For German car manufacturer Volkswagen things are no different as we’re in for a treat of 5 new models and 2 upgrades/facelifts. Without any further ado, here’s the complete list the new cars making their to Mzansi this year.

Golf 8 R

Polo Vivo GT Upgrade

New Amarok

Tiguan TDI

T-Cross Trendline

Polo Sedan TSI

Touareg Facelift

This amounts to roughly 74% of Volkswagen vehicles sold in South Africa.

To put things into perspective, Volkswagen sold 63 601 (Volkswagen Passenger Cars: 58 447, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: 5 154) vehicles in Mzansi, in 2022 alone.

Elsewhere, the Volkswagen Taigo recorded 1 885 sales in 2022. Mind you, it was only launched in June. The refreshed Volkswagen T-Roc sold 2 407 units last year, while the Volkswagen Tiguan range (including Tiguan Allspace and Tiguan R) sold 2 613 units during the same time.

Despite severe stock and parts shortages last year, the Volkswagen Golf range also improved sales by 109% in 2022 with 639 units sold.

For specifics, the new Golf GTI has a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four, that’s good for 180kW with a torque peak of 370Nm. VW has combined it with a McPherson front axle and multi-link rear suspension system, along with its new Vehicle Dynamics Manager to control the suspension, the optional dampers, and other drivetrain configurations. Pricing for the Golf GTI 2.0 TSI 180kW DSG is set at R669 300.

For Mzansi, there are some bad news

Back when the new car was revealed, Volkswagen punted the model as a the most digitally connected car yet. And that’s true, to some markets. The Golf 8 debuts plenty of new technology for Volkswagen, with its Car2X system being the biggest impact.

Car2X is VW’s branding for a combination of vehicle-to-vehicle (aka V2V, car-to-car, or C2C) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X). In effect, it allows a connected car to communicate with either another vehicle nearby, or a piece of infrastructure, and share time-sensitive information.

While the theory is straightforward, there are several different ways by which Car2X-style technologies can be implemented. Some automakers are waiting for 5G to be popularized before they start deployment, since the next-generation connectivity has features like low-latency and low-power modes which could be beneficial for C2C. VW, though, is opting for another standard, known as WLANp. Volkswagen confirmed today that the Car2X service will not be making its way to South Africa as the Golf 8 line-up launches.

Volkswagen’s sole electric car in the Mzansi– which is not for sale – it’s the vanguard of the automaker’s big electrification push due in in the next few years, when hopefully a production version of the I.D. concept will hit the streets. That promises can’t-miss-it design, range to rival the Tesla, and a whole new platform underneath. For now, though, the e-Golf is more about coaxing VW loyalists into something more surreptitiously green and getting a feel for it.

For those obsessed with numbers, Volkswagen has slotted in a 35.8 kWh battery into the e-Golf. This makes it good for a range of 170km to 230km. Plug in a 22kW Level 2 charger and you could get a full battery in under six hours. If you manage to locate a DC fast charger in Sandton, you’ll easily get 80-percent in about 45 minutes. The one at Fourways Mall is my fighter – its close to the Starbucks.

For those foreign to the concept of EVs, the aforementioned range may still be a mental block more than a practical one – you could argue that the typical daily commute is more like a third of the e-Golf’s potential range – but with many still sceptical about whether an EV could work for them as a daily driver, it’s vital that VW address it.

On the road, I took the e-Golf on a trip from Sandton down to scenic Pretoria East. It’s a roughly 110km round trip, incorporating a mixture of highway and urban traffic, not to mention some significant hills. Starting out, the trip computer read 190 km; with the aircon on, and cycling through the various drive modes – more on which in a moment – I made it there and back with almost exactly the distance I’d travelled knocked off.

The e-Golf is no Tesla Model S with a Ludicrous Mode, though there’s that instantaneous EV torque leaves it feeling perky in city driving. Push your right foot all the way and the “kick down” point where a regular automatic car would drop a gear or two is replaced in the e-Golf with a surge of electric power. Notably, that happens even if you’re in the most frugal of the drive modes, which came in useful when trying to get ahead of another driver trying to merge into my lane.

On the outside, you’d probably need to be a true e-Golf aficionado in order to recognize the changes at the front. C-shaped LED lights are standard, complete with some blue highlights to give a little extra differentiation between this and the normal version. At the rear Volkswagen’s designers also decided to add two oval openings, where you might expect to find the exhausts on a normal car. It’s an odd little flourish for a vehicle on which the absence of an exhaust system is usually a key selling point.

