There’s a pleasingly mechanical feel to changes, but our test car suffered from a baulky third to fourth shift that required repeated exposure and patience to bypass.’

The engine responds crisply enough, mind, with a gutsy mid-range and enough bite at the top end to make visits to the red line worthwhile. But James isn’t wholly convinced: ‘It’s a shame that Race mode adds a horrible droning bassiness to proceedings. But start to go faster and it begins to make sense.’Ĭertainly does. It feels eerie at first, with the rear sashaying around just a fraction of a second behind your instructions to the steering. ‘It’s all down to that four-wheel-steer system, which has the ability to generate outrageous grip and agility. ‘It drives well, but you’ve got to be prepared to relearn the way you approach corners,’ he says. I’ve advanced my defence for the Mégane and James seems largely to agree, but there are caveats. As fast as it is, you aren’t gratified all that often with some proper excitement.’ ‘Yes, driven aggressively, it comes alive more often, but it’s difficult to maintain such levels of commitment on the road. But these moments aren’t that frequent, and, even more frustratingly, they aren’t repeatable – you see a corner approaching that you think it’s going to come alive around, but instead it just turns and grips, dispatching the bend with ruthless efficiency. It enters a corner on its nose, all skittish and lively, then, as you get on the throttle, you feel the rear tyres driving the back end round.

Will Beaumont nails exactly why: ‘There are moments in the VW where you witness its genius.

There are good times to be had in the Golf R, but it’s the first of our hatches to step onto the podium.

Rs3 auto typer