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Golf R vs Touareg V8 TDI Drag Race Is Closer Than You Think

It might look like a normal hatchback, but the Golf R is the fastest Volkswagen ever made. With 300 horsepower being sent out from a 2-liter turbo engine to all four wheels, it will rocket from 0 to 100 km/h in only 4.9 seconds and reach an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
Golf R vs Touareg V8 TDI Drag Race Is Closer Than You Think 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Of course, a Touareg could never be fast, otherwise Volkswagen would never dare to promote the Golf R as a benchmark car. But how close is this David versus Goliath race going to be?

The guys at Autobild decided to find out and stage a race between the 300 hp Golf DSG and a brand new 2015 Touareg V8 TDI. Yes, the SUV is much heavier, but it delivers 40 more horsepower and over twice as much torque.

Right off the line, the Golf has the advantage because of its lower weight and the way it's designed to sprint through the gears. It keeps that advantage and by the end of the quarter mile (402 meter) stretch of road there's over a second between them.

We've learned two things from this video. Number one is that the R is fast. Doing the quarter mile in 13 seconds at 171.31 km/h (106.45) is something you'd expect of a Porsche Cayman, not a Golf. The second thing is that Touaregs are really fast for their size and weight - had this been a race with a GTI, the outcome would have been in its favor.

The standard weight of a Touareg V8 TDI is almost exactly 2.3 tons. The sturdy engine block is a big problem and had this been equipped with the 3-liter supercharged V6 from an Audi Q5, it would have been much faster.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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