Inside, there’s VW’s latest infotainment system, an 8-inch glass-topped touchscreen in the centre console. It’s swifter and smoother than the old system, though what it shows – particularly in the EV-specific menus – is much the same. It, cruise control, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel are present alongside parking distance control, along with DC Fast Charging. The seats are unsurprisingly cloth.

There’s also VW’s optional Driver Assistance package that includes adaptive cruise control, forward collision warnings with autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane assist, and more. Included is the 12.3-inch Volkswagen Digital Cockpit, which replaces the regular gages with an LCD, much in the vein of Audi’s Virtual Cockpit.

On the plus side, it’s easy to drive. You get the same gage layout in the driver’s cluster, only the tachometer now shows real-time electric power or charge status, while the fuel gage is now a battery meter. A fairly small display sandwiched in the middle can show speed, range, upcoming navigation instructions, or various other data, though only one at a time. If you’ve driven a recent Golf, then getting into the e-Golf, hitting the start button, and just getting on with driving should be second-nature.

Less welcome is how some of the EV-specific settings feel like they’ve been squeezed in, with confusion the result. Like other electric cars, there’s a regular “D” mode and a second, high-regeneration mode which VW dubs “B”; you switch between the two by pulling the gearstick back, in what in any other VW Group car would flip you into Sport mode. Pushing the stick left or right, meanwhile, doesn’t step through the gears in semi-manual mode like in a normal car, because there’s no gearbox in an EV: instead, when you’re in “D”, it steps you through four different aggression levels of regenerative braking. The strongest level is equivalent to the strength you’d experience in “B” mode.

There are two schools of thought in electric cars right now. If you’re an automaker you can either build a new vehicle from the ground up, or you can add electrification to an existing platform. In the case of the e-Golf, which takes the latter strategy, the upside is a car that’s in many ways indistinguishable from its internal-combustion counterparts. The downside is that it can feel like electrification was retrofitted, even if the underlying platform was, VW insists, designed with an EV variant in mind.

How appealing the e-Golf is, therefore, depends on how much you want to drive a Golf. One thing is for sure; The 2017 e-Golf looks like a Golf and drives like a Golf, promises an achievable but not outstanding 230km range, and focuses more on slotting unobtrusively into your life.

Although first details of its successor have already been leaked ahead of its 2021 arrival alongside the new Golf R, production of Mzansi’s Golf GTI TCR begins next month and will be limited to 300 examples. Three of which will be reserved for media test drives.

Volkswagen says the TCR celebrates its success in the global four-cylinder hot hatch Touring Car Racing category, including the spirit of Mzansi’s favourite byline Vrrrpha, and is “the ultimate expression of the current generation Golf GTI, the world’s favourite performance hatchback”.

It follows a long line of GTI special-editions that began with the GTI Pirelli (Mk5) and also included the GTI 35th Anniversary (Mk6) and the GTI 40 Years, based on the Golf 7 in 2016. However, the TCR eclipses the 40 Years as the most powerful production Volkswagen Golf GTI. While both 2.0-litre turbo-petrol models almost match the 228kW power output of the Golf R, the 40 Years achieved this figure on overboost and in the GTI TCR the output is constantly available.

While this is a substantial uplift from the standard GTI’s 169kW, the TCR’s 380Nm torque output is a bit lower.

The GTI TCR’s estimated 0-100km/h time is 5.6 seconds – 0.6sec better than the GTI 40 Years with DSG transmission and within a second of the Golf R DSG hatch’s 4.6sec.

Like all GTIs, but unlike the all-wheel drive Golf R, the TCR is front-drive and also brings a differential lock and performance front brake system. Suspension is firmer and 5mm lower than the standard GTI’s and there’s also a specific adaptive chassis control system.

Other differences to the standard GTI include a freer flowing exhaust system with a more distinctive note, but like the latest GTI the TCR is auto-only – in this case courtesy of a six-speed wet-clutch DSG transmission rather than a seven-speed dual-clutch unit.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR will be available in the traditional GTI paint colours of Pure White and Tornado Red, plus a new Pure Grey hue, and all colours come with a gloss-black roof, distinctive honeycomb side TCR decals and bespoke 19-inch alloy wheels – up from 18s.

Interior features include Alcantara gearshift and door trim accents, black/red sports cloth upholstery, a new version of the GTI steering wheel with perforated leather at the hand positions and a red 12 o’clock marker.

Other unique features include black mirror covers, Honeycomb TCR decals, LED headlights with dynamic cornering light, Dynamic light assist and seat belts and floor mats with red trim.

