discussion Golf 8 R pricing reveal

[MR_Y]

Volkswagen Golf 8 R 2.0 TSI 235 kW DSG R912 800
The new Golf 8 R will be sold with a 3 year/120 000 km warranty, 5 year/ 100 000 km EasyDrive Maintenance Plan with service intervals every 15 000 km

Volkswagen Golf 8 R (2023) Price & Specs

Volkswagen South Africa has confirmed price and specification details for the Golf 8 R. Here’s how much you can expect to pay for it, plus we examine the options on offer. Even though the Volkswagen Golf 8 R was revealed back in 2020, it feels like a lifetime for the model to reach South Africa.

www.cars.co.za

Seems like good value, especially with a full maintenance plan included and not just a service plan.

However, we all know that Fouche and other dealers will buy up the allocation for SA and sell at R1.5m+

Here are the optional extras...

IQ.Light LED Matrix Headlights (R11 000), Akrapovič Exhaust (R73 000), Head-Up Display, Harman Kardon sound system (R12 600), Parallel Park Assist, Rear Assist with a rearview camera (R5000), Blind spot monitor with Rear Traffic Alert and Lane Assist with electronically folding side mirrors (R13 700), Travel Assist with Lane Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control (R12 500), IQ.Drive Adaptive Cruise Control with Front Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking System (R12 000) as well as the Black Performance Package with drift mode, an increased top speed of 270 km/h and black 19-inch Estoril alloy wheels (R27 400).

A wet dream for JHB hijackers...

 

[SanM]

Epic car! R1m isn’t bad given what other hyper hatches go for. But yeah it’ll probably be sold at almost full spec and closer 1.5bar

 

[TBP88]

How do these dealers get these allocations?

TBH it's odd to say, but R1m really isn't bad for such a desirable Golf. Still think you can just get an S3 which is the same car for similar money...

 

[TurboLlew]

holy currency devaluation batman!

 

[MR_Y]

How do these dealers get these allocations?

TBH it's odd to say, but R1m really isn't bad for such a desirable Golf. Still think you can just get an S3 which is the same car for similar money...

S3 is slightly detuned.
As SA used market shows, Golf R always beats S3 on resale value (and higher theft risk too)...

 

[Eust]

More and more it seems crazy to buy brand new cars.
There is so much more car for similar money that is slightly used.

 

[TurboLlew]

How do these dealers get these allocations?

TBH it's odd to say, but R1m really isn't bad for such a desirable Golf. Still think you can just get an S3 which is the same car for similar money...

The third-party dealers have contacts within the franchised dealerships that order the cars on their behalf using existing client's profiles. You see the 'usual suspect' dealers with cars that are obviously allocations and some exotics which are not even in-country yet advertised with +2 and +3M mark ups.

Porsche and BMW took steps to stop this (I am guessing this is why actual clients can now get allocations vs. a few years back!). Some others don't care who gets the cars at all and are happy not to deal with clients at all it seems.

How it is done I understand. WHY it is done is a mystery still. They get the car here first or perhaps they have a buyer lined up which is well and good, but then it sits basically indefinitely on the floor. I recently went to Fouche - They are friendly enough but I am still waiting for a call back about that Purple McLaren 570S (which needed a battery... a month ago). The car has been sitting there for at least 6 months now. I was ready to drive it that same Saturday - got insurance quote... someone on my 4C waiting list lined up... For a few days they were waiting on the battery, then a week passed, then crickets. At the rate they are going it will sit another 6 months (still available now). I guess it worked out for me because that 'itch' passed (for now) .

At the same dealer, they have, parked side by side, a McLaren 765LT and 2 INSANELY specced SF90 Stradales... On one hand, who thinks "well I have 15 bar for a brand new car, best I go to Fouche and pay an extra R3 bar instead of Daytona/Ferrari"? On the other hand why don't they seem interested in selling anything when you DO end up there? (and this is just one example, rinse and repeat for others including those that advertise insanely priced old vehicles).

Perhaps these are questions we don't really want to know the answers to (or ask) LOL. I guess a R1.5M Golf will sit there soon enough too.

 

[TBP88]

S3 is slightly detuned.
As SA used market shows, Golf R always beats S3 on resale value (and higher theft risk too)...

