Interestingly though, Jimbo, I'd imagine that you might be in a better position to buy this car than almost anyone else on here.

I wasn't arguing for a moment that anyone spending £40k on a car would end up driving a "low spec nasty shit box"; but conversely, my amazement is that it is possible to buy a VW Golf for that much money at all, regardless of a couple of grand in servicing and warranty (which presumably would be largely void if you did modify it). I think it's quite ironic that the Scirocco of similar spec should be cheaper, as lower down the range I've always seen it as a slightly premium product over its 4-door brother.

I am quite sure that everything about the "R" is splendid - it bloody well ought to be! However, it is a Golf and when you specified your replacement for the Scirocco (how did that get resolved by the way?), I'm guessing you saw it as a step up?

Great debate!

I guess the R is a premium model Jim with everything thrown at it.

I know what you mean, it's an awful lot of cash for is a Golf but there's a lot of tech gone into it from the wheels up, it doesn't share much with the standard golf.

The Golf main rival is the Merc A45 AMG with a starting price of almost £38k, spec it up and you'll be in the mid to high 40's for a car that performs the same as the Golf, has a cabin the same as the Golf but has a different badge on the front.

The merc has a hand built engine and +60 hp doesnt it?

It's great that the humble 4 pot 2.0 turbo is now able to run a reliable, warrantied 350+ hp out of the box. Shows the direction of development is going the right for a petrol head, even if you do pay for it in a shopping trolley!