What is it?

Sister car to the Golf R, the 261bhp Scirocco R is VW’s fastest front driver and the flagship of the coupe range. Prices start at £28,295.

Technical highlights?

The engine’s already familiar from the Golf R (where it has another 5bhp) and Leon Cupra R, but there are two other features worth mentioning: ACC and XDS. The former is Adaptive Chassis Control, affects the ride and works very well, the latter brakes an inside wheel to reduce torque steer, understeer and tries to mimic an LSD. It doesn’t work so well.

What’s it like to drive?

Good, but not quite great. It’s a lovely car to live with, civilised and harmonious. The engine isn’t quite as raspily tuneful here as in the Leon Cupra R, but it’s just as effective at delivering creamy, constant urge with a tinge of aural enticement. The manual gearbox could do with a tighter, shorter shift.

Although ACC offers three modes, Normal strikes a very good balance between cosset and control. Comfort allows a touch too much damper travel, but Sport is fine when you’re pressing on – it makes the Scirocco R feel nicely taut. It corners eagerly and even brings the rear into play a little (especially when the tyres are cold I found out…), and if you keep your inputs smooth it’ll carry loads of speed through and out of corners.

But it neither enjoys nor rewards being taken by the scruff of the neck and hurled along. It tries to stay with you, but the steering doesn’t have such a crisp, feelsome connection with the front end as you’d hope and on wet roads at least you quickly trigger the electronic intervention. Even with the ESP switched off the XDS still grabs a wheel to stop it spinning; this in itself isn’t undesirable, but it makes you aware the Scirocco R isn’t quite the real deal – it’s still a little artificial. With a proper diff, it really could be quite special.

How does it compare?

Picking rivals is tricky. It’s not going to offer you the same options and entertainment through a corner as a Nissan 370Z, and doesn’t have the hardcore front end feel of a Ford Focus RS. It’s closest natural rival is probably the Renaultsport Megane 250 - which does have a proper diff and is more fun to punt along. The Golf R with 4wd is arguably a more interesting car, too.

Anything else I need to know?

It’s five grand more than the £23,540 2.0 TSI GT and although it comes across as a touch more alert and precisely engineered, I’m not sure I’d spend the extra cash.