Volkswagen has been testing a 5-cylinder Golf R

Spotted at recent Nürburgring test days, the distinctive-sounding Golf R has caused a little bit of a fuss, with some even calling it the ‘R420’, meant to reference the stillborn Golf R420..

The R420 has been rumoured for a long time, with an old clip naming the mythical Golf published by German outlet Auto Motor and Sport dating back to mid-2015, though it’s rather short.

As previously mentioned, the car testing appears to be fitted with Audi’s 2.5-litre inline 5 pot, as found in the RS3 and TT RS, though the ‘why’ part is what we’ve had no luck with. Chances are, it won’t come to fruition. The whispers of this mysterious 5-pot Golf have been stirring for a long time, but for Volkswagen to risk cutting into the RS3’s slice of the pie doesn’t make sense.

While the R400 was acknowledged by Volkswagen officially as a 400PS (294kW) hot hatch capable of a 0-100km/h sprint in 3.9 seconds, the ‘R420’ five-pot Golf has had no such treatment.

But the ‘how’ part of this rumour seems to be fairly easily explained, as it’s not the only 5-cylinder Golf R getting around.

A 450kW Golf R in the US has the Audi donk under its bonnet, and runs fairly impressive times at half-mile sprints and the like.