segment that’s down 17%, whereas the 3/4-series is down more than 20%. Though down is still nearly as much as the next two competitors combined.

facw > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:25

This one:

Kinja'd!!!

Which is nearly done with its renovation to look like this:

Kinja'd!!!

camarov6rs > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:34

As a stand alone VW dealer I say let them be picky about the customers they let test drive their fastest models. As a dealer sharing the same campus, let alone the same building, as much more prestigious or expensive models then they are being a$$holes about not letting test drives on a Golf. Careful what you wish for, supposedly the only reason the Golf R was imported from Germany was because the Mexican plant wasn’t tooled for AWD. Now that they are, with the Alltrack introduction, we may see more Golf R production for the US...from Mexico.

camarov6rs > for Michigan
12/30/2016 at 00:40

The A4 seems to be going after the Subaru people with money which seems to be the biggest segment besides SUV/CUV’s. Where as the 3/4 series is going soft and still throwing down it’s sporty RWD nature which as we all know only Californians understand because they don’t have snow (sarcasm).

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > facw
12/30/2016 at 00:42

Both look like secret buildings where black ops missions are planned lol

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > camarov6rs
12/30/2016 at 00:45

Blergh... Maybe in time, we won’t be able to tell the difference between the German and Mexican builds but today is not that day.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:48

I remember in spring I went into a Volkswagen dealer and they had a Golf R with a 7000 dollar markup.

It was ludicrous.

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > PWRandSPD
12/30/2016 at 00:51

They’re both AWD hot hatches but in every metric I’ve seen, the RS comes out on top. The RS is only held back in a commercial sense by the manual only option.

camarov6rs > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 00:58

I would really like to see a comparison on current German built vs Mexican built models on quality/reliability. The Golf R owners don’t seem to have too many issues besides software bugs which can be fixed with updates vs the other models haveing everything from faulty turbos to electrical issues.

MAXIMUMVRM > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 08:36

We are a low volume dealer and sell all we can get OK only 4 . We hit our number and just got another 1 in yesterday. Any takers?

PWRandSPD > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 09:28

I completely agree, they should not treat it as if it’s a rare sports car. I think VW is more concerned with glut as they know they are a bit of a niche brand in the US. They don’t want to build more than they know they are going to sell. They have a bit of Chicken/Egg scenario, which comes first?

PWRandSPD > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
12/30/2016 at 09:41

They are both AWD hot hatches, yes, but the RS is built all around being fast. The R is more building around being quality. The RS is more for the audience in their 20's that have gotten a good job and want a good car that is quick and looks sporty and backs it up, like an STI. The Golf R is more for the more mature audience that still wants the performance, but in more of a sleeper package. Both are amazing cars in their own right, no doubt, but they are targeting a slightly different crowd. Between the two, I would love to drive the RS, but would probably rather daily the R as it seems like a more comfortable place to be. Spending my own money, I would probably put it into a GTI and not spend quite so much on a hot hatch. I had a GTI MKV, and out of the 25+ vehicles I have had, it is one of the few I would buy again. Not that my other vehicles were bad, they just were not something that calls back to me.

raspa > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/30/2016 at 10:58

If it had more aggresive look I’d be all over it. Too understated for what it is in my opinion. Not asking for a huge wing like the STi, but a rear spoiler and more flared fenders would do it wonders.

MAXIMUMVRM > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch
12/31/2016 at 12:44

I mentioned I got one in the other day and i sold yesterday. 1 day turn around

Kinja'd!!!