2018 VW Golf R 2.0T w/ DCC & Navigation: Well, I had fun!

Honestly, there are days when I long for simplicity in car names, like when a car was just a Ford Pinto or a Chevy Vega.

But I really can’t complain when it comes to the Volkswagen Golf R.  There are so many incarnations of this small fast car and they are all fab-u-lous. (Did you know that the car original started out as the Gulf but somebody in marketing thought Americans wouldn’t like that name as much as if they simply switch it to Golf?)

Earlier this year, I got a hold of the 2018 VW Golf R 2.0T w/ DCC & Navigation (well, that’s what the tag says, so it must be true). The amazing thing about engines these days is that it doesn’t take much to get a lot of power out of something so small and lightweight.  A 2.0-liter turbo is just a 4-cylinder, which in the olden days could barely power a go-kart. Now, it’s not only capable of taking you across whatever land where you may live, it can do it affordably. And Volkswagen has taken that power, that engineering, that smartness and turned into a great little engine to power a great little car.

I loved driving the Golf R 2.0 TWDCCLGBTC++. (DCC stands for Dynamic Chassis Control, which basically adjusts and customizes the suspension of each wheel so that you have a much smoother ride.) My only real complain, as with most cars, is that it’s not built for men of size. Social scientists will tell you that people tend to hang out with others who are just like them.  Thusly, bears hang out with bears because for starters, we can eat like bears and no one gets upset about it. But then we have to figure out how we are going to pay our rent and often share our living expenses in the city so we can go to our low wage jobs because we care more about friendship and social lives than climbing the corporate ladder for wealth and power. That means, bears and gents, that we tend to pack on the pounds. Then we get called names…

Okay, enough about my psyche issues. Just know that for me, the Golf can get a little tight. As always, get in and see how you fit.  If the Golf is indeed a good fit for you, this is the ideal car for your inner-city life, which probably requires you to work two jobs and then shop for bulk food and supplies on your off-hours when you are in constant zombie-like daze. The Golf is not yet a self-driving car, but it’s compact enough that a lot of the bulk that might otherwise cause you heartburn has been removed.

This car starts at $39,785, so it ain’t cheap, but this is the R version. The standard Golf comes in at almost half the price at $20,910, and I think that just may be the place to start and finish. But with the R trim, you get 292 horsepower, versus just 170 horses on the basic Golf.  Again, just something to think about…

Let’s face it, being a bear is fun but it isn’t all fun and games.  There are some serious day-to-day challenges to being a man of size, and those confront us everywhere we go.

Yet thankfully, we no longer all have to aspire to be as skinny as Don Lemon or Neil Patrick Harris, both of whom I understand are bear admirers….