I doubt you'd really feel 10-20kw that the S3 is down. And it makes up for it with a miles better interior (to me anyway!) than the Golfs have.

The third-party dealers have contacts within the franchised dealerships that order the cars on their behalf using existing client's profiles. You see the 'usual suspect' dealers with cars that are obviously allocations and some exotics which are not even in-country yet advertised with +2 and +3M mark ups.

Porsche and BMW took steps to stop this (I am guessing this is why actual clients can now get allocations vs. a few years back!). Some others don't care who gets the cars at all and are happy not to deal with clients at all it seems.

How it is done I understand. WHY it is done is a mystery still. They get the car here first or perhaps they have a buyer lined up which is well and good, but then it sits basically indefinitely on the floor. I recently went to Fouche - They are friendly enough but I am still waiting for a call back about that Purple McLaren 570S (which needed a battery... a month ago). The car has been sitting there for at least 6 months now. I was ready to drive it that same Saturday - got insurance quote... someone on my 4C waiting list lined up... For a few days they were waiting on the battery, then a week passed, then crickets. At the rate they are going it will sit another 6 months (still available now). I guess it worked out for me because that 'itch' passed (for now) .

At the same dealer, they have, parked side by side, a McLaren 765LT and 2 INSANELY specced SF90 Stradales... On one hand, who thinks "well I have 15 bar for a brand new car, best I go to Fouche and pay an extra R3 bar instead of Daytona/Ferrari"? On the other hand why don't they seem interested in selling anything when you DO end up there? (and this is just one example, rinse and repeat for others including those that advertise insanely priced old vehicles).

Perhaps these are questions we don't really want to know the answers to (or ask) LOL. I guess a R1.5M Golf will sit there soon enough too.

Something like a 570S sitting on a dealer floor seems like a nightmare. McLarens depreciate so badly, you'd want to shift that stock as quickly as possible. Sounds like the place is running more as a laundromat than as a business... Can't fathom why *anyone* would spend R10-15m on a current model car they haven't spec'd themselves!

 

[MR_Y]

Surprised to see used values dipping below R1m. I think supply is no longer tight and/or maybe demand has dropped?

Even more surprising is that I found a few models under R1m that are very well specced. The optional Akrapovic exhaust was even fitted to a few cars in this price range.

I guess these well optioned cars were probably marked at R1.2m new. Now they depreciated just like normal cars...

If I was in this market, a slightly used M240i coupe for under R1m offers so much more over this R.

 

[QikNish]

Pricing isn't great but on par with out going....I looked at getting one in December at R1,075m ... was on special from the ridiculous marked price of 1.2m+. This at VW ballito.

But I bought a new Raptor instead from across the road 🙃

 

[TurboLlew]

Oh no! /s

Maybe they should have offered it on that 96 month sliding interest rate finance plan from Haval and then more of the "great value" crew in the VW comment sections would have been able to buy it.

There is a point that your target market shifts (Merc hit it last generation and started chasing Supercar owners with AMG experiences.... BMW is about to have the same happen to them). R1M might be worth less than ever before but it is still a psychological price point and still an amount of money that takes the average South African over three years to make (gross) let alone spend... and enthusiast outliers aside, this car is meant to be aspirational to that average person. The R would be a hell of a R750K-R800K car... R1.2 was just too far out for this to justify its existence... Sample of 1 with QikNish above, but there will even be interest at around R1M but beyond that there is just too much to choose from. A Golf is not an aspirational car to the majority of people who can actually spend R1.2M and neither is it particularly functional either. It's also at that point where, if you're able to spend more than R1M on a car (especially a 'nice to have' one), you are likely able to spend a little more to get that next step up (and again, is a Golf that thing? I think the answer is above)

There are pages of 2023 and 2024 BRAND NEW Cars sitting at (as predicted above when this post first arose) the usual suspect dealers and sitting at VW themselves. I find it hilarious that there are 2023 cars sitting at those 'usual suspect' dealers when VW is selling 2024 cars for hundreds of thousands less (enough that you can fit your own Akrapovic exhaust, get a 2024 car from an actual franchised dealer and still save...). If there is any evidence that there is virtually zero interest in this car at R1M+ this is it...

