Volkswagen Golf R Variant arrives at Los Angeles as forbidden fruit

The Volkswagen Golf R Variant (SportWagen in United States) has been introduced at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Fans of hot wagons in the U.S. are probably pretty upset with Volkswagen since there's no word about stateside availability as VW says the model is set to go on sale only in Europe starting next spring. It looks essentially the same as the Golf R hatchback but obviously with the longer rear end which grants a 605-liter trunk capacity with the seats up and 1,620 liters if you fold them down.

Up front there's a punchy four-cylinder 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine rated at 300 HP (221 kW) and 280 lb-ft (380 Nm) of torque sent to a 4MOTION all-wheel drive system through a dual-clutch 6-speed DSG transmission. The sporty wagon needs only 5.1 seconds until 62 mph (100 km/h) and it will hit an electronically-capped top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).

The Golf R Variant is described by Volkswagen as a "winning combination of practicality and performance" and they say it has a more than decent fuel consumption of 7.0 liters / 100 km (33.6 mpg US or 40.3 mpg UK) with corresponding CO2 emissions of 163 g/km.

While chances of seeing the Golf R Variant in the United States are slim, Volkswagen of America has confirmed plans to bring the regular Golf Variant and the rugged Golf Alltrack in 2016.