While South African VW Golf R fans wait patiently for the new R to land in Mzansi, German tuner, ABT Sportsline has ramped up outputs to 286 kW!

The eagerly-awaited Golf 8 R packs no less than 235 kW and 420 Nm of torque from its 2.0-litre turbopetrol engine, making it the powerful production Golf ever. The new Golf R will make use of a 7-speed DSG and a Haldex-type all-wheel-drive system and an updated torque vectoring system to ensure brisk acceleration and grippy handling ability.

But what if the standard isn’t good enough? Well, German tuner, ABT Sportsline might have the solution for you!

More grunt for potent VW Golf R

ABT by Sportsline has bumped the Golf R’s outputs to 286 kW and 470 Nm.

Fitted with a new Engine Control Unit (ECU), outputs of the ABT Golf R increase significantly to 286 kW and 470 Nm of torque. The standard Golf R claims a zero to 100 kph sprint time of 4.7 seconds (which is 0.1 secs slower than its predecessor) and even though the ABT hasn’t divulged how fast its tuned Golf R is, a zero to 100 kph time of around 4.0-4.3 secs is conceivable.

Other ABT additions to the beefed-up Golf R include gloss black alloy wheels and black livery seen on the C-pillars. The tuner is also developing a new exhaust system for the Golf R as well suspension upgrades. You can therefore expect to see many more tuned iterations of the new Golf R to come in the future.

The local arrival of the new Volkswagen Golf 8 R is earmarked for the end of 2021 but early 2022 is also a possibility. We will keep you updated as soon as local specifications and pricing details for the VW Golf R become available.

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