Same with the 'manufactured scarcity' of the Raptor and then dealers calling to frantically sell incoming stock... You don't need many braincells to figure out that they wouldn't do this unless there were way more than a few units coming in/that had already come in and had been sitting... and DEFINITELY nobody on a waiting list, at least not with the means to buy one.

It isn't like there are no cars selling in that price range either... you see tons of x40s, AMGS and M cars driving around. I am not sure I've even seen an R driving around yet.

I am not sure whether to be glad that public has voted with their wallets on this one OR whether the banks have just reached the limit of their willingness to lend.

VW also has other things going against it beyond the price.

Horrendous controls for climate & infotainment
Poorer quality interiors than ever before (note: quality of materials, not looks)
Extremely poor value vs other cars at the price point as Mr Y points out
Worsening dealer support...

 

[YozTruly]

I honestly feel no sympathy for VWSA. They are reaping what they have sown. Firstly by letting the usual suspects buy up all the limited allocations and add insane markups. Secondly by only issuing the G8 years after the hype had died. Anyone who knows anything about cars knew that a facelift was in the works so why spend R800k plus on a soon to be replaced car.

Lastly, Golfs (in all variants) are daily cars and not some exotic “last car” that people would sell a kidney for. They self sabotaged.

 

[TBP88]

This was pretty predictable.

Oh no! /s

Maybe they should have offered it on that 96 month sliding interest rate finance plan from Haval and then more of the "great value" crew in the VW comment sections would have been able to buy it.

There is a point that your target market shifts (Merc hit it last generation and started chasing Supercar owners with AMG experiences.... BMW is about to have the same happen to them). R1M might be worth less than ever before but it is still a psychological price point and still an amount of money that takes the average South African over three years to make (gross) let alone spend... and enthusiast outliers aside, this car is meant to be aspirational to that average person. The R would be a hell of a R750K-R800K car... R1.2 was just too far out for this to justify its existence... Sample of 1 with QikNish above, but there will even be interest at around R1M but beyond that there is just too much to choose from. A Golf is not an aspirational car to the majority of people who can actually spend R1.2M and neither is it particularly functional either. It's also at that point where, if you're able to spend more than R1M on a car (especially a 'nice to have' one), you are likely able to spend a little more to get that next step up (and again, is a Golf that thing? I think the answer is above)

There are pages of 2023 and 2024 BRAND NEW Cars sitting at (as predicted above when this post first arose) the usual suspect dealers and sitting at VW themselves. I find it hilarious that there are 2023 cars sitting at those 'usual suspect' dealers when VW is selling 2024 cars for hundreds of thousands less (enough that you can fit your own Akrapovic exhaust, get a 2024 car from an actual franchised dealer and still save...). If there is any evidence that there is virtually zero interest in this car at R1M+ this is it...

Same with the 'manufactured scarcity' of the Raptor and then dealers calling to frantically sell incoming stock... You don't need many braincells to figure out that they wouldn't do this unless there were way more than a few units coming in/that had already come in and had been sitting... and DEFINITELY nobody on a waiting list, at least not with the means to buy one.

It isn't like there are no cars selling in that price range either... you see tons of x40s, AMGS and M cars driving around. I am not sure I've even seen an R driving around yet.

I am not sure whether to be glad that public has voted with their wallets on this one OR whether the banks have just reached the limit of their willingness to lend.

VW also has other things going against it beyond the price.

Horrendous controls for climate & infotainment
Poorer quality interiors than ever before (note: quality of materials, not looks)
Extremely poor value vs other cars at the price point as Mr Y points out
Worsening dealer support...

Essentially my experience exactly. I went in looking at what was there for the 1-1.5m bracket and the truth is it makes almost no sense to buy anything in that space. Sure it's a huge financial outlay to spend R2mish on a car, but I'd *MUCH* rather sit in a car that I'll be happy to keep till the end of my life than save a ton up front, end up losing most of it to time and then have a Golf R.

