I'll remember this next time I need to drive my GTI on a frozen lake.

That "rabbit" sticker looks like an afterthought like Hans came running down from the conference room as GTIs were coming off the assembly line and he was like "dese autos are needing rabbitschticker!"

Was that the drone expert from Storage Wars Canada S02E29 - Ursula Goes Banana. Nice 👍🏻

I just wish they'd give the R a tiny little bit more aggressive styling here and there. Not as overdone and ridiculous as a Civic type R, but except for the exhaust tips and wheels, the GTI Looks like the sportier one.

Seriously, my new favourite channel. Definitely in top 3 (including thestraightpipes and car throttle)

3:24 it’s not just a tune that gives it more power. It has a completely different turbo then the gti.

Throttle House is the new deal on car journalism for me. Also, happy birthday James !

You guys and the Straight Pipes are my favorite automotive KZfaqrs and it makes me so happy that you guys are friends 😂

Owned both. R all day long. GTi great through corners but the power from the R is superb

Man, I’ve been living in this province for almost two years now and haven’t found any frozen lake race tracks. I gotta up my game!

I love that Cornflower Blue GTI! Seriously contemplating buying one

For the R, pull the ABS and stability fuses. The brake differential is what's killing your drive in the big drifts. Disconnecting the front sway bar helps too but is obviously more of a pain. Without the brake diffs it will be a little slower to put power down but it can do Ken Block level ice drifts all day!

What was the point off this video? Are people buying Golfs to drift on ice? Or only to drift? Golf R feels faster on that surface. Isn't that the point off having R over normal GTI? If so, why there is no track time to compare them? I mean, I love all this great shots, I love the cars, but this video is kind a missed opportunity to actual answer the question: Is it OK to have normal GTI on the snow because you are not losing too much comparing to R version or not? Drifting is 1% of the use if ever, so that is pretty much pointless if other things are not answered.

And hat tip to Yuri from The Straight Pipes on a special appearance!

Very nice. You’re right the nannies still kick in when “off”. You have to code the system off and code increased traction on to have a more active rear (instead of reactive).

A dependable set of winter tires is more important on this kind of weather either fwd or awd

Happy birthday James and awesome job guys!!! I absolutely love your videos and the humour that you put into them. You have become my go to KZfaq channel to check out cars, especially as you are in Canada and get what it is to live here!!! I love cars too! Great job! Keep it up! Cheers. Jorge

Very informative! Thanks. If you want real AWD... the system is the R is the best I guess for snow/ice

Couldn't tell on the GTI, but it definitely looked like the Golf R was on winter tires. Having owned a 2014 Fiesta ST in Northern New York, I can safely say that winter tires on any car makes a huge difference, and there's no reason you can't go out and hoon a FWD hot hatch in the winter as long as ground clearance isn't an issue. Here in the U.S. , the Golf R comes standard with summer tires and the GTI comes standard with all seasons. If you go out and try these maneuvers on these standard equipment tires in snow and ice, you will not have the same level of control. Unless you have Ken Block type of skills. Good video though, I like the channel. Just think you should mention what kind of tires were on these cars so folks don't get a false sense of security.

just finding your channel and liking the content, PT Cruiser DM sent!haha

A month into my new Gold R and I couldn’t be happier. Fun video.

Its my birthday today as well! Happy birthday to you too! Great video. I had the 2013 GTI driver's edition. What a great car that was.

The difference between the motors in the GTI and R are a lot more than just a tune, the turbo and internals such as exhaust cams, pistons, rods, etc is what makes them a lot different

That's all great news that the GTI will drift on the top of frozen lake almost as good as the R. What I wanna know is can the GTI plow itself from a parking spot blocked by the snow bank after a major snow storm in Chicago nearly as good as my R32 can?

I literally want all their episodes on Netflix.

You guys seriously kill me!! The best. And thanks for more VW’s!

Throttlehouse has crossed tailpipes with the straightpipes love it

4:38 is golden. Nice Power Sliding 👍

Soooo... you're saying AWD is more fun & better handling than FWD? Who'd have thought...

*cracks knuckles* Finally a target for my 6gb collection of PT Cruiser pics.

From the title of this video, I thought you guys were going to compare Golf FWD and 4Motion in real world driving with traction control engaged. Because you know.....we spend a lot of time driving on occasionally icy and wet roads in Missouri. Instead what I saw was a Hoonigan drifting comparison between these cars.

