I drove the new Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years – it’s an instant classic

THE Golf name will continue in the brave new electric world.

It has to. Volkswagen is Golf.

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But there will never be another one as good as this. This is the limited-run Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years, celebrating 20 years of the practical performance car.

Or the ordinary extraordinary, if you like a play on words.

The regular Golf GTI is the jewel in the Golf crown. Has been since the Seventies.

The Golf R is for people who want that bit more – spicier performance and the grip of four-wheel drive.

The Golf R 20 goes further, hiking power to 333hp – up 13hp – and adding drift mode as standard.

It is the most potent Volkswagen ever.

Yet still as stealthy as ever.

No “look-at-me” stick-on rear wing or flared arches, just blue wheels if you want them and discreet 20 badging on the door frames.

Drive it normally and you’ll blend in with the world around you.

Five seats, decent boot, rock-solid family motor that does everything brilliantly well. It’s a Golf, innit.

But when the time is right you’ve got a missile at your fingertips.

Press the little “R” button on the steering wheel, everything tightens, and go.

This thing is bullet-fast, super-grippy and keeps pushing all the way up to 168mph. You’ll blink before the car does.

The 2-litre turbo and seven-speed DSG are tighter than Ant and Dec.

Ride and handling are razor-sharp.

And it sounds so, so good.

Something called R-Performance Torque Vectoring not only manages power between the front and rear axles, but also between the two rear wheels.

Up to 100 per cent of available torque can be directed to the rear wheel on the outside of a bend, reducing understeer and making you look like a pro.

Forty-odd years of engineering excel-lence have been poured into this car and you can feel it.

Business as usual inside. Top notch. Even the door pockets are carpeted. Although we could all live without the naff touch-slider controls.

Now we come to the other sticky bit, the price. It’s £48k. Jeez, that’s a lot of money for a Golf. Even for an instant classic.

Actually, wait.

Maybe there will be one last special Golf R? To celebrate 25 years? But nothing significantly better than this.

Either way, Golf R 20 will be one of the last everyday heroes without a plug.

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