► Month eight with the VW Golf R
► We hit the track to exploit its performance
► Unexpected damper issues are the hot topic
I felt like I’d been scratching at the Golf’s abilities on the road, so I booked onto a Gold Track trackday at Silverstone, and arrived full of anticipation.
Gold Trackers don’t muck about: there were several Porsche 911 GT3 RSs in attendance, a Cayman GT4, a brace of Ferrari Speciales… Naturally, I had unrealistic fantasies of overtaking them on the outside at Club, nipping up the inside at Becketts. Sadly, it wasn’t to be… a veil of fog had descended over Silverstone, and after we’d hung around until midday waiting for race control’s all-clear, Gold Track decided it wiser to cancel the event and let everyone re-book.
A handful of laps at Rockingham during a recent photo shoot helped make up for the disappointment. It was dry, I had the track to myself, perfect… except one thing: when the Golf was reprogrammed to work with new keys after being briefly pinched a short while back, it returned stuck in what feels like the middle adaptive-damper setting. It rides acceptably if firmer than I remember, and the steering has less assistance too.
Still, it was an enjoyable few laps. The Golf is quick, agile and sure-footed on track. You can feel the ESP-based torque vectoring subtly tweaking the nose into bends. The all-wheel drive is quick to act and prevents the kind of front-tyre bonfires I suffered in my last long-termer – the slightly less powerful Leon 280 Cupra – at this very circuit. It won’t drift on the power like we’ve heard a Focus RS will, but it’s happy to dance if you throw it at a fast corner fast enough.
But I do think it needs that firmest damper setting: it just felt too soft through tricky direction changes. The brakes, too, were smoking like a Filipino school kid. I’d need an upgrade to sort that, but hopefully unlocking those dampers will make it much more engaging on track.
I’ll be getting that sorted soon, after which I’m planning another track outing…
From the driving seat
+ Bags of traction courtesy of Haldex awd, but turn-in agility too thanks to clever ESP tuning
– Plenty of performance but our Seat Cupra 280 felt stronger with less
Logbook: Volkswagen Golf R
Engine: 1984cc 16v turbocharged four-cylinder, 296bhp @ 5500rpm, 280lb ft @ 1800rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive
Stats: 5.3sec 0-62mph, 155mph, 39.8mpg, 165g/km CO2
Price: £31,475
As tested: £35,640
Miles this month: 1586
Total miles: 8733
Our mpg: 30.1
Official mpg: 39.8
Fuel this month: £281.54
Extra costs: £0
