The Legendary Golf That Never Was - Experiencing the VW A59

► The Mk3 Golf A59 was the closest we got to a Golf R two decades before the first debuted. It came from an era where homologation specials were raw, advanced, and expensive, but for a reason. The A59 was going to provide Volkswagen a legitimate chance at a Group A rally championship, going against the likes of McRae and Sainz in their Subarus and Toyotas. Financial instability and significant debt meant the project would never come to fruition, leaving engineers and VW enthusiasts with nothing but a single functioning prototype destined to display in a lobby somewhere in Germany. Now, with the enthusiast market as strong as ever, and on the cusp of the prototype’s 30th birthday, Volkswagen has teamed up with Jaime Orr to bring the A59 around the United States and give us Americans a chance to see the legend in the flesh. But first, Orr has brought the lone A59 up to the FCP Euro Proving Grounds at Lime Rock Park for a day of driving and reminiscing about what could’ve been. 00:00