228kW of power? Check

All-wheel drive? Check

Seven-speed DSG transmission? Check

Artificially-enhanced engine noise exiting the stereo speakers? Uhhhhhh….. Check

In fact, the only aspect of the Volkswagen Golf R’s formula that would give any fanboy or fangirl pause is its window sticker. But hey, only the most actuarial of fantasies make room for details like monthly payments.

If you’re willing to live the dream, the Golf R is right there waiting to blind you with the science of its next-generation platform and make you forget about what other options might be out there lurking at the same price.

Some cars get old. Others mature. The Golf R’s lineage is further proof of its evolutionary, rather than radical take on the performance hatchback concept: by using the GTI as its starting point, Volkswagen has managed to build a brand flagship that stands on the shoulders of a giant not just in terms of engineering, but also when it comes to taking advantage of a pre-existing audience eager to take things to the next level.

‘Next level’ is exactly where the Volkswagen Golf R is all too willing to help you explore. The 228kW of power and 400Nm of torque generated by its 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine are a hearty upgrade over the similar mill found under the bonnet of the GTI, and it’s matched with 4MOTION all-wheel drive and our choice of a seven-speed, dual-clutch automated manual setup called ‘DSG.’

Ultimately, it comes down to what’s more important to you – hitting 100-kmh from a standing start in 4.6 seconds or feeling like you’re a more active part of the man-machine interface on a twisting two-lane road. Don’t get me wrong, the vehicle drives well, it feels amazing and sounds even better when you’re in the driver’s seat.

“I just can’t believe how good this thing is,” I thought to myself as I rushed down the N1 Highway with sports car-like urgency. For the uninitiated, the Golf R can really take you by surprise. While most performance cars in the price range do maybe two or things really well, the Golf R does basically everything well, and does so while flying below the radar of both the fashion police and those piggies you’d find after the William Nicol bend.

The other major revision on hand for 2019 is the inclusion of the 9.2-inch Discover Prosystem. VW’s infotainment game has come a long way in just a few short years, and this one addresses a number of issues found in the original iteration of the system used in the outgoing  car.

Like the first and second generation MIB platform, VW now utilizes what’s called the Volkswagen Infotainment system with Discover Pro sports a rather familiar layout of a touchscreen surrounded by more touch sensitive buttons. The Discover Media system found in the Golf R sports a 9.2-inch display and a new menu design that makes hunting for specific functions a less common annoyance, while additions like Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Mirrorlink connectivity, yields a comprehensive feature set that likely won’t leave you yearning for additional functionality from day one – at least from VW’s side of the fence.

Ease of use is further bolstered by the updated internal hardware, which serves to make the system much quicker to respond to inputs and more pleasing to use in general. While VW’s latest infotainment system still leaves a bit to be desired from an aesthetic standpoint, the feature set, coupled with the clear and balanced output of DynAudio’s  set up, puts this system among the stronger offerings on the market today.

Given that it’s intended to court a more affluent – read, older – buyer, it’s really no surprise that our test 2019 Volkswagen Golf R retails for R676 000. For those hoarding their paper route rands and cents, that’s way more than what you’d spend on a base GTI, a gap that widens by a few thousands if you ante up for navigation and 19-inch wheels.

Whereas the GTI is a significant and affordable upgrade over the entry-level Golf, it’s harder to make the same argument for the Golf R’s positioning above its turbocharged sibling. Certainly quicker than the GTI in stock form, offering a stronger list of standard gear, and featuring a 4MOTION all-wheel drive advantage that simply isn’t available from the aftermarket, the R’s value proposition tails off dramatically when comparing the two models strictly on a ‘fun to drive’ basis.

Consider, too, that R600K buys a lot of car on the modern marketplace, with price point options like the Mercedes-AMG A35 and Honda Civic Type-R  all hovering at around the same ask – and each capable of trouncing the VW in any number of performance-based categories.

Could you get as much joy out of a well-tuned Volkswagen GTI as you could from an out-of-the-box Golf R? Most likely yes.

Is the R the best version of the Golf that’s ever found its way to Mzansishores? Undoubtedly.

If you’re willing to pay the cost of entry to enjoy this very specific level of prestige, and like the idea of a GT car shrink-wrapped into a compact hatchback package, then the Golf R is worth a long look. If you’re a seeking a budget-friendly pocket-rocket, however, then you’re likely better off directing your gaze to the other side of Volkswagen’s showroom floor.