Volkswagen Golf R Estate Performance Pack 2018 first drive

Volkswagen claims this is the sharpest-handling version of a deceptively quick, tremendously practical car that’s relatively affordable. It should therefore prove a desirable device indeed.

What we have here is the Mk7.5 Golf R Estate equipped with the Performance Pack. It’s an optional extra that costs £2300 and is already available on the hatchback. Included are 19in ‘Spielberg’ alloy wheels that replace the 18in ‘Cadiz’ items of the standard car and a new, lighter ‘R-Performance’ brake set-up with silver calipers, more on which in a moment. Aesthetically, there are no other changes, and the R remains a car whose performance is smuggly incongruous with its unimaginative design.

In terms of hardware, it’s also business as usual, VW’s flexible EA888 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine driving all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox (there has never been a manual option for the estate R) and a Haldex multi-plate clutch. Volkswagen's electronic 'differentials' are nothing of the sort and instead manage the transverse distribution of torque on each axle via the brakes. 

As with the GTI, suspension is by MacPherson struts at the front axle and there’s a multi-link set-up at the rear. Our test car is fitted with £850 DCC adaptive dampers, which operate through four modes ranging from Comfort to Race, with an Individual setting in which their firmness – along with parameters for the steering weight, engine response and so on – can be selected to taste.

Soon to be sliver slower than before, presumably. One side effect of getting this engine to conform to new WTLP emissions regulations is a slight slump in power – from 306bhp down to an original, pre-facelift 296bhp. A more restrictive exhaust set-up designed to reduce nitrogen oxide levels is to blame. Fair cop.

Those modified engines aren't quite here yet, though, and even when they do arrive, we doubt the R will feel any less subliminally, bewilderingly quick in the real world. It's the type of car in which overtaking requires little or no preparation and then it’s done. The official 0-62mph time is 4.8sec, but it’s the engine’s mid-range, in-gear tractability – not to mention 280lb ft of torque between 2000 and 5400rpm – that makes for such effortless, flowing cross-country pace.     

And when it comes to speed, Performance Pack Rs have a further trick up their sleeve. Wring one out in sixth or seventh and where the electronic limiter would normally bring proceedings to an abrupt-ish halt at 155mph, the car will continue to pull onwards – not that we put this to test out on the open road. Top speed has been increased to 168mph – 2mph more than the hatchback, which features a downforce-inducing rear spoiler not fitted to the estate. It makes this unassuming estate the fastest Golf money can buy.