Volkswagen Golf R Estate 2022 UK first drive

If the Volkswagen Golf R was a fictional character rather than a fast family car, it would have to be some kind of Marvel’s Avenger. It does everything. It’s fast. It’s fun. It handles. It’s adult-four-seater practical but doddle-to-park compact. It’s got four-wheel drive usability. And yet the Volkswagen is not so performance-focussed that you’d ever think twice about using it for daily driving.

It’s even desirable, though a little bit understated with it. Special both on the ear and the eye if you know where to look, but capable of avoiding unwanted attention when you would prefer.

Adding an estate derivative to the Golf R lineup therefore makes a lot of sense for VW, since it brings even more practicality and usability into the above equation without really detracting from any of the car’s other qualities. It’s something that VW did for the mk VI and VII Volkswagen Golf ranges, and has just done for the Volkswagen Golf mk VIII.

The car’s mechanical makeup changes only in the fine detail in the transformation from hatch to wagon. The R Estate uses the same 315bhp, 2.0-litre turbo engine and hydraulically-controlled four-wheel drive system as the regular Golf R, and has the same uprated suspension and brake hardware that made the hatchback slightly wider-tracked, firmer-sprung and keener-handling than the previous version. Because it’s longer, the estate has a slightly more even weight distribution and therefore has its own suspension settings, but they are only very slightly different from those of the five-door.

You get VW’s torque-vectoring active rear differential as standard (although only the car’s special ‘drift’ driving mode if you option up the £2095 R Performance pack). A ‘progressive’ steering system is standard-fit, whose gearing quickens as you add lock; DCC adaptive dampers are optional (which our test car had); and 19in wheels with semi-slick trackday tyres are likewise optional (although if you stick with the standard 18s, VW will supply the car on winter tyres instead if you prefer).

VW has made a better fist of the R Estate’s design this time around, without totally nailing the end result. The funny proportions of the mk VII Golf R wagon have, at least, been banished. Unlike its predecessor, the mk VIII has a longer wheelbase and longer rear side doors than its hatchback relation, so its extended rear overhang doesn’t look quite so conspicuous as the last version’s did. The Golf’s stubby, high bonnet means this car is never going to look classically handsome; but the bigger problem is that VW’s design language for the current Golf model generation is just a bit too shapeless and derivative, in this tester’s view, to conjure much visual identity or kerbside appeal for the R.