Reliability?

Being a performance model, it probably is less reliable than the unreliable Golf. This is according to TrueDelta (Scores Yellow or at 142% repairs on the latest version of the car) and a 2 on a scale of 5 at Consumer Reports. Save your money for necessary repairs if you want this vehicle (fuel system, electronics, power accesories).

The earlier in the current generation you get, the less reliable they will be generally. 2015 will be the worst year for example. If you aren't sure about the Golf's reliability, a good alternative is the Honda Civic Type R or Civic Si. They are direct competitors.

I have a 2017 GTI Sport model with manual transmission. Zero problems after 10K miles. Not sure this fully applies to the R, but it seems to be built with care, and I'm impressed with the quality so far.

I have a 2017 VW Golf Alltrack (wagon) in SEL trim. Only about 5,000 miles on it now and it's been in for a repair (unsuccessful) already. It has an annoying rattling sound from the front driver's side; sounds like suspension issue to me. It comes and goes and is especially notable on bumpy roads. But it handles well. Mechanic said it was the dirt shield in the wheel well and tightened it (?). He admitted the noise was still there but couldn't do anything about it. Now going to take it to a different VW dealer (an hour's drive). The electronics are horrible; the GPS is the worst I've ever had and rarely leads me in the correct direction, the Bluetooth is slow and glitchy and often doesn't understand verbal commands, had a few electronics glitches that seemed to have worked themselves out. The handling is nice and sporty, engine is o.k., transmission (dual-clutch) was initially jerky at slow speeds, but now has smoothened out and is pretty good (better than most CVT's and those horrible Chrysler 9-speed trannies). Comfort and upscale appearance is nice. Very little storage room (cubbies, etc.) and the headlights do not look far enough down the road so nighttime driving is scary. I don't know about long-term reliability, but will probably unload this car when close to warranty being up.

one thing to consider is that the golf r is built in Germany whereas the rest of the mk7 golf models are built in Mexico. you can verify this on the sticker just inside the driver's side door sill. i'm not sure how much this matters, to be quite fair, but i have noticed a difference in build quality between my wife's 2017 golf sportwagen and my (much older) 2010 mk6 gti. the mk6 gti still feels more put-together than my wife's mk7 sportwagen and hasn't had many issues even when compared to the general trend of mk6 gtis (especially the 2010 model year).

my mk6 gti was built in germany (VWAG transitioned the manufacturing of the GTIs back to mexico for the mk7 platform). i do believe that the german built vehicles have a more consistent/better build quality than their mexican-built counterparts, so the golf r should perform better in the long run over the other mk7 golf models based on this very anecdotal observation. it's obviously not a guarantee, but that's what i beleive.

The golf R will still have Direct Injected issues (carbon build-up, misfires, etc.) after 40-50k miles, but this is not a VW-specific issue. BMW, ford, and other brands using Direct Injection (especially turbo DI) will have long-term problems related to carbon build-up.

I have a 2017 GTI sport with 6 speed manual transmission. It's generally been good, but I had to replace the clutch at 17K miles. (Sorry, not operator error -- first time I've had to replace a clutch since I began driving manual transmission cars in 1985.) The dealer repaired the car under warranty (invoice says "release bearing is sporadically applying pressure to the pressure plate and causing the clutch disk to slip"). I have heard stories of others having clutch slip issues inside the warranty period, but not getting repairs since it's considered a wear item.

I've also noticed a few odd sporadic things, like the ventilation not working correctly once, or the entertainment system jamming a few times -- both fixed by "rebooting" the car, i.e. turning everything off and restarting. (Ventilation apparently not mechanically controlled, even though it's manual). Nothing too serious.

Generally it's a quality car that seems extremely well built (I disagree with the earlier comment about Mexican build quality -- there may be differences between cars built in Europe vs. Mexico due to different suppliers, but I don't think you can say the European ones are better.) But it also seems complex, so not sure how well it will hold up over the years.

The Golf R is more complicated than the GTI Sport, with more systems that can go wrong. My guess is that it's a great car for 5 years, and who knows what happens after that.