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Fancy a Golf GTI but wish it had near-as-dammit as much power going through its front wheels as the Golf R puts through all four? Then good news! Volkswagen will be showing off just such a car at the famed Worthersee festival next week, and this one is not just a concept (as so many Worthersee cars are) - you'll actually be able to buy one.
A quick What's Worthersee guide; what was originally a weekend get-together for Golf GTI fans has ballooned to a massive car-fest, covering all the Volkwagen Group brands, at which more than 125,000 people are expected to attend. It takes place in the eponymous little Austrian town, Reifnitz am Worthersee, and has become so important to Volkswagen fans that Volkswagen now effectively treats it like a mini-Geneva motor show.
And the hot Golf? It's called the Golf GTI TCR, named after the TCR racing version which has been developed for the new global touring car TCR standard, designed to be a cheaper and more accessible form of racing. To celebrate Volkswagen's involvement in this series, and to give the seventh-generation Golf a good old send-off, the GTI TCR has been created with 290hp from its 2.0-litre TSI turbo engine going through the front wheels.
It also pokes 370Nm of torque through those front tyres, which are driven via a seven-speed DSG gearbox. Think of the TCR as an update of the supercar-slaying GTI Clubsport S and you won't be far wrong.
Top speed is normally 250km/h but for a little extra cash Volkswagen will take off the limiter and let it run out to its natural maximum of 264km/h - perfect for those early-morning Autobahn commutes. In fact, Volkswagen claims that this road car is actually about as fast as the full-on racing car, which just sounds like GTI music to our ears.
It'll be the ultimate farewell to the seventh-generation of the Golf GTI, which has seen the badge pass the 2.2 million sales mark since it was first introduced in 1975. Not bad for a car that was only supposed to sell 5,000 units originally...