2015 Volkswagen Golf R ice drive

What is it?

Where is it may be the better question. Arvidsjaur (pronounce it “our-vids-yower”), Sweden, has a name that's easier to pronounce when your jaw is just a little bit numb from the cold. So it works out that the town of 4,635 sits about 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Its location also makes it a breathtakingly beautiful, frigid backdrop for our introduction to Volkswagen's newest little performance monster: the 2015 Golf R.

Every winter, European automakers descend upon the area around Arvidsjaur for cold-weather testing. Lake grooming has become a booming local industry rivaling even reindeer husbandry. They don't mess around in Lapland: When shifting plates of ice collide and form glacial walls that are miles long, track-makers get busy with chainsaws and shave them flat.

The lake is blessedly free of ice walls when we arrive, though the ambient temperature sits somewhere south of zero degrees Fahrenheit. Groomed, but not quite Zamboni smooth, the lake's surface is, at 30 inches thick, more than strong enough to support a Golf R.

Or rather, a small fleet of Golf Rs -- what must be a significant portion of the upcoming all-wheel-drive hot hatches VW has built so far. Production doesn't begin in earnest until the end of 2014; the Wolfsburg-made cars won't arrive on our shores until the beginning of 2015.

Volkswagen
The 2015 VW Golf R boasts near-perfect weight distribution, all-wheel drive and 290 hp turbocharged inline-four.

Like the rest of the seventh-generation Golfs, the R grows by nearly every measure except weight. Despite being larger inside and out, though, we're told it will come in at 3,254 pounds -- 100 pounds less than the Mk6. Weight is distributed nearly perfectly from front to back, and the car enjoys a stiff chassis thanks to its MQB underpinnings.

Performance gets a nice bump, too. The R's 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four -- a version of the EA888 engine found in the Mk6 Golf GTI and the upcoming Audi S1 -- will put out 290 hp when it reaches North America. Its 280 lb-ft of torque is channeled to a fast-reacting Haldex all-wheel-drive system through either a six-speed dual-clutch or a six-speed manual.

The testers get the latter gearbox along with metal-studded snow tires that -- tragically -- aren't legal on many U.S. roadways.

VW will offer an optional dynamic chassis-control system for the R, which allows you to adjust suspension stiffness on the fly and in conjunction with the driving-profile-selection system.

More enticing, though, is the adjustable electronic-stability control. Leave the ESC on and try to play on the ice—you can feel the car's computers killing power to the wheels in a desperate attempt to keep you pointed straight. Switch to sport mode, and the car gives you a healthy amount of leeway, letting you get fairly far out of line before reeling you back in, gently. Shut down ESC entirely and you're more or less left to your own devices.

This privilege of driving without a safety net will be granted solely to Golf R buyers -- a paternalistic move on VW's part. As brand spokesman Christian Buhlmann explained, “our fear is that the normal driver has gotten so used to ESC as the helper in the background that [its absence] might overwhelm people.”

Volkswagen
Note that navigation screen -- there's only a few months of the year where sitting on a vast blue expanse won't result in engine flooding.

What's it like to drive?

If there's any place to explore what happens when you switch off the electronic nannies, it's a frozen lake where a lower fascia full of powdery snow represents the worst-case scenario. Still, the ESC's sport mode will be more confidence-inspiring -- and quicker -- for the average driver who doesn't have a respectable amount of track time under his belt. We switch between sport and “off” throughout the day, always retreating to sport's relative safety when our enthusiasm outpaces our skill. You can't really go wrong either way. The eager motor's broad and accessible power band and that very versatile all-wheel-drive system conspire to make you feel heroic in short order.

The day's program is simple: We warm up by drifting around in circles -- imagine the most wicked parking lot donut you've ever done multiplied by two or three. Then, after a few basic drifting and acceleration/braking exercises and some runs through a slalom course, we get what passes for classroom instruction. Our instructor, an upbeat German named Benni uses the snow-covered hatch of the nearest Golf R as a whiteboard to show us how to seek out a corner's apex and carve the perfect racing line. We're then directed to explore a set of increasingly challenging ice courses until Lapland's early winter sunset.

When driven aggressively, the Golf R's well-bolstered seats instantly relay shifts in weight and momentum directly to your lower back; once you get used to the sensation, your butt realizes where the car's about to go before your head does. The ice amplifies driver input and car feedback. It's an invaluable experience for anyone just getting acquainted with the dynamics of performance driving.

From the sidelines, Benni barks encouragement and instruction through the walkie-talkie. And, eventually, he laughs, “That lead car is drifting like crazy!”

We are that lead car, and we aren't ashamed to be maximizing our time spent sideways. Sliding through a corner isn't necessarily fast, but it sure is fun; that's doubly true when straying a few inches off the icy circuit kicks up thick, gorgeous clouds of white powder.

With the 2015 Golf R, VW says it's gunning for the Subaru WRX STI, a favorite among would-be rally drivers worldwide.

Volkswagen
We'd like to test the 2015 Golf R on a variety of road surfaces before giving it an unqualified thumbs-up, but if it's as well-suited to warmer weather as it is to ice driving, it's a winner.

Do I want it?

A frozen lake prepared expressly for our driving enjoyment isn't the best place to form an unbiased, realistic opinion of a car's road-going abilities or day-to-day livability. So far as we can tell, though, the Golf R is an absolute blast -- and our encounter in Arvidsjaur has left us eager to test its mettle in warmer surroundings now that the air is finally starting to lose its winter edge.

If it's as well-balanced, confidence-inspiring and flat-out fun on a twisty gravel trail as it is on ice, the Golf R shouldn't have any trouble chasing down its slightly heavier and more powerful mark.

On Sale: Early 2015

Base Price: $35,000 (est)

Drivetrain: 2.0-liter, 290-hp, 280-lb-ft turbocharged I4; AWD, six-speed manual

Curb Weight: 3,254

0-60 MPH: 5.1 sec (mfr)

Fuel economy (epa city/hwy/combined): 23/31/26 mpg (est)

A version of this story appeared in the March 17 – 31 issue of Autoweek. Click here to subscribe.

By Graham Kozak