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2020 GTI mk8

Carlosfandang0

Autocross Newbie
Not completely un-disguised I suspect, the circled area clearly has white vinyl covering it, and there are probably other areas including the mirror caps which are unlikely to be body coloured on the R.
5D8531C2-F40C-4D9C-8B6B-1EBAA14B1415.jpeg
 

Sandman GTI

Drag Race Newbie

Bet the Pretoria wheels are on only for testing.
250Hp will be my guess also as this would match the base Hyundai N.
A PP car with 270Hp would be nice.

But at 250hp is this a MK7/7.5 GTI engine or would it be more like a VW R engine with stronger internals?
VW R internals would be great, but if no different than current GTI, then 250hp is an easy tune that many people do anyway so not much help.
The better internals would be a very nice change on a GTI. Clubsport S like.
 

Sandman GTI

Drag Race Newbie
Here's the Mk8 Golf R, undisguised. Gotta say, I much, much prefer the looks of the Mk7.5 GTI and R compared to this. The Mk8 styling looks more "mini SUV/crossover" than "hot hatch" to me. If I'm looking for an upgraded daily in the future, I'll be looking at a used Mk7.5 R.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/02/11/vw-mk8-golf-r-spied/

Looks better than some other pics but in white the lower side pieces make is look like a mustache!
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
^ That said i think the 7.5 R's whole grille reminds me of the pringles guys face/mustache lol
 

GolNat

Autocross Champion
I like the MK8. I think they did a good job at balancing the old and new without going to crazy with the looks.

I'm no designer but trying to capture the history while also making it more modern sounds difficult. Can't change it too much but you need to make it newer.
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Edit; doublepost
 

sterkrazzy

Autocross Champion
^ That said i think the 7.5 R's whole grille reminds me of the pringles guys face/mustache lol

I've seen that said before, I love my pringles bro lol
 

GertieGTI

Ready to race!
I personally feel like the design looks closer to the MKVI than the MKII. Not a bad looking car, just looks more like another half generation update. A bit "soft". Its a bit of a move from Apple, their phone designs and content have not changed much in the last 6 years and they have been losing sales because of it.

GTE and Clubsport look more aggressive than the slightly disguised R we just got photos of. They are going to really need to bump up the aggressive design language on the R to get it to sell over a GTI with a tune.
 

KevinC

Autocross Champion
We go through this with every new generation - a crapload of people cry "EWWWWW!" and hate the new design - until the final product sees the light of day, then they see it in the flesh, and it's suddenly at least "ok" or more likely, they actually like it. I strongly suspect this will happen all over again.

The problem I have with the Mk8 is the interior. It's a disaster. Touch & slider controls everywhere - which have already been widely rejected by customers globally.
 

brat_burner

Autocross Champion
We go through this with every new generation - a crapload of people cry "EWWWWW!" and hate the new design - until the final product sees the light of day, then they see it in the flesh, and it's suddenly at least "ok" or more likely, they actually like it. I strongly suspect this will happen all over again.

The problem I have with the Mk8 is the interior. It's a disaster. Touch & slider controls everywhere - which have already been widely rejected by customers globally.

I agree, you can always go to the ROW websites and look at them. I'm a fan of the digital dashes etc, but some of the touch controls are a bit too much. Imagine having a 75 yr old guy trying to use a touch sensitive controller in a S class. They already hated it because there were too many buttons on the dash. Ever tried the cadillac system that controls audio and climate control? I never figured out where exactly I needed to press on something. Didn't matter if it was a 2015 or 2019.. Throw in a configurable hud, 500 lighting settings, 15 safety systems, a reverse camera mirror, built in air freshener, massage seats, heated arm rests. No wonder customers don't know how to open or close the air vents lol
 

Carlosfandang0

Autocross Newbie
We go through this with every new generation - a crapload of people cry "EWWWWW!" and hate the new design - until the final product sees the light of day, then they see it in the flesh, and it's suddenly at least "ok" or more likely, they actually like it. I strongly suspect this will happen all over again.