My touareg was pretty simular to the golf R on ice! I went to an ice racing school with the touareg, and it's fun

Just love your intros... and da rest too of course

I'm actually surprised you don't have as many subscribers as many other auto focused channels. Good stuff guys!

AWD is definitely a must!

I nearly crashed my R in the snow going only 15 mph around a corner. As soon as the front slipped the rear kicked in sending the rear out across the road,this probably wouldn't Of happened in the gti. Good job it only snows once a year but rains alot. Off the mark in the rain is amazing.

I may eventually be convinced the GTI can be as good as the R on a closed circuit but in real world conditions it is not realistic (and safe) to try to enter too fast in curves to provoke power oversteer on any public roads. For that reason and because of every acceleration from a stop in wet or snow the R is hands down the top dog.

It's also a matter of not having chains. Awd cars with snow tires are not illegal on the road when chains are required. Also when I got my golf r, I punched it in the snow and the awd sorted it out and I took off. It is one of the most well rounded cars I've ever driven and you can easily make it more aggressive and keep all the practicality.

Love the little elf hat this guy has on 😀. Where can I find a frozen lake to have this much fun in my Golf R?

Love my Mk7 GTI, but I wouldn't mind the AWD for better launches!

Makes me love my R even more

The wheels were hypnotic in slow mo 😎

Yes...the Golf R is fun...way more fun. Worth every penny more here in Canada than the GTI. I am loving it.

The Rear wheels only work in golf r if the front wheels slip. Other than that it's a fwd car. You can add a clutch pack and tune that adds more power to the rear

I did a 4 wheel drift in my brothers golf R and...crashed it. He wasn't pleased. Loving this channel! Also happy birthday James it's mine too

Great video! I've been waiting for a comparison of the two in the snow for a long time. It would've been a much better review if it was a comparison of the two in daily winter snow driving. I'm a Golf R owner myself, but sometimes I wonder if a GTI would suffice for Canadian winter if I remove the 4 Motion out of the equation.

I own a golf R , but I also love the GTI ... love both always will always have ....❤️

This is exactly the video I've needed... good possibility of moving from Long Island to Colorado and literally wanted to know how these do in such conditions. Want the Rabbit

What more do you need on a regular basis?? A MANUAL TRANSMISSION, that's what. ;-)

In the rs3 you can switch out electronic interference completely, might be a better match up to the R. I’ve had them all at some point, and they’re all awesome cars!

That GTI spec is top😁

You guys are hilarious love the videos best on KZfaq. And we’re just gonna keep with the hat and hair flip hanging out I can look past it though bc your videos are so good

Mazda please put the turbo in the 3 for the best of both worlds for much cheaper.

I get that the front wheel drive is all you need, but where I live there is snow/ice on the ground for at least 6 months of the year, so the extra money for the gold R is well worth it for me. Not only for the extra fun but just the safety/convenience of the AWD on bad winter roads. If I lived in Texas however maybe I would have taken the gti.

Good video but you should change locations like a regular floor not only snow

Saw a 2000 DX Hatch 5sp at the NoFrills parking lot in awesome condition. Just seeing it, I wanted to snatch it up, drop-in all the strut bars and springs/shock combo. With 2400lb, front double wishbone, awesome steering and 103 inch wheelbase, it's going to get twice as much use from the same traction. If you want to bully the Golf R with a front drive on ice, throw that old-school setup at it.

GTI was on all-season-tires while the Golf R was on snow tires. Talk about unfair advantage!

Honestly if you just put some decent tires on the GTI, that drastically improves the traction and overall handling. The stock Hankook tires are bad.

So, my goal in having AWD is having more traction, not necessarily having more fun when I force the car to lose traction? I have an older FWD A3, which is very similar to a GTI, and I find that it’s pretty easy to spin the wheels when accelerating on wet pavement.

hmm.. is a nearly 300 hp awd golf r more fun (on any track) than a gti... that's a tough one

I'd really like to see a 4motion sportwagen on that ice. Are those videos incoming?

Why did VW add digital gauge cluster screens on the Golf R (which was canceled) but still have analog gauge clusters on the 2019 GTI?!

Very nice in blue !

