(engine roaring) (metal cracking) (thunder crashes)
- [Driver] Hey! - You name a Volkswagen, and
I have probably owned one. Scirocco. - That's pretty sweet - That's custom (laughs). Golf, Rabbit, different kinds of GTIs, and one thing that all of my
Volkswagens have had in common is that they're all front-wheel drive. (engine revving) There have only been two
generations of Golf R, and only talking about those would be a really short episode. So instead, we're gonna discuss every Golf that had all-wheel drive. (engine roaring) This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Golf R. (upbeat music) (electric zoom) Before we get into this episode, I just wanna thank NOS Energy for partnering with us here at Donut. Without NOS Energy we couldn't
have started our new show, Painting With James. (calm music) (crashing) (woman laughing) Hi, I'm James Pumphrey, and welcome to the Painting With James. For today's painting I thought we'd do a nice little mountain scene. Look at those big happy mountains, (paint scratching) maybe give them some snow capped peaks. What do you think lives
up on them mountains? Maybe a goat, maybe a
nice little hermit man? And there we have it, nice
little mountain prairie scene. Although I don't think we're quite done. This space right here, I think
that could use something. Hm, let's see what we got here. (paint splattering) (paint scraping) (slam) (paint squishing) So soothing, that's a happy little color. (paint squishing and scratching) (paint squishing) Now I think that's a little
bit better, how 'bout you? A buff old horse running
through the prairie. (horse galloping and neighing) Make sure to come back next
week for more buff horses and until then, happy painting. Thanks Nos Energy (sipping) Ah, now back to the show. (beep) The story begins with a little
car called the Golf Syncro, the year was 1986 in a bid to make their flag shift hatchback
even more utilitarian, Volkswagen decided to give
the Golf all wheel drive. There was just one problem,
they didn't know how. This might seem weird since VW owned Audi who at this point had a
pretty great reputation when it came to all wheel drive. So why didn't VW just use a
quatro system under the Golf? Well it's pretty simple, the
Golf's engine sat sideways in the engine bay and
Audi's engine didn't. So Volkswagen outsourced the
all wheel drive development to a little company in Austria
called Steyr Daimler Puch. Instead of designing a
system designed centered around differentials
like Audi, Steyr went a different direction using a little device called a fluid coupler as the car drives down the road, the front and rear wheels are spinning at the same speed and the coupler, in the
middle is disengaged, but once you hit slippery conditions, the front end of the case
loses traction and those wheels spin faster than the rears. Inside of that can, the
fluid heats up and expands and basically becomes a solid,
linking the front and rear wheels together thanks to
the power of viscous fluids you now have all wheel drive in your Golf. (car engine revving) The wheels they're synchronized so they called the system, Synchro. (water splashing) (whimsical music) (beep) VW unveiled the weird
little all wheel drive, Golf Synchro Hatch in
1986, despite looking pretty much exactly like
any other Golf in Europe, the front seat was moved
about an inch forward and the cargo floor
was raised to make room for the synchro system. Unfortunately, for all
the work that Steyr did. VW only built the Golf
Syncro for three years. But that would not be the end
of the all wheel drive hatch. (engine revving) In the early 1990s, the FIA
World Rally Championship introduced a new class called Group A, you've probably heard of
its older, more aggressive brother, Group B (engine revving) If you haven't, we also
made a video about it, and you should check it
out, I'll put the link down in the description before. Small boy commuter cars like Ford Escourts and Lancia Delta Integrales
were tearing up Group A and this got VW thinking. - Hm, we should do that, ja. - Of course Hans, ja. - Ja! - But Hans, Groupen B proved
that the all-wheel drive is the way to go in rally, our small boy commuter cars don't have all wheel drive. - Did you just ignore the first three minutes of this episode? - Oh yeah, right. - So Volkswagen engineers
took the MK2 Gold, added a, hold on. (upbeat music) - MK is short for Mark, it's not MK 1, MK2, it's Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Back to this story. So Volkswagen engineers took the MK2 Golf, threw on some very vapor
wear looking rectangular headlights and some sick
rally inspired wheels, but that wasn't all. Underneath the car was that
same synchro all wheel drive powered by eight valve,
four cylinder engine. Oh and it had a little thing
called a super charger on it. (engine revving) The result was an earth
shattering, 158 horsepowers. Can I get a-more power baby?
