2025 Golf R: The most powerful Golf yet from Volkswagen

Is getting 13 more of anything desirable? Depends on the context.

Having to fight 13 more horse-sized ducks? Less than ideal.

Gaining 13 more horsepower for the new model year? Yeah, that seems pretty agreeable.

The 2025 Golf R and GTI receive a host of updates, the most notable of which is a 13-horsepower increase for the Golf R, raising …

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I like the idea of the Euro Style Package. I think it gives more track-minded folk an option package that works for them.

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more, at least here in Florida. I don't enjoy having leather (-ish) seats with no ventilation. I get hot and then stay hot.

Colin Wood said:

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more...

Good cloth seats > leather seats

Driven5 said:

Colin Wood said:

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more...

Good cloth seats > leather seats

I never realized how much I love cloth seats in Florida until I sat down in a friends car that has them after a super hot day and went "Wait, my legs aren't melting to the seats." 

Cloth seats are the exact reason I have a GSW 4 Motion and not a Golf R. Instead I have a GSW with Golf R suspension and working for it to be tuned to a golf R power band. VW leather is not climate friendly. 

Colin Wood said:

I like the idea of the Euro Style Package. I think it gives more track-minded folk an option package that works for them.

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more, at least here in Florida. I don't enjoy having leather (-ish) seats with no ventilation. I get hot and then stay hot.

I feel cloth is set for a comeback. I went furniture shopping recently and was surprised at the growth of non-leather surfaces. Still, I prefer leather. Easy to clean, for the most part.

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

I guess it would really come down to the type of car.

Sports car for canyon carving? Cloth seats.

Luxo-barge SUV for eating up highway miles? Leather with vented seats, please and thank you.

J.A. Ackley said:

Colin Wood said:

I like the idea of the Euro Style Package. I think it gives more track-minded folk an option package that works for them.

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more, at least here in Florida. I don't enjoy having leather (-ish) seats with no ventilation. I get hot and then stay hot.

I feel cloth is set for a comeback. I went furniture shopping recently and was surprised at the growth of non-leather surfaces. Still, I prefer leather. Easy to clean, for the most part.

Trouble is that cloth can get stained and kinds gross looking in short order. Still the fake leather on lower end cars is pretty terrible anyways with the top layer cracking and peeling.

theruleslawyer said:

J.A. Ackley said:

Colin Wood said:

I like the idea of the Euro Style Package. I think it gives more track-minded folk an option package that works for them.

I've also noticed that I think I prefer cloth seats more, at least here in Florida. I don't enjoy having leather (-ish) seats with no ventilation. I get hot and then stay hot.

I feel cloth is set for a comeback. I went furniture shopping recently and was surprised at the growth of non-leather surfaces. Still, I prefer leather. Easy to clean, for the most part.

Trouble is that cloth can get stained and kinds gross looking in short order. Still the fake leather on lower end cars is pretty terrible anyways with the top layer cracking and peeling.

Yes, with me taking my car to dirt tracks, southern red clay certainly stains anything other than black leather.

I saw a video drop today of the R and GTi.  Love the blue diamond pattern on the cloth seats of the R.  For once, I hope VW allows customers in the USA to purchase cloth seats in the R.  
As mentioned above, I, too, like the ability to choose a "sunroof delete" option, but the Euro Style package  (and the Akrapovič exhaust) are typically not allowed by VW in what may be its single largest market in the world.  Never understood that.  Canada frequently gets things from VW that we don't.  Are the markets and regulations that different?

Of note, the videos I saw were from Redline Reviews.  He said the GTi steering wheel now has hard buttons like the prior generations.  He also reported that VW said they couldn't do the same for the R because there was an extra "R" function that they would have had to account for and didn't have the time for a redesign, or something like that.

Would this go well wth my VW ketchup, though?

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

Add a bottle to the gas tank and find out.  Rumor has it that it increases octane and cleans the fuel system.  It's got a VW part number for a reason, amirite?