Comments by "Stephen Hendricks" (@stephenhendricks103) on "" video.

GTI and Golf R owners in America are accustomed to a trend VW has followed for years in their US (and to a lesser extent Canadian) spec versions. i.e. Few (if any) individual options and missing features compared to Euro spec versions. The practice typically generates complaints but it's seldom noted that Europeans are prepared to pay MUCH more for their versions than North Americans. Top trim (Autobahn) fully loaded versions of GTI's typically have European MSRPs near $55,000 in Germany and "Rs" are well over $60K in straight currency conversions. VW believes (quite realistically) that North Americans aren't prepared to pay those prices for Golfs no matter how premium and high performance they are. It will be interesting to see if that same pattern exists for the MK8 versions. If the Golf R has an MSRP in the mid $40K range with the features close to the Euro spec version, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
1
Here in Washington State vehicles 14' or less in length earn a substantial discount on ferry fares in the Puget Sound. The MK7 Golfs and the GTI and Golf R variants just barely qualified for that discount. Hopefully the 0.7" increase in length will go unnoticed but I suspect the GTI and Golf R may lose that status.
1
@mmmmm4815 Same engine but the R's AWD makes a significant difference in performance even compared to a Stage I tuned GTI.
1
@mmmmm4815 Not sure what you're asking. I have a MK7.5 GTI that I love dearly but a 300 HP FWD vehicle needs either a LSD or (preferably) AWD to put its power down efficiently. Having driven both my GTI and the MK7 Golf R the latter is undeniably superior as a performance vehicle. And if you're asking if I would rather have a Mustang GT350 or a Golf R my vote goes to the VW without question. That's because I prefer the "performance" philosophy of European vehicles to the narrow American version of "performance" that's large limited to 0-60 and quarter mile times on straight, flat roads.
1