(organ music) A-more power, baby. Testify. A-more power, baby! No low power, baby, only more power, baby. (grunts)
(heavy breathing) Unfortunately the Rally Golf had a problem where the supercharger
had to be replaced after almost every rally stage,
a feature that scared away many teams. VW had to produce 5,000
of these little things under homologation rules
and no teams wanted one, so Volkswagen tried to make
them as enticing as possible to the public. Apparently they let you spec the Rally out however you wanted in Germany
and even built a couple cars with a more powerful,
16 value, G60 engine, making 207 horsepowers. In the end, the Rally Gold
experiment was kind of a failure, but the Rally itself, it's so, (electric ring)
it's so sick you guys. I'm talking box flares, super
charger, really cool wheels, we never got 'em here. (slaps) While the Rally program was fizzling out, the VW motor sport team had a little fun. They took the MK2 five door
hatch and put all the goodies from before in it, the
synchro, the blower, the steez. They called it the Golf
Limited, it had a 16 valve G60, supercharged engine,
making 210 ponies, the car hit 0 to 60 in just over 6 seconds which was fast for the day and it could get up to 155 miles per. You could only get the Limited
in one color, black metallic, and it had sick blue trim,
and that's if you could get one at all, Volkswagen
only made 71 Golf Limiteds. Of all the cars in this episode, this one is potentially the coolest
and certainly the rarest. It would soon inspire
a whole new generation of high performance all wheel drive Golfs. But those would have to wait because Volkswagen then
tried something really weird. (engine revving) Steyr helped Volkswagen develop
one of the first Crossovers ever, the Golf Country. This thing is sick.
(electric ring) The Country was a Golf with
nearly eight and a half inches of ground clearance, a skid plate, and a ton of suspension travel for a Golf. And it also had a freakin' brush guard, bull bar, cow pusher,
whatever you want to call it, it's a bunch of bars on
the front of your car, so you can run over them zombies. Not today zombies. (growing) (thump) (engine revving) (squishing) Volkswagen managed to sell almost 8,000 of these funky little things
before ending the Country's two year run in 1991. Four years before Post Malone was born. In 1992, the Hatchback was
now in its third generation. Oh, my favorite, MK3. And Volkswagen thought that
it was the perfect time to inject a little
performance into our boy. They teamed up with Schmidt
Motorsport to develop a new all wheel drive
Golf, code named A59. This thing is sick.
(electric ring) Imagine like a hulked out
(bell dinging) marshmallow.
(roaring) (nervous laugh) Schmidt developed a custom
all aluminum, two liter engine with a squad bore and stroke design. A square set up like this
makes the engine more balanced and high revs which is
great, because this car could rev high. (engine revving) Topping it all off was a
Garrett T3 Turbocharger which helped the teeny fore-banger produce a beefy af 275 horsepower. This tightly wound little four pot wasn't hooked up to the synchro
system of the olden days but to a totally custom system featuring electronic differentials
pretty similar to the Haldex all wheel drive system that they use now. Which we'll talk about a little bit later. Schmidt also fabbed up
an integrated roll cage which did add weight but
kept the occupants safe in the event of a crash which
sometimes happens in rally. Can you guys please play a
rally clip where no one dies? (static) The A59 was good for 0
to 60 in about 5 seconds and according to people
who have driven them, and there's not many people who have, the supped up MK3 is an annibel. Even the average race car
driver doesn't know that because Volkswagen only
made a couple of them? Maybe they only assembled
one, I think there is like three body kits that remain, maybe four? DO you know how many they made? Let me know in the comments below. Like we learned with the
Golf Rally an expensive homologation Golf, just
would not be a money maker for Volkswagen so they
scrapped the project. But that was not the end of
the all wheel drive Golf. Of course it wasn't, we
haven't even made it to the car that this episode is named
after, you know that. The year is 2002, the MK4 Golf
has been out for six years at this point and Volkswagen
all of a sudden decides to give us another all wheel drive chance. (engine revving) Volkswagen equipped the MK4
with their four motion haldex all wheel drive, which had
a heavy front wheel bias like the old synchro system,
but this one used a complicated array of electro hydraulic
components to control the power delivery to the rear wheels. Like the synchro, the back
wheels would only get power if they broke traction. (engine roaring) Otherwise, the front got
95 percent of the power. This new all wheel drive
Golf would have a new all wheel drive name, the R32. (skidding) Nope, guys, actually not that R32. That's the one, all right. Now, let me tell you,
the engine in this car, she's something to behold. The VR6 is a six cylinder
engine with three cyclinders per bank with one cylinder
head, think about that. The cylinders are arranged
in a zig zag type pattern in a narrow, narrow,
narrow, 15 degree angle. It's neither a V6 nor an
inline-6, it's both, it's a VR6. The 3.2 liter VR6 made a
respectable 237 horsepower. (engine revving) It's that juice for either
a standard six speed. (engine revving) Or a Euro only flapple paddy
DSG dual clutch transmission, the first of its car in
a production vehicle, which is really impressive because a lot of cars have them now. The R32 is a very special car to me, I think it's one of the
