2010 Montréal: Will VW’s Golf R fly in Canada?

By John LeBlanc After accepting The Canadian Automotive Jury’s Best of the Best award for its entire 2010 Golf family, Volkswagen Canada pulled the cover off a potential new range topper at last week’s Montréal auto show. Enthusiasts will recognize the blue, muscular-looking hatch left, as the high-performance, 270 hp, all-wheel-drive, Euroweenie-only Golf R model. In fact, VW Canada director, marketing and communications, Bruce Rosen told me it’s the exact same car from the Frankfurt show floor where it debuted last September. Currently, the GTI is VW’s top Golf in Canada. It’s a fantastically versatile performance car. And its new killer-app—the standard electronic differential—makes it jumps into corners like a feisty left-winger. As I’ve said before, “The only thing the GTI needs is about another 70 hp. Say, like in the 270 hp, all-wheel-drive European Golf R…” Et volia!

Just to be clear: VW Canada brought the Golf R to this year's Montréal show as a trial balloon. But I think things are looking good for its eventual arrival. The thinking goes something like this: If Mitsubishi can sell a few hundred Evos, and Subaru can sell about the same number of WRX STis, there should be a similar number of Canadian driving enthusiasts interested in a similar performing Golf R, say, for under $45K. Would you pay that much for the R? Or does the existing GTI—at about $15k less—satisfy your driving needs?

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