First Drive: Volkswagen Golf R Estate

You guys really like the Golf R, right?

You're right, we do. Like, really like it. It won a place in the final five of our annual Performance Car of The Year shootout last year, where it proved itself a more manageable, more entertaining road car than even a BMW M4. Then it stole Top Gear Hot Hatch of The Year from the rather excellent Audi S1. So, yeah ­ you could say that.

And what's this? An estate?

It most certainly is. Identical to the hatch in almost every respect (bar the boot, obviously), the R wagon has a modified version of the turbocharged EA888 2.0-litre TSI from the Golf GTI. With a little under 296bhp, it's a touch more powerful than the Seat Leon Cupra ST (276bhp), and vastly more so than anything else even remotely comparably sized or priced from the likes of Ford, Peugeot or Renault.

And all that power isn't the result of a trick map. That VW thought it necessary to upgrade the cylinder head, turbocharger, springs, pistons and heaps else besides shows it's prepared to put a bit of extra work in. This is not merely some pumped-up GTI. And speaking of the GTI. Why wagon-ise the R, and not the GTI? A bit too iconic, apparently. Nice move VW. Imagine the uproar...

I assume it's just as quick?

Pretty much. The DSG-only Wagon hits 62mph in 5.1 seconds - 0.2 seconds slower than a DSG hatch. Like the hatch, you're limited to 155mph top-end, though VW says it's seen 165mph in testing. There¹s a surfeit of grip on offer thanks to the Haldex four-wheel-drive system, which can channel every single one of those 296 horsepowers to the rear wheels if it so chooses. A devastatingly quick cross-country tool is what VW created with the normal R, and the Wagon is no different.

So, is it as good as the hatch?

Nearly. It's carrying a 79 extra kilos around, so it's maybe two per cent less wieldy than the hatch (even though VW's beefed up the rear springs to cope), but we wouldn't worry. It still feels like a quality product: the DSG 'box swaps cogs quickly and decisively and the steering is pointy and precise enough. Lay off the power midway through a bend, and there's much fun to be had as the rear swings round. It's good. Very good.

But knock it down into Normal, and it does the day-to-day stuff as well as you'd expect from a Golf.

And it's more useful, right?

A normal Golf is not an impractical thing, but the estate is usefully bigger. There's 1620-litres of bootspace if you flatten the seats, which is more than you get in a Volvo V70. Elsewhere, the wagon has the same interior as the hatch, so it feels, looks and works well.

How much more money is it?

A really rather reasonable ￡695 more than a DSG hatch. Not bad, considering it transforms one of our favourite hatches into one of the biggest estates south of a Mercedes E-Class.

However, a few weeks ago, we drove the Seat Leon Cupra ST. It's front-wheel drive only and a bit down on power, but you can have a manual 'box. And here's the kicker:­ at ￡28,505, it's ￡5,000 less than the ￡33,585 Golf. Is it a five-grand-less car? We'll let you know.