Have a look at the used values for, say, a golf V GTI. Widely considered the return to form after the fat G3 and G4. Should be a modern classic - trades for low 100s, maybe the rougher ones are like 80k in your hands (and mileage and age on these isn't crazy, mid-late 00s). I have even less reason to think a G8R will stay high, if anything it should depreciate even faster given the touch controls and other gimmicks.

BMW and Merc have done exactly the same, just a rung up the cost ladder. If anything this is even worse. At least a G8R can properly give horns to the likes of an M2 and the like, but is anyone really looking at an M2 at the prices they're charging and not eyeing a cayman for a few 100k more? How many people can afford a R1.6m car but not a R2m car?

I always hark back to the E46M3 (1 because it was a stone cold classic from launch and 2 to compare where it's price was at the time relative to a 996C2), back then it was essentially all the performance for half the cost. Heck you could even argue the M3 was more special, I'd certainly agree the S54 was a more exciting engine than those early water cooled unreliable 996/997 units.

Now an M3 is essentially identically priced to a new Porsche 992. We used to joke that every BMW driver ends up in a Porsche when they can afford to, it might end up being that every BMW ends up in a Porsche when they can no longer afford a BMW!

 

[Nish_H]

I owned a few GTIs in my car life, and for me it made sense at the price point a few years ago.
Last Golf I bought brand new was the 7.5 Gti and managed to negotiate a good discount that made the purchase even better. When I got bored or also known as time to move on, the same dealership bought the car back for 40k above listed ‘book’.
Today with the price of a Gti let alone the R; is mostly affordable through inventive financing options. For those that want a Gti or R, they will outlay the listed price because they are very very loyal to the brand. However, as you mentioned Llew, you don’t see many 8 Rs or GTIs like you used to see when the 6,7 and 7.5 were new. Price point has made even the most loyal of followers look elsewhere or keep their current model GTIs or Rs and then properly modify them (case in point with the amount of pictures doing its rounds on social media from camp fest this weekend).
Be
For the price of a new Golf R, when it was just launched and the price premium, and comment from the dealership that we don’t discount Rs in SA as they all sell, made me realise that for a relatively manageable increase in budget, I bought the RS4.

Now I’m shopping a Porsche, as rightfully mentioned, a BMW M car is unaffordable 😅😅

 

[MR_Y]

Now I’m shopping a Porsche, as rightfully mentioned, a BMW M car is unaffordable 😅😅

There is still some value in M340i/M240i/X3M40i vehicles, especially used ones. Seems that BMW bumped up the M40i cars to almost make up for pushing the Ms up a level.

(With all the Porsche talk, we must be careful to not get kicked off this forum 😂)

 

[MR_Y]

Surprised to see used values dipping below R1m. I think supply is no longer tight and/or maybe demand has dropped?

Even more surprising is that I found a few models under R1m that are very well specced. The optional Akrapovic exhaust was even fitted to a few cars in this price range.

I guess these well optioned cars were probably marked at R1.2m new. Now they depreciated just like normal cars...

If I was in this market, a slightly used M240i coupe for under R1m offers so much more over this R.

Seems that insanity has come back in the market. I assume tight supply of new stock?

This is more expensive than my 991.1 911....



Seems that Golf Rs with less than 1,000km are easily cracking over R1m and not all of them are well optioned either.

New list price for base spec is R957k.

Slightly used M240i offers so much more, for less, if you want a newish German performance car. Can't fathom who will buy a Golf R over this beauty....

 

[modocrat]

Seems that insanity has come back in the market. I assume tight supply of new stock?

This is more expensive than my 991.1 911....
View attachment 21586


Seems that Golf Rs with less than 1,000km are easily cracking over R1m and not all of them are well optioned either.

New list price for base spec is R957k.

Slightly used M240i offers so much more, for less, if you want a newish German performance car. Can't fathom who will buy a Golf R over this beauty....
View attachment 21587

The tail-lights on the G42 remind me of Sid from Ice Age.

 

[///M Individual]

The tail-lights on the G42 remind me of Sid from Ice Age.

Agreed

Hate the look of the G42 overall.

 

[Matt2006]

I paid R969K for my new 8 R Performance Lapiz blue in November last year.
Best all rounder bang for your buck and a huge improvement over my previous 7,5 R especially in terms of handling.