Long-term test: Volkswagen Golf R

So, I’m really intrigued to live with the newly updated Mk8.5 for the next few months. My life has transformed since that fast and furious Christmas of 2015; with a young daughter in tow, I’ve now got my reservations about whether or not the Golf will be big enough for our needs – a big ask, following on from a BMW 5 Series Touring.

Another area I’m looking forward to unpicking is the latest Golf’s cabin. There was plenty of furore when the eighth-generation car launched in 2020, with complaints about quality and the clucky user interface, some of which the company claims to have fixed for this facelifted model. There’s still a lot of touch-sensitive surfaces, but the whole thing feels reasonably well screwed together.

So it should; our car is the all-singing, all-dancing Golf R Black Edition, priced at an eye-watering £53,845 including options. And yes, I know it’s white – maybe that’s a conversation topic for a future report –  but there are plenty of dark details that mark it out from the regular car. 

Included in the standard kit list are the black 19-inch Estoril alloy wheels, black mirror caps, black strips on the radiator grille and headlights, black brake callipers and black badges. This flagship model also gets its electronic speed limiter removed, meaning, in theory, it can hit 168mph flat out.

On top of all that, my car has almost £7,000 of options, including an upgraded Akrapovic exhaust system, a panoramic tilt-and-slide sunroof, and adaptive chassis control. I’m also making good use of the area-view 360-degree cameras when parking. Given the choice, I’d probably not spend £810 on ‘carbon decorative inserts’, although they do look smart.