Used Car of the Day: 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Today's UCOTD is a nearly two-decade-old hot hatch with some mods. Hit the jump for more on this 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32.


The seller says the car is in good condition with a clean title and it recently passed North Carolina state inspection. The mileage is just under 140K.

Mods include a Forge intake, Magnaflow exhaust, high-flow cats, H&R springs, adjustable rear lower control arms, and more. Oh, and the car is, of course, tuned.

The asking price for this ride is $18,000. Click here to check it out, and to read up on the mods I didn't list.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey
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.

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  • JMII JMII on Oct 17, 2023

    My brother had one of these and for some reason VW leased it to him as if it was a normal Golf. VeeDub fans on the Vortex know this is a rare and special car so they seek it out. So when his lease ran out he immediately flipped it for a $6k profit. Can't say that about many cars. After riding in it I can tell you it was a rocketship with great handling in its day, the brakes were amazing for a stock vehicle. My brother continued his German love affair with a Golf R and now a collection of Porsches. Me? I had a B5 Passat 1.8T and learned my lesson after suffering thru multiple problems and failures - so no more VWs for me. I've always found it interesting how my brothers experience with the brand were so different then mine. However in his defense he has always traded his VWs after 3 years where we kept that Passat for nearly 7 despite its issues. I noticed around year 4 the German engineering fails right on schedule when the warranty expires.

  • Zerofoo Zerofoo on Oct 17, 2023

    Early 2000s VWs, Mercs, Porsches with the IMS bearing failure, and Audi V8s with timing chains on the REAR of the engine turned me off of German cars for life.


    I get it - they drive well - but everything else about owning a German car is painful.

  • Tassos You can answer your own question for yourself, Tim, if you ask instead"Have Japanese (or Korean) Automakers Eaten Everyone's Lunch"?I am sure you can answer it without my help.
  • Tassos WHile this IS a legitimate used car, unlike the vast majority of Tim's obsolete 30 and 40 year old pieces of junk, the price is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. It is not even a Hellcat. WHat are you paying for? The low miles? I wish it had DOUBLE the miles, which would guarantee it was regularly driven AND well maintained these 10 years, and they were easy highway miles, not damaging stop-go city miles!!!
  • Tassos Silly and RIdiculous.The REAL Tassos.
  • Lostboy If you can stay home when it's bad out in winter, then maybe your 3 season tire WILL be an "ALL-SEASON" tire as your just not going to get winters and make do? I guess tire rotations and alignments just because a whole lot more important!
  • Mike My wife has a ‘20 Mazda3 w/the Premium Package; before that she had a ‘15 Mazda3 i GT; before THAT she had an ‘06 Mazda Tribute S V6, ie: Ford Escape with a Mazda-tuned suspension. (I’ve also had two Miata NAs, a ‘94 & a ‘97M, but that’s another story.) We’ve gotten excellent service out of them all. Her 2020, like the others before it, is our road trip car - gets 38mpg highway, it’s been from NC to Florida, Texas, Newfoundland, & many places in between. Comfortable, sporty, well-appointed, spacious, & reliable. Sure, we’d look at a Mazda hybrid, but not anytime soon.😎
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