CSF Aluminium Radiator – Volkswagen Golf R

The MQB platform in the Golf R can generate huge amounts of power—and there’s an almost 30% increase to be had when you start making alterations to intakes, exhausts, intercoolers and software. But with such an intense focus on these areas as a way of improving your engine output, it’s easy to forget about the factory water cooling system.

And that makes sense. It often seems like a far less exciting prospect than what can be achieved with intakes, exhausts, intercoolers and software. And it’s also not often very visible either.

So it may seem like a boring part of your car that doesn’t really deserve much attention. But the truth is that without a good water cooling system in place, you’re missing out on potential gains.

The factory radiator on the Golf R is often found to be struggling to remove heat from the engine coolant and exhaust gas heat. Commonly, logged temperatures are found to be much higher than are indicated by the dashboard gauge – with an increase of +20c being common.

High engine oil temperature is also experienced during spirited driving, as there is no oil cooler fitted to the Golf R as standard. This means that the already-stressed water radiator has more work to do than it was designed for.

Let’s take a look at the stock cooler… 

The Stock Cooler: