Used Car of the Day: 2012 Volkswagen Golf R

by Tim Healey

Published: March 27th, 2023

used car of the day 2012 volkswagen golf r

An 11-year-old Volkswagen Golf R owned by a technician? Color us intrigued.

This manual-transmission car has 138K miles on the clock, new Pirelli all-season rubber, and a new OEM battery. It also has a new PCV valve, valve cover gasket, and ignition coils. The water pump and timing belt were replaced at 100K miles, and the car also has a new HPA Haldex controller and pump.

There's a performance clutch disc and stage 1 ECM software.

The only claimed problems are a touch of exterior rust and a leaky bevel box output seal.

Give this car, which the owner wants $16,500 for, a look here.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

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2 of 19 comments

Kendahl on Mar 28, 2023

A very complicated VW that's 11 years old. A money pit even if it's been well maintained.

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Marvin on Apr 01, 2023

Im a current owner of a 2012 Golf R 2 Door with 5 grand on the odometer . Fun car to drive ! It's my summer cruiser. 2006 GLI with 33,000 . The R can be money pit if service by the dealership. For both cars I deal with Foreign car specialist , non union shop but they know their stuff !!! From what I gather the newer R's 22,23' too many electronic controls on the screen, plus the 12 is the last of the of the trouble free ones and fun to drive no on screen electronics Maze !

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