KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Volkswagen Group Malaysia (VGM) did something very brave on Monday — they invited the media to check out the Golf R at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC). Maybe they knew something we didn’t, but this was one of the rare occasions when there was no speed limit set.

After three “introductory” laps with a pace car during which we were told to try out the comfort, sport and race modes, the pace car politely retired to the pits, leaving us a full 15 minutes of “free running” on the North Circuit of the SIC.

The good news is, nobody crashed VW Golf R because it is so good, any driver can drive fast, and because it has so much grip and is so forgiving.

The new 2014 Golf R is in its fourth generation and comes packed with 280PS and 380Nm of torque, from its DOHC 2.0 litre, direct injection, turbo-charged engine. Acceleration from zero to 100 kph is done in 5.0 seconds flat.

Fuel consumption is rated at a frugal 6.9 litres per 100 km, but of course on the race track, these are just numbers. Fuel efficiency features for times when you want to drive economically are a Start-Start system and brake energy regeneration.

Drive is to all four wheels, through a Haldex 5 coupling, which delivers drive to the front wheels most of the time, but on demand, can transfer 100 per cent of the drive to the rear wheels when the car is in a turn. The Haldex 5 coupling makes a huge difference to the overall driving dynamics, making the MK 7 Golf R a superior machine over its predecessor.

Race mode stiffens up the suspension settings, and changes the engine and transmission characteristics, and the traction control systems can be switched completely off. Additionally, there is also a Custom mode that allows a driver to change individual parameters to suit his or her own driving preferences.

On track, the Golf R transforms into Race mode at the touch of a finger on the dash display, and if you would like more control, you can flick the gear selector into manual mode and use the paddle shifters located behind the steering wheel within finger reach.

The DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) works great, and the close-ratio gears provide seamless and smooth gear shifts. You can leave it in automatic if you want, and in Race mode, the gear shift points are moved upwards to a higher engine rpm for maximum power.

I tried the R in both automatic and manual mode, and it seems to me that auto mode is better — the gear changes are determined by the electronics, which takes the guesswork out of deciding when to shift up, but still allows me to downshift manually under braking for the turns.

The all-wheel drive system provides superb traction, and the R literally sticks to the road. Whether you can exit the turns fast or not actually depends on your driving lines and entry speed. The R does tend to under-steer if pushed too hard, and it drives better and faster if given the treatment of “slow in, fast out”.

Being a little rusty, and more used to rear-wheel drive cars, I made many mistakes, but the R is so forgiving. Traction is so good that you can start applying full throttle once you pass the apex of the corner, and the all-wheel drive even allows you to take unconventional exit lines.

You can miss an apex or two, which may slow you down a few milliseconds, but you will be able to wrench the steering back into line for the next turn.

Turn 5 has always been a corner that I treat with great respect — but with the R, all I needed to do was to take a later entry point, tap the brakes a little to settle the front, and then apply full throttle, heading towards a late apex. Normally, I would have to feather the throttle around this negative-cambered turn.

For the short North track, Turn 6 apex is ignored as one has to line up for the final double right turn that takes one back to the front straight.

I found that the fastest way to drive the R around bends is to minimise the under-steer by taking a later entry point, and to get the car pointed straight as early as possible in order to maximise exit speed. Once you get it right, the engine just sings upwards through the gears, accompanied by that familiar ‘bruurp, bruurp’ sound of the exhaust as the engine blips the throttle automatically before each change.

The surprise of the day for me was that the R was actually easier to drive with traction control off — traction control cuts down engine power when you go into under-steer, but with the system off, the Haldex 5 coupling works better — when you push down hard on the throttle, the transfer of drive to the rear helps to push the tail out, allowing some over-steer to straighten the car when exiting a turn, very useful in turns 1, 2 and 4 on the SIC track.

My experience with the Golf R was a great one — I drove the previous generation R on a track in Germany, and loved it too, but this new Golf R is many notches above. Would I like to have one? The answer is a fervent YES, but alas, my home minister has the final say, and it is another 11 months to my next birthday.

The Golf R retails for RM245,888, and the optional tech pack raises the price to RM285,888. The tech pack includes 19-inch wheels, panoramic roof and rear view camera.