B-roads 1527, 1113, 1077 and 1108 sweep us west, south of
Norwich, north of Thetford Forest to Methwold.
Neither car has yet raised so much as a sweat. Traffic has been light, but
barring the odd tempting bend, the roads haven’t been alluring enough to really
whet the appetite. We’re also struggling with navigation. Time spent plotting,
planning and uploading on the Garmin website is time wasted if you forget the
charge lead for the sat-nav…
Handily, the Golf turns out to have an excellent nav system. The haptic touchscreen is superfast, but better
still is the My Tours function. Just tap in the name of each village, drag them
into order and off you go – the R seems to have an instinctive intuition for
the way you want to go, routing you down B-roads where the A45 is always
rerouting to A-roads. For this reason, the Golf is leading when we reach the
Fens. It’s a strange, bleak landscape here, the roads raised above agri-industrial fields, all rather George Orwell, with
names to match: Ten Mile Bank, Hundred Foot Drain, Ramsey
Forty Foot.
The sporty look of
the Golf R continues inside, where the cabin gets plenty of
performance-orientated trim
The roads jag and jar across this flat, sunken, depressing
plain – electricity pylons and tall rushes the only things standing in the path
of the mean east wind. But the roads aren’t all straight. Nor are they level.
In fact, the sump-scarred surfaces here are the worst we encounter anywhere. By miles. There’s a section somewhere – I’ve honestly put it
out of my mind – which is so ridged and lumpen, it
kangaroos the Golf so viciously my backside leaves the seat. Behind, I watch
the A45 plough into the same section and… cope. Hmm.
Truth be told, the Golf R rides
pretty firmly. You don’t notice it too much because it does everything else so
professionally. The action of the throttle, gearbox and steering are sharp and
accurate; everything you interact with is delightfully predictable – it’s a car
that places no demands on you whatsoever and is good enough in many areas to
distract you from its weaknesses. But the ride is sharp. Not aggressively so,
but it lacks the damping finesse to really take the sting out of roads such as
the B1096.
The Mercedes-Benz
A45 AMG features a 355bhp turbocharged engine
But by that stage, we’re nearly out of the Fens and onto the
B660. