At tick-over, a deep bass rumble from the exhaust mixes harmoniously with the gentle sound of honed combustion. A simple blip of the throttle at a standstill causes the engine to rock gently on its mountings, which sends a shiver of excitement through the chassis and up the driver's spine. There's an innate sense of potency that's missing in the 2.8-liter Golf VR6.
Clear of traffic, it's obvious VW's engineers spent considerable time and energy honing the R32's throttle response. The first couple of inches of travel provoke a hearty bellow from the exhaust and a determined assault on the horizon. This was always going to be the VW's trump card when compared with the competition's turbo motors, and it has been played to full effect.
The 3.2 liters of grunt is offset to some extent by the VW's mass. At 3,256 pounds, the lardy Golf weighs 171 pounds more than a WRX, which keeps it from impressing our radar gun.
So did the precious new clutch. Our stock, Euro-spec R32 test car, the prized possession of Neuspeed, was the only one of its kind in America during our test, so smoking the clutch or damaging driveline bits were not options. With a conservative launch, Neuspeed's R32 managed a 0 to 60 mph run of 6.5 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 14.8 seconds at 93.8 mph. This is a strong performance, but it's nowhere near the 14.1-second quarter-mile time we've run with some well-practiced clutchwork in a stock WRX.
In the real world, however, the stopwatch differences pale into insignificance compared with the varying nature of the joyous power delivery and the aural entertainment. The noisy Golf can be slightly boomy and wearing on a highway, but it's never less than unerringly smooth. The bass rumble at low revs, melts into a glorious alto crescendo before the soft 7000-rpm rev limiter stops the fun. It has all the cultured refinement you'd expect of a powerplant that was originally designed for a $75,000 sedan.
Still, the car should be more fun. Just when you think Volkswagen has rekindled the magic of the Golf GTi MKII, the car goes into denial. The principle culprit is the steering, which is a bit numb. The weight bears little relation to what's going on under the wheels and understeer is announced by the shifting scenery, rather than any tactile sensation.
The throttle and brake pedals also have a mushy consistency that's the enemy of measured progress and it's much too easy to activate the anti-lock braking system, especially in the wet. The shocks, too, seem ill-equipped to control the heavy body with the reduced travel of the R32's lowered suspension. The firm controlled ride decays into a bucking, bobbing mess if undulations are hit at speed.
After a few miles, however, you learn to trust the R32's reactions and to appreciate that its limits are actually very high indeed. There is some throttle adjustability, but it's far more failsafe than anything rally-bred. It takes considerable provocation to get the rear wheels out of line (like the handbrake, which conveniently disengages the rear drive for effective wheel lockup), and even if you do manage a slide, the heavy nose will always end up pointing forward in the end.
Still, the R32 is a massive improvement on the GTi, aesthetically, aurally and dynamically. It suggests that at long last, VW is once more serious about its sports cars. If you value style and straight-line thrust, the most powerful.
Golf ever built, which will reach American VW dealers this summer, is certainly for you.