You can look but you can’t touch. Volkswagen has revealed its new sub-5-second family estate, the Golf R Variant, and it’s not coming to SA.

Yes, it packs the same 235 kW / 420 Nm turbocharged 2.0-litre engine as the forthcoming Golf R hot hatch but adds notable practicality with a longer body. In fact, the Golf R Variant is some 349 mm longer than its hatchback sibling and is some 79 kg heavier.

The sprint from zero to 100 kph is claimed at 4.9 seconds which is only 0.2 seconds slower than the new Golf R hatchback. Top speed is rated at 250 kph but it can be increased to 270 kph with the Performance Package which also adds 19-inch wheels as well as additional driving modes including a Drift mode and Nurburgring mode. Volkswagen has also adjusted the suspension accordingly to compensate for the additional weight of the vehicle.

From a practical perspective, the Golf R Variant offers a generous load bay with space claimed at 611 litres with the rear seats in the upright position. With the seats folded down, interior load space increases to a useful 1 642 litres.

Other notable interior details include sport seats with blue details, a flat-bottom steering wheel with blue stitching, carbon-fibre-look trim, blue ambient lighting and blue colouring seen in both the digital instrument cluster and infotainment screen.

Will the Volkswagen Golf R Variant be sold in South Africa?

The Golf R Variant adopts a distinct blue interior theme.

No, unfortunately not. Volkswagen South Africa has confirmed that the new Golf R, which is due to arrive in South Africa in Q1 2022, will not be accompanied by its Golf R Variant sibling. The Golf R wagon will primarily be sold in Europe, where demand for station wagons remains robust.

That isn’t surprising, however, because station wagon popularity has declined significantly in South Africa in recent years, so much so that the term, anti-stationwagonism was coined by Cars.co.za Youtube head-honcho, Ciro De Siena.

At Cars.co.za, we love station wagons, particularly the powerful ones and we long for the day that station wagons will once more become a common sight on our roads.

Do you want to see the Volkswagen Golf R Variant in South Africa?

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