Volkswagen Golf R 400 revealed

The Volkswagen Golf R 400 Concept has gone on show at the Beijing Motor Show less than a week since Volkswagen released sketches of what is set to be the ultimate incarnation of the current VW Golf.

The VW Golf R 400 is all about performance and huge amounts of power. It gets 395bhp – nearly double what you’ll get in a Golf GTI – and is quick enough to go from 0-60mph in just 3.9 seconds. That’s faster than most of the Porsche 911 range, while the VW's top speed is electronically limited to 174mph.

All this performance should be readily available in all weather conditions, because the Golf R 400 also gets the latest version of Volkswagen’s grippy 4MOTION four-wheel drive system. It has the ability to revert to two-wheel drive, when possible, to save fuel.

The performance figures may well be attention grabbing, but the VW Golf R's already sporty looks have also been tweaked. Although it’s obviously still a Golf, it is wider and lower than the standard car and, as result, looks even faster.

• Watch our video review of the Volkswagen Golf R

The fast Golf also gets bigger wheelarches, ground-hugging front and rear bumpers, as well as pumped-up side skirts. Meanwhile, the grille gets a Lemon Yellow line in place of the red line you get on the VW Golf GTI, and its twin exhausts are mounted centrally, rather than on the left and right hand side of the car.

Jump inside the Volkswagen Golf R 400 and you are greeted by huge leather sports seats, which have plenty of side bolstering to keep you in place during fast cornering. The red stitching you would find in the normal Golf GTI is now Lemon Yellow coloured, while carbon fibre trim is also prominent throughout.

Will the VW Golf R 400 ever be built? Probably not, but with fast hatchbacks getting ever more powerful – with models such as the BMW M135i (316bhp), Mercedes A45 AMG (355bhp), and The Audi S3 (296bhp) – it is likely that VW will look to offer something even faster than the current VW Golf R model.

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For all our reviews of the current Volkswagen range, visit the Carbuyer Volkswagen reviews page.