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“Volkswagen has been on a turbocharged war path lately and their soon to be released 2015 Volkswagen Estate R is no different. ”
Many have the need for a hyper wagon, I myself have been that person many times, needing the spacious room of a station wagon, but ‘needing’ the grunt under the bonnet to keep me happy. I have owned them all too — the Nissan Stagea RS4-S which is a 206kW inline six monster, the Toyota Caldina GT-T, which is a hyper four-cylinder with 184kW, the Nissan Avenir GT4-Z, and the 206kW Subaru Legacy GT-B wagon which was my pick of the bunch as it felt nimble and when the second turbo kicked in it took off like a rocket. So yes, I understand why Volkswagen have built this near on 220kW (300hp) and I am so glad they did.
Let’s get the essentials out of the way first, the things you will tell your partner why you are buying this wolf in sheep’s clothing for. Boot space is huge, in the back you can fit 605 litres, which expands right out to 1650 with the seats flat, so you can fit all of the groceries and handbags you would ever need (or a set of semi-slick shod racing wheels). It has a very trick set of roof rails too, and because the car sits lower to the ground than your average station wagon, lifting the kayak on top won’t hurt the old back as much. The R-inspired interior looks very sporty and even easy to clean. Twin sunroofs, as pictured, look to be a very cool feature — great for the kids in the back seat.
With that out of the way, lets get down to the good stuff — the grunt. Sharing the same engine as the newly revealed Golf R, the Estate version is said to be a tad slower, but who really cares. You’ll reach 0–100km/h in a mere 5.1 seconds and top speed is electronically limited to 250km/h, which is super quick in my books. The 220kW is produced by a 2000cc four-cylinder turbo engine with direct injection. Peak power is produced at 5500rpm, while the peak torque figure is produced from 1800 to 5500rpm. With a larger turbocharger that pushes out 17.4psi of boost, a newly designed cylinder head, and new pistons, the motor looks to be fairly bulletproof at this power level. All of the power is put down through the four-wheel drive DSG gearbox. Unfortunately, there will be no manual gearbox option for sale.
We are still yet to find out if these will be hitting our shores, but with the petrol-headed culture we have here, we think there is a serious possibility. If we do get our hands on one, we will be sure to take it for a good hoon on your behalf and we might even write a review …
