You’re looking at a survivor. In a car market quick to guillotine anything that doesn’t sell in big numbers, the Golf R Estate appears to be clinging on. The estate in general, in fact – in both standard and R form, it accounts for just five per cent of Golf sales. But whereas ‘regular’ buyers have cheerfully clambered up into a Tiguan (now the biggest selling VW globally), the same isn’t true of R buyers. The third-gen Tiggy won’t get a performance variant and the T-Roc R remains a modest seller.

R hot hatches aren’t, though. VW has shifted a quarter of a million R-badged Golfs since the launch of the Mk4 R32, of which 50,000 have been lapped up by British buyers. We’re one of the most rapacious markets for the feistiest Golf, no doubt catalysed by those early £30k Mk7s and their giveaway lease deals. The shift upmarket with the Mk8 doesn’t appear to have dimmed its appeal but if you’re worried it’s no longer our little secret, cheap monthlies elevating it into the mainstream, then maybe this much rarer estate can still be driven with a knowing tap of the nose. 

The Mk8 facelift brings a 13hp uplift in power, to 333hp, plus some very nerdy powertrain tweaks such as 100rpm-later upshifts in the Comfort parameter of its seven-speed DSG. There’s also tidied-up interior ergonomics, starring a more responsive touchscreen that’s flanked (via a £790 options box tick) by lots of carbon trim. Its matt finish keeps it classy and while it’s arguably overkill on a Golf, some visual clout feels vital to battle the AMGs and RSs of the hyper hatch sector.

Prices start at £45,295, representing a £1,400 hike over the Golf R hatch for another 355mm in length, most of it in a luggage bay which now offers 611 litres of volume with the rear seats up versus the five-door’s 341. It’s also 73kg heavier, for a 1.6-tonne total with a driver on board. Its 4.8-second sprint to 62mph sits two-tenths behind the hatch but they share a top speed (optionally 168mph) and their fuel economy figures are a hair’s breadth apart.

Yet it’s cheaper, quicker and more practical than the ID.3 GTX while over £15k less than an ID.7 GTX Tourer with similar boot capacity. Not that I’m here to wantonly bash EVs – they have their place – this is merely a lesson in how great a finely tuned petrol performance car still looks on paper. Even if it can still swiftly transform into a fifty-grand car with a brief tour of the options, some of which should arguably be standard. 

The DCC damping that helps give the R its dynamic breadth is a £720 extra. More complex yet is acquiring the Drift and Special modes (and higher top speed) of its R Performance Pack, a slightly convoluted process on the configurator where it’s a no-cost option triggered by going for £1,095 19-inch Warmenau alloy wheels, though they’re at least forged for a mite more focus.

Narrow, grimy roads in the middle of Warwickshire aren’t exactly the place to prove its drifting capability, but it’s a great chance to reappraise this car as the all-weather weapon 4WD Golfs always billed themselves as. My first impression is that it’s nice to have an engine, and the EA888 Evo4 that once felt insatiable now has a pleasing fallibility to it against the onslaught of electrification. Its slight turbo lag eases you into the process of driving the most powerful production Golf yet, those first few millimetres of throttle travel and milliseconds of response presenting a moment of calm you’ll learn to savour.

Not that it’s slow. At all. The revs soon soar and you’re punching through the next gear with the R’s nicely elongated paddles; pick the right drive mode and they’ll even let you brush the limiter. Their tactility goes some way to make up for a steering wheel that still uses unergonomic glossy pads rather than the updated GTI’s buttons. It’s a nice seven-speed ‘box, though, and it encourages use of those paddles whenever you’re driving with even moderate haste. Scant hardware tweaks mean it’s still a touch short on character at low speed and those who prefer their hot hatches to bubble with potential might be left a little miffed in the Golf’s comfier settings. Less of an issue here in the Estate, where rivals are conspicuous by their absence, but this remains a car where you must prod away to find its magic. To dig for its gold.

It’s almighty once you do. Ramped up into Sport, Race or a finely chosen Individual setup, the engine is a star, hardening and rasping with the revs it really encourages. And the 4Motion simply claws away at damp autumnal roads. The rear axle only starts to play with the driver’s coaxing, but it’s happy to get involved and the Mk8’s rear torque vectoring imbues it with pleasing precision. You feel the rear begin to rotate while the car still propels forward with pure purpose, Drift mode redundant. The wagon feels little worse off for its extra length and mass.

There’s real depth to its DCC, too. Its 15 settings are spread differently to a GTI Clubsport’s (at least in name) with Comfort, Sport and Race punctuating its on-screen blobs. Crank the car right up and it’s never belligerent. It’s obviously firmer, adopting that swagger other hot hatches demonstrate from a standstill, but it never skips over surfaces or dramatically sniffs out camber. 

Whisper it, but I like the enhanced interior Race sound too, which increases your interaction with the car and platforms that trademark EA888 rasp without being an annoying caricature. Less credit is owed to the separate exterior sound options within the sub-menu. My drive takes me past sporadic horse riders – indeed great British back roads are often punctuated by road users on a saddle of some kind – thus the idea of deliberately ramping up the car’s din for onlookers seems terribly gauche. It’s probably more for an urban setting. And I’m probably not its intended audience…

And the interior? Here’s where all Mk8s dropped the ball at launch, but while VW hasn’t been able to transform the setup, some subtle tweaks have gone a very long way to making it all much easier to use, particularly on the move. The touchscreen is massive but positioned well, easily operated and it allows swift deactivation of the speed limit, lane keep and even ESC, the latter tucked behind a lot of button presses when the Mk8 debuted. Not a lot of cars’ stability systems go (theoretically) all the way off, so bravo for VW for still allowing it and for making it jolly easy.

A slight duff note is struck by the many digital dial layouts. Choice is great, and exactly what this tech should offer to warrant its place over old analogue setups (you listening, BMW?). But many of them are plain and uninteresting while the one with the big central rev counter – the one you want – tucks the speed readout too subtly at the bottom of the screen. Fine on track; a pain on road. You’ll end up sticking to the two big round dials, somewhat undermining the whole point.

Pernickety, yes, but I need to be when the rest of the car is so crushingly competent. In the 50th year of the Golf here’s one that sits slap bang in the middle of its Venn diagram of possibilities: four-wheel drive, flexible estate body, the bougiest trim and the pokiest engine. It’s one of the costliest ever too, of course, but you can still get one for around £400 a month and if those production stats are to be believed, you won’t frequently see another.

Sure, it needs options lavishing on it to feel truly special, but specced well it’ll take whatever abuse you throw at it – be it family life, a dusty tip run or a blast along a crummy road with the DCC ramped up – feeling unflappable the whole time. It is, after all, a survivor.

Engine: 1,984cc, four-cyl turbo
Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 333@5,600-6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 310@2,100-5,500rpm
0-62mph: 4.8 seconds
Top speed: 155mph (optionally 168mph)
Weight: 1,621kg (unladen, with driver)
MPG: 34.6 (WLTP)
CO2: 185g/km (WLTP)
Price: from £45,295