The problem I have with the Mk8 is the interior. It's a disaster. Touch & slider controls everywhere - which have already been widely rejected by customers globally.
The new 2020 Audi RS6 has touch controls and the general consensus appears to be that they are ok, but I’ve heard at least one review where they mention having to search for a particular button and while doing so weren’t looking at the road!!!, I think this is the issue, the buttons themselves and the way they function are fine, but mix that in with having to drive and it suddenly doesn’t work so well!
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
The new 2020 Audi RS6 has touch controls and the general consensus appears to be that they are ok, but I’ve heard at least one review where they mention having to search for a particular button and while doing so weren’t looking at the road!!!, I think this is the issue, the buttons themselves and the way they function are fine, but mix that in with having to drive and it suddenly doesn’t work so well!

This has been a huge problem that everyone wants to ignore.

Infotainment screens that control everyday functions beyond media are a stupid idea. Touch screens that handle frequently adjusted features don't belong in normal cars.

Elon can put whatever he likes in a Tesla; that car drives itself. It's a terrible idea to go slapping that crap in much else, though.

We've had a century to figure out where to place buttons in cars, and once we landed on the standard, it stayed that way for a reason. We could have put fan speed controllers in glove boxes, CD players in the floor... We didn't, though. What you reach for in a properly laid out interior is always where it needs to be, and requires very little study to learn.

That's not possible with touch screens. The people that design this crap need to be put in a Quake III tournament and then asked to navigate a phone tree that doesn't have voice recognition at the same time.

When they fail, toss them a flip phone and watch it all work fine.

Screens are cheap, and people are stupid. That's why we have them controlling all this stuff. It has absolutely nothing to do with improved function, and manufacturers need to hear from the intelligent minority, because the vocal majority is allowing this crap to happen.
 

KevinC

Autocross Champion
This has been a huge problem that everyone wants to ignore.

Case in point: My buddy's wife has a Volvo XC90 or whatever their foofy SUV is called. They moved to Vegas about a year after first buying it in Miami. I was out there visiting and wifey was driving us someplace in triple-digit temps, and she couldn't figure out how to get the AC turned on - this after owning it for a YEAR, and in Miami before Vegas, meaning she'd dealt with heat before. So I started paying attention to what kind of fiddling was going on in an attempt to get it running, and it was shockingly non-intuitive and ridiculously over-complicated. She also had given up on stuff like the factor nav because it was just to complicated to use.

The Mk8 Golf is loaded with this kind of "tech". My guess is they designed this stuff in 5 years ago when they first started the Mk8 design, then in the meantime automakers started backing away from this stuff due to customer backlash, but VW was already committed and nobody wanted to go back and revise it. From what I've seen in reviews where the infotainment was operated and other controls are demonstrated, it's a complete disaster. Even the headlight switch is an over-complicated joke. Prediction: Customers will hate this stuff from Day 1, and they'll trot out a facelift edition that corrects this stuff. Too late for the early adopters though.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
I agree 100% with the anti-touchscreen comments. How can using a touchscreen to adjust a basic function that’s buried deep in a touchscreen sub menu be any less distracting for the driver than it would be to use a hand held mobile / cell phone while driving? And using a hand held phone while driving is illegal in the UK and other countries ?. IMO, cheapening out and using cheap touchscreens is a case of car manufacturers putting cost cutting well ahead of driver/passenger/other road user’s safety.

If the Golf’s headlamp touchpad switch is considered bad (IMO it is), then the one in the mk8 Golf’s ‘brother’ - the new Seat Leon - is terrible. Exactly the same stupid, cheap touchpad is used in the Leon, but it’s positioned low down on the dashboard, out of the driver’s line of sight. So if you needed to turn on the fog lights because of poor visibility, you could inadvertently turn the headlights off (unless there’s some clever way to prevent this happening, which is unlikely) unless you’re looking at the touchpad, rather than the road ahead. Terrible design failure!
 

JW with a VW

Go Kart Champion
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