best sounding cars ever. (engine revving) (roaring) And the markboard styling
has really aged very well, it's very timeless. When the MK5 generation
Golfs were released the little hatch got a complete
refresh, as did the R32. ♪ German engineering in the house, ya. ♪ Power was boosted by 10 horsepowers, it got to 60 miles per
hour 0.3 seconds faster. Oh, you're probably saying, "James, 0.3 seconds, not a lot." What if you're a surgeon
for kids and babies and stuff like that and
you get a beeper page (beeping) "Oh no, I got to go do some
surgery on a cute little baby." (whooshing) (long beeping) - You're 0.3 seconds late,
you shoulda had an R32. (bright music) - Sometimes, life is hard. (claps)
(bright music) Critics all over agree that
the R32 was the hot hatch for grown up professionals
who are still little racers at heart, it was great,
but it wasn't the craziest MK5 VW ever built, not even close. So this next car isn't
actually all wheel drive, but stay with me, I just
thought I'd throw it in here because it's awesome. So every year in Austria
they have a Volkswagen meet called Wortherseetreffen. Bridgit one of the editors
of this show is going there for her honeymoon next year, say hi. She'll probably be wearing a donut shirt. And it's so big that every
year VW brings a concept car built just for that show,
for all the fans to see. In 2007 they brought something absurd. (thunder)
They took the rear axle from a Lamborghini Gallardo
because they own Lamborghini and the sub-frame from an
Audi R8 because they own Audi and a twin turbo W12 from a Bentley, because they own Bentley. And threw them all
together under a MK5 golf. The result was the Golf
(thunderclap) W12 650, 650, means 650 horsepowers. (engine revving) In a Golf, I'm looking at one
right now, they're little. Sounds scary. To make the engine fit,
the VW engineers ripped out the rear seats and grafted
in the R8 sub-frame, that's right, this covers mid-engine and rear wheel drive, oh
and they actually drove it. It was really fast in a straight line, but according to my dad,
it couldn't really go that fast around corners. Obviously this thing was never designed for the production line, but the fact that VW even built it in the
first place is awesome. That's why I love, I love
them, I love them man, I love my dad, and I
wish he would call me. I know it takes a lot of
money to get a phone call across the Atlantic ocean, but hey. The sixth generation Golf
debuted in 2008 and the much anticipated all wheel drive
model was close behind. Fans like myself wondered,
will there be a new R32 with a VR6, will it
still use the four motion all wheel drive system,
will my dad ever call me? Our questions were answered
in September of 2009 at the Frankfurt International Auto Show, the MK6 R32 wouldn't be called the R32 because this time the engine was smaller, and you can't call a two
liter, turbo charged, four banger, 32 because it's not 3.2. So Volkswagen called it Golf R. (engine revving) This new sophisticated Golf
R was the most handsome one yet but still had
the heart of a monster. The new engine made a
shocking 266 horsepower, almost 20 more than the MK5's VR6 while getting better mileage
and making sweet turbo noise. (engine revving) MK6 R didn't come to America until 2012 right before the Mayan eclipse
hit, guys that was crazy. Volkswagen said the car was all
about the driving experience so over here it was only
available as a manual. Yes!
(thunderclap) Fast forward to today and
it's all about that MK7 baby, the MK7 Golf debuted in Europe
in 2012 and 2014 over here. A new Golf R also came
along, this time a bit more power, baby, and looking
more aggressive than ever. The new Golf R engine got
a complete updated top end with new valve springs,
cylinder head, a bigger turbo, better pistons, and the
result is an astounding 296 horsepower in a four door hatch that you can drive your fur babies and real babies around in. Volkswagen claimed a 0
to 60 time of 4.9 seconds with the DSG Gearbox, but
some independent tests have times as low as 4.5. 4.5, I'll show you how long that is. (engine revving) You're at 60. But what if I told you there was an even crazier Golf R plan? In 2014, Volkswagen
unveiled the Golf R400, a 396 horsepower concept
they claimed could hit 60 in under 4 seconds, it
had a sick rear wing, (electric ring)
and dope wheels and was basically Germany's answer to the upcoming Focus RS and Civic Type R. Volkswagen was aiming to assert
their Hatchback dominance once and for all. - We will make the
greatest hatch of all time! - Very good Hans, let's go
get some wurstenspreiter. - I love wurstenspreiter. - Do you like your
wurstenspreiter sweet or savory? - I like a sweet
wurstenspreiter in the holidays and a savory wurstenspreiter
on my day to day. - But then, everyone found
out that they were cheating on their emissions testing, so they scrapped the whole project. The MK7 got a mild refresh in late 2016, but it's technically not a new generation so people call it the
MK7.5, the looks got updated and the R now makes 306 horsepowers, it's sick.
(electric ring) Just get one before
they go on hiatus again, because apparently it's
not coming back for 2020 for the MK8, but I am checking
the internet every day and I'm starting to hear some rumors, and I'm hoping that it's
going to have a manual, and I think because it's
Volkswagen, they might, probably, yes, probably give us one. (bright music)
(flapping) All of these Golfs is getting me fussy. Hey what did the pirate
say when you asked him what he was doing on the weekend? I don't know, what? Golf RRRR. You are a treasure. I love you. (bright music)
