While enthusiasts' desires are tempered a bit right now by economic reality, there are still some fabulous performance cars on the market. Irish buyers tend to veer toward hot hatches, as they're relatively affordable and practical despite giant-slaying performance. Once upon a time all hot hatches were comparable, but now there's a range of options, from the likes of the warm (but still great) Suzuki Swift Sport to the bonkers stuff like Ford's Focus RS and the new Audi RS 3.
Then there's the Volkswagen Golf R. It doesn't immediately stand out, despite the bright blue paintwork on our test car, the distinctive centrally-mounted exhaust pipes and the 19-inch alloys. That's a good thing we reckon. Under the bonnet is 'only' a 2.0-litre TSI petrol engine, but it's been boosted to 270hp, with a chunky 350Nm of torque as well.
Bare performance stats are impressive enough (0-100km/h in 5.5 seconds with the DSG transmission and a top speed of 250km/h), but it's the all-round competence of the Golf R that struck me.
It doesn't feel any different to the (much cheaper) Golf GTI at normal speeds, which is to say it's lovely. Although we'd have liked more equipment as standard there's a real sense of quality in the way the Golf goes about its business.
Then I decided to take the car up the Wicklow Mountains to some of the most challenging roads in the country. On top of that it was lashing rain. Turns out the Golf R has a spectacularly good chassis. Unsurprisingly, ride comfort is not quite as cushioning as in our Golf BlueMotion long term test car, but it's not unrefined either. In return body control is exceptional, even under duress.
In the dry, there's little to choose between the GTI and the R, but when the road is wet the GTI driver will be wondering which way the Golf R went. Yes, it really is that good. That's thanks to the 4Motion four-wheel drive system. Yet it never feels like a four-wheel drive car. However, you soon learn that you can use all the engine's power on the exit of the tightest corners without fear of understeer. Power is diverted to the rear wheels and it powers out in a fuss-free, rapid manner. It's pretty fool-proof, though it's still huge fun. Admittedly the Focus RS feels more fun more of the time, but the Golf R will appeal to a very different buyer - and the Focus is no longer in production.
Obviously, with a starting price not far off €50,000 there won't be many Golf Rs on the road... And if you can afford to pay that (when a GTI starts at €34,000), then you probably won't care that we used over 20 litres/100km of fuel while 'playing' in the mountains.