Vokswagen Golf R Cabriolet

Before I start, I want to make it crystal clear that I do not like this car. I think it’s a slightly awkward mishmash of ingredients that form a confused concoction that doesn’t really work. Front wheel drive instead of the usual four wheel drive you get in a Golf R, a convertible roof, and quite a lot of power from a highly strung four cylinder engine that doesn’t really suit the nature of a cruising convertible. An understressed V6 would perhaps be a more appropriate choice. Add to that the original purchase price of 38 thousand pounds and you realise that it’s a miracle that anyone bought one. I mean, you could have a Porsche Boxster for less money, or a Mazda MX-5 and a chunk of change.

And that is the exact reason I wanted to put it here. It’s interesting purely because it is a bit bizarre, and you don’t see many of them because of this. I can’t find anywhere the number of cars sold, but VW cut the price of the car by £5k less than a year into it being on the market, as they were rumoured to have sold less than ten units.

To see one now is quite a rare occasion then, and I think most people had all but forgotten that it ever even existed.

To drive, the press didn’t harp on about the Golf R Cabriolet. While it is definitely a fast car, with ‘‘huge overtaking urge’’ according to Evo magazine and a limited top speed of 155mph, the appeal of a fast Golf and a convertible Golf are two separate things in my view. The hatchback Golf R is a hugely successful car selling in massive numbers and the convertible Golf has its own appeal, mix them together and its a concept that doesn’t work for me unfortunately. It would almost be like taking a Porsche 911 GT3 and making it a drop-top beach cruiser. On a much less extreme scale, I’ll admit, but my point still stands.