I used to have a 2000 GTi VR6 but I sold because the stability control can never be turned completely off (in it's stock form of course). Since I wasn't interested in trying to override or bypass the system, I sold it and bought a Subaru. Stability control aside, it was a very fun car and made a great sound from the engine.

Where are you guys situated usually? I bounce back from Peterborough and Norfolk County for school :P and you’re normal vids kinda give a Norfolk vibe :P

hi... I have realy fun with my GTI. Does the rabbit manual or electronic handbrake??

@3:48 moisture build-up in headlamp

Not many people actually try to snow drift in their GTI or R. I'll save u all some time. They are both excellent winter or summer cars as long as you drive them appropriately and with the correct tires. I've owned 3 GTIs, a Golf and the mk7 R. Also a 4motion Passat. The Passat is significantly better for traction in the winter than the R, but it's a different AWD system and much heavier than the R. The GTIs are perfect as well, but you don't have as much GO when in deep snow or icey conditions. The GTI will spin at full throttle in the snow. The R will bite in and rocket ahead.

VSC is never fully off. You need to do the peddle trick to get it off for good. But only lasts until you turn the car off

golf r haldex is underrated.. I love my mk6R. ive done some gnarly drifts in the rain once or twice lol

To be honest what car enthusiast doesn’t hate the pt cruiser

This is strong and beautiful Golf 7.5 I have one Lovely Car..

previous model year Golf R was 292 HP, now they are showing 288 HP. Same engine, did they detune it more?

Can't say I've noticed the rear wheels adding any traction in my R, although I would add that there's not many frozen lakes in London to really try sliding it. Love the car though, it's a terrific vehicle as a daily drive

So sick!

Snow tires and a GTI, like you said it all you need. about 8-10k more for a golf r for a tune and awd, ehhhhh.

The Golf R is in my opinion not worth the extra cash. All wheel drive sounds good, but in reality it's a FWD car that can put a little power to the rear wheels, and at no time more than 50%. That is because its a Haldex system, it helps with traction issues but it's not fun to drive and does not feel like an AWD car, because most of the time it isnt.

You forgot to mention the Golf R runs a larger Is38 turbo, oil cooler, and forged internals. :)

I wanted a edition35 so settled for fwd. after owning a 8V S3 Sportback and 8L S3. I don’t drive stupid so don’t really need awd

The colour choices you get, so much better than the UK!

I had an 18 GTI with an APR tune and a 19 Alltrack with APR tune and i preferred the Alltrack. The GTI was definitely quicker but it was very irritating just spinning the tires and not being able to put the power down at low speeds. So basically i need a Golf R powered Alltrack 👌🏼

I want a focus rs with vw build quality and interior.

That problem on almost all VW group cars is that even when u turn off dsc it keeps coming back

man that looks fun! :D

looking at the tracks////more than a few times getting the shot

AWD is at some point really unpredictable (software does what wants), and iz scares me a bit, in other hand front WD could be safe if you know what you are doing

I think the VW Golf won me over. I'm just getting into cars a lot lately and I think for utility the Golf is perfect.

now do that in an Alltrack...for science and show that ice/snow is the great equalizer showing you don't need GTI//R levels of power to have fun.

You're from Quebec !? As the plate says Quebec Je me souvien nice 1 more sub :)

Why does VW say the 2019 Golf R has 288 horsepower compared to the 292 horsepower for 2015-2018 Golf R’s? I don’t think anything in the engine changed. So must be time related? Glad I got my 2018 Golf R 6spd. Love it!

Testing awd vs fwd in the snow.... makes total sense. /s

I'm waiting for my GTI, it'll take forever sjebdrudh! 😭

If I can I would have them both , great toys for boys 😎🚙🚗

Yeah... the famous Montreal forest and lakes 😂 Where was that ?

Would love to see a comparison between fun cars in 30K range (CAD)..GTI, Cooper S, Miata, Fiat 124 against Nissan 370Z..I know I know some are FWD and others are RWD but fun factor doesn’t care..

We dont buy the AWD R to drift on an ice lake. We buy it for all around better traction in rain and ice.. and to keep from shredding our front tires every time we pull into traffic..

Storage Wars drone expert my🖕. A partial Throttle House/Straight Pipes collab is better than none at all. Newsflash Thomas, it needs to happen.

These intros are so shot. You guys are hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I have the same Golf R but I like the cornflower blue GTI look better 😅

Save 18k and get then GTI. Yes. Great review.