VW announces Golf R Grid, entry Tiguan 162TSI pricing
BY ROBBIE WALLIS | 15th Sep 2017
Entry into the Mk7.5 Golf R range will now start from under $50,000 for the first time, at $47,490 plus on-roads for the six-speed manual Grid hatch, while opting for the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic will cost $49,990. Both variants will arrive in Australian showrooms by December.
The third Grid variant, the DSG wagon, is priced from $51,990 and is available now.
Changes over the regular R include Alcantara and ‘race’ sports cloth seats, black door mirrors, Grid Edition badging and roof rails for the wagon.
No changes have been made to the Golf R’s driveline, which still pumps out 213kW/380Nm from its 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, with power sent to all four wheels.
Rounding out the R range is the seven-speed DSG Golf R wagon, which will arrive in January priced from $57,490, bringing the number of Golf R variants to eight, including the limited-run Wolfsburg Edition hatch and wagon.
Also to be introduced before the end of the year is a second Tiguan mid-size SUV, powered by the 162TSI engine shared by the Golf GTI.
Priced from $45,990, the Tiguan 162TSI Sportline is $2500 cheaper than its existing Highline counterpart, which can cost as much as $56,490 with the fully-optioned R-Line package.
The Sportline comes dressed in 20-inch Kapstadt alloy wheels, and features sport comfort seats finished in microfleece and cloth combination upholstery, adaptive chassis control, adaptive cruise control, side assist and traffic jam assist.
As with the Golf R Grid, no changes have been made to the Sportline’s engine, which produces 162kW/350Nm sent to all four wheels exclusively via the seven-speed DSG, a unique drivertrain combination in the Volkswagen portfolio.
Available for order now, the Tiguan 162TSI Sportline will arrive in Volkswagen showrooms by December.
To the end of August, 2017, Volkswagen has sold 11,534 examples of the Golf, after receiving a range-wide update in July.
Its 11,534 sales represents a 16.7 per cent slump over the 13,854 it managed to the same point last year, but is still enough for fifth place in the small car segment behind the Toyota Corolla (25,610), Mazda3 (22,681), Hyundai i30 (18,803) and Kia Cerato (13,083).
Meanwhile, the Tiguan has recorded 6758 sales, still a way off the pace of medium SUV segment leaders such as the Mazda CX-5 (17,227), Hyundai Tucson (16,761), Toyota RAV4 (14,152) and Nissan X-Trail (12,358).
| 2017 Volkswagen Golf R Grid pricing* | |
| Hatch | $47,490 |
| Hatch (a) | $49,990 |
| Wagon (a) | $51,990 |
