In autumn the completely new VW Golf will be released. The current top model with the 228 kW / 310 PS turbo gasoline engine and four-wheel drive will get a successor later. After a sales break because of the conversion of the consumption standard, the current Golf R is now available again. And let himself be led straight on the ice.
It would be inconceivable if we were to transfer Canadian liberties to small Germany. Imagine the Essen Baldeney Lake, the Hamburg Outer Alster or the Maschsee in Hanover in winter, hidden at minus 20 degrees under a thick layer of ice. On the other hand, PS-strong sports cars romp off, thunder over the bare ice, follow a track cleared of snow by snowboarders. The protests of masked demonstrators on the shore would make it into the "Tagesschau".
The Lac Sacacomie is well located 160 kilometers northeast of Montreal. In the French-speaking part of Canada, the lake's frozen waters are 1,30 meters thick, deep down salmon or rainbow trout hibernate. Too deep to get ripped off by the rumpled fat tire up there. In any case promises a professional angler from the nearby town of Saint-Alexis-des-Monts. The cleared track is 1,5 kilometers long, frost-hardened snow walls serve as guard rails. A terrain made for a compact ruffian brother like the German Golf R. True to the motto "if the donkey is too well, it goes on the ice".
The over-Golf with its 228 kW / 310 PS (ten more than before), its "4motion" all-wheel drive and the thick 18 inch wheels represent the sports department in the sales program of the bestseller. A good all-purpose car, which renounce swanky attributes like sprawling spoilers and can also serve as a papa mobile on the way to the day-to-day care in everyday life. Here he is to prove that thanks to his electronic helpers, the power even on the ground brings, if the ground is so smooth that his driver could move without shoes with under strapped spikes only horizontally.
Granted - at almost minus 20 degrees, the Canadian ice is quite grippy, rougher than you know it from the ice rink. So the VW always finds some grip under one of the wheels, despite the cavalier start. Because the four-wheel system in conjunction with the ESP is looking for the rubber roller, which allows just the forward movement. The dance for grip search automatically expires in fractions of seconds without the driver having to do anything. Very fast so in the direction of the first corner. Manual downshifting of the dual clutch automatic is better than braking. Gentle steering brings the "R" out of the lane, allowing it to brake sideways over all four wheels. The counter-movement at the wheel with simultaneous step on the right pedal stops the threatening stumbling. A Mecca for the drifters, thanks to the special direct steering of the five-door.
Only rally professionals manage to get really fast around the corners and switchbacks, where at the end of the round the side part of the VW is oversized with snow deposits. The normal rider on the Volant is already happy when he scurries past the hills on both sides without damaging the blue metallic paint with ice scratches on the sheet. All this has little to do with the practice of driving a car in real life. If there is a threat of lightning on our streets, nobody will want to break any personal records. Nevertheless, a good exercise to get to know the reactions of his almost 44.000 Euro expensive piece of jewelry better. Often there is still a way out of an unintentional carousel ride, when the hood shows as well as the view in the direction from which one has just come.
It had to be proved that even the current variant of the strongest Golf can be really fast on thick ice with appropriate dexterity. Above all, the artists of the cross-country had no doubt about that anyway. But the sovereignty and ease with which the "R" demonstrated his skills was quite convincing. A bear-strong car in the land of the bears, even if the reason of the desire for Rumtoben has to give way temporarily.
The guilty conscience, nowhere in the endless Canadian expanse, calmed down a little at the end of the ice crank. Because when the German Volkswagen cleared out of ice, the terrain on Lac Sacacomie belonged to a horde of snowmobile rattles who pulled long white flags behind them. And then there was also a group of sled dogs that pulled frost-hardy tourists with a loud bark. This is how winter holidays in Canada can be. A Golf R is actually not intended there.