VW Golf R32: First steer

Monday, August 20, 2007

The newly launched Motive Magazine has done a test drive with the VW Golf R32. Continue to read their impressions.

Instead of Volkswagen's typical red speedometer and tachometer needles, the R32 has blue needles that glow ominously when the lights are on. The changes are enough to remind you that you are in something special, but without the barrage of R logos and puffy seats found in the last-generation car.

Twist the key and the engine roars like an underfed lion cub. In tunnels, it's impossible to resist dipping into the throttle, just to hear the exhaust note carom off the walls. The R32 is not a light car (it busts the scales at a corpulent 3547 pounds), but the car's well-sorted chassis absorbs highway bumps and jolts remarkably well, particularly given the stiff suspension and 18-inch wheels.