Finally here was a Golf with real fire in its belly, closer in concept to an Impreza STi or Evo, but after seven months behind the wheel I've come to the conclusion that the R32 exists in its own unique slot - somewhere between Evo and ΃¼ber-hatch.

Its 3.2-litre engine is good for 240bhp at 6250rpm and 236lb ft at 2800rpm but it lacks the creamy delivery of the old 12-valve VR6 engine. However, it's also more metallic and urgent than most mainstream V6s. But ours had a significant glitch - two distinct blips in power and torque delivery. Pulling hard from low down, the first blip could be felt at around 2800rpm and another at just under 5000rpm. So marked was it at 2800rpm, it was as though the engine was momentarily 'missing'.

Quite a few R32 owners told us they had trouble with flat-spots, some exactly like ours, others on part throttle. A few admitted to whipping their car away for a re-chip (AMD figured large) and swore the difference was total. I always felt that the R32's pre-programming wasn't ideal, optimised perhaps for emissions regulations or somesuch. The re-chippers sent e-mails declaring the R32's V6 was 'unshackled' by the changes. I reckon so: there's another (freer-breathing) 20bhp or so lurking in there somewhere. Some of the re-chippers also had the boomy standard exhaust switched for something less numbing. It was at its worst between 30 and 40mph - especially frustrating in town. It came across as factory-fit aggression. If this was my car the chip and the exhaust would have been changed.

That said, the R32 is a very fast car indeed but also very easy to pootle around in. Running down to Habitat on Chelsea's King's Road, I dropped the rear seats and slotted in four dining chairs and slammed the hatch shut. (Boot space suffers though, due to the rear-wheel-drive componentry under the floor).

Other housekeeping: the engine improved at 10,000 miles and it ran better on Shell Optimax than on BP Ultimate. Only a blown Xenon bulb (requiring three hours' labour to change) was a problem. The headlining detached around one of the rear windows, the clutch pedal cover fell off and the tilt handle for the front seats always came off in passengers' hands.

It was comfortable and civilised: air-con, good stereo, serious seats, handy size and excellent cupholders - the latter essential for my 75-mile run to the evo office, or for super-early airport check-ins. Despite the 20mm lower suspension and aggressive damping, it was also fine on the capital's crumbling streets. Only really bad potholes troubled the cabin, and then the problem was - as I'll come to - more fundamental than chassis tuning.

Out of town - and off the motorway - I was less convinced by the R32. Sure it's very good, but for me it was neither hardcore fish nor utterly effortless fowl. On evo's ECOTY trip in Scotland (063), the R32 wasn't a patch on the crisp Evo VIII for outright A to B speed. A great way to nip rapidly across the moors, but not a real hardcore machine. But then quite a few associates in the industry thought it a bit overbearing for week-in week-out use.

The 4x4 system wasn't very convincing either. In Scotland I felt unsure when it was active (in its normal state, 100 per cent of the torque goes to the front wheels) and how hard I could push in the wet. On Clapham Common after a big dump of wet snow, the R32 slithered around at 15mph - you don't expect to be applying opposite lock in these conditions, though the massive tyres are as much to blame for this.
Weight is a problem with the R32. A kerb weight of 1447kg is a lot for a hatch - but then this one has four-wheel drive and a six-pot engine. One R32 owner rang me to say he was getting rid of his car and going back to a lightly-chipped 1.8 turbo Golf. Figuring the power-to-weight ratios, he reckoned that he'd be better off with a lighter, nimbler front-driver. I can see his point. I had just as much pleasure in my Seat Leon 1.8 20V T, though I would have missed the character and bombast of the R32.
Perhaps the R32's biggest problem is an underlying lack of chassis rigidity. It was most obvious when driving hard or traversing very rough roads. The Mk5 Golf is a massive 80 per cent stiffer than the Mk4. Intergenerational jumps are usually of the order of 20 per cent or so. Go figure. . .
I drove a V5 Bora saloon back-to-back with the R32 and the difference in body stiffness was marked. The R32 would have been better as a Bora.
Before it went back to its maker, R32s began to pop-up around my neck of the woods. Barely-used examples still command list prices - around ΂£22K. Would I? No. The Golf formula is still utterly convincing (such a useful, faithful, inspiring all- rounder) but I'd hang on until later this year for the new GTI. Compared with the R32, the lighter, simpler Mk5 GTI has a far stiffer body, a very punchy 200bhp turbo engine and its chassis has been tuned on UK roads. Surely, this will be the best ultra-Golf yet.