Like most performance cars to come from Germany, the previous-generation Volkswagen Golf R was electronically capped from the factory to 155 mph (250 km/h). It looks as though the hot hatch from the compact model's seventh iteration can be driven at an even higher speed. Well, at least according to the Australian police.
A 22-year-old driver was pulled over by New South Wales police after "allegedly traveling 280 km/h." That works out to 174 mph. The high-powered compact hatchback was spotted on the Hume Motorway, Mittagong where the speed limit is only 68 mph (110 km/h). Earlier today at 9:30 AM local time, police officers told the speeding young driver to pull over before taking away his driver's license.
The police's statement says the Golf R driver received a "Court Attendance Notice for drive speed/manner dangerous" and must appear in Moss Vale Local Court on December 20. People commenting on NSW Police's tweet are questioning the accuracy of the clocked speed since the Golf R was allegedly caught doing 19 mph (31 km/h) more than the standard car.
The only two logical explanations we can think of are either the car was modified and had its limiter removed or the police's radar speed gun wasn't properly calibrated. It should be mentioned there are videos on YouTube with the standard Golf R Mk7 on an unrestricted section of the Autobahn while going over the official top speed. However, the real GPS-measured speed is in all cases lower and in line with the technical specifications sheet provided by VW.
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We'll remind you that a little over a year ago, the 80-year-old driver of a Subaru WRX lost his license for six months after Australian police caught him doing 51 mph (82 km/h) over the speed limit.
Source: NSW Police