Good Cop Bad Cop

The question in hand now is: Is it suitable to wear a plain white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers and carry a bag pack to go with the Volkswagen Golf R? Or is it more appropriate to have a full on race suit that's hardcore enough to be in the top-of-the-line Golf?

The thing about a car like the S$223,300 (as of 8^th May 2014), 280bhp Golf R is that hardly anyone will need to buy it. With other cheaper and no less competent cars around, the world around such mega hatches will still carry on rotating unaffectedly even if the Golf R was wiped out of Volkswagen's price list overnight.

But yet, for some inexplicable reason, when it comes to wanting the Golf R, the attraction and attention it has on us purists are about as powerful and passionate as it gets.

For you see, the Golf R is one achingly desirable machine in its own right for various reasons. It could easily be the halo hatch if there ever was one. Being the top-of-the-line Golf, it gets away with an extreme look, too. You could almost believe the car comes with a roll cage, a four-point harness and probably a pain in the neck just by looking at it. Or you may as well even dress up in a racing suit, gloves and a helmet just to look normal in the car.

Well, admittedly, the suspension feels stiffer than that of the standard Golf but it still rides with a soothing German-like precision and glides with a luxury Japan-like car. Its steering also retains the lovely fluidity that we have come to know from the Mk7 GTI.

The Golf R, as you can imagine, boasts 280bhp from its 2.0-litre in-line four (that's 60bhp more than the already sizzling Golf GTI and 24bhp more than the previous Golf R). It is, on the face of it, very much suitable for a hardcore track day session - almost the kind of car with compromised refinement that requires you to tolerate it on the way to the circuit.
But in reality, the Golf R, in spite of its biggish 18-inch wheels, huge air intakes, aggressive side skirts and menacing quad tailpipes, is nothing of that sort. Not even the leather-upholstered bucket seats are kidney-crunching enough to scare off the regular drivers. The spruced up variant, as it turns out, is every bit as usable as the regular Golf hatchback.

Plus, with the dual-clutch six-speed automatic gearbox that can swop gears faster and more efficiently than any purist can with three pedals and a gear lever, it remains as one of the most appealing methods of driving if you have this much money to spend on an everyday hot hatch.

While this may make the Golf R appear to target rather different kinds of customers, it's quite the contrary in reality. This ultra hot hatch appeals to a similar kind of audience - the kind of drivers who are wealthy in the pocket, healthy in the mind and don't mind taking a drive across the border to do the odd track day but also want a car that's usable on the public road. You could call it a toy for the boy who has more money than honey.

But before we go any further with the subjective impressions, let's be clear about one thing: there is nothing embarrassing about being seen driving this car. It makes such a delicious and classy exhaust note, particularly when the throttle is introduced to hard driving, that you hardly want to climb out of the car to tell people this car doesn't belong to you. The best part of the Golf R is that you can calm the car right down by cutting some slack on your throttle inputs.

But you can't do that in, say, an F-Type. That car is either deafening or just plain loud. So much so that when you fire up the engine, you'll undoubtedly and unwantedly wake up the whole block of HDB flat. Of course the depth of noise is outstanding, but it's equally embarrassing.

So back to the topic: Does this make it suitable to wear a plain white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers and carry a bag pack to go with the Golf R? Or is it more appropriate to have a full on race suit that's hardcore enough to be in the top-of-the-line Golf?

We say both are just fine. Not just in an unstoppable and unreserved approach but also in a manner of conviction that will remind you and me that the Golf R, with its raw emotions and hyperactive propensity for road rage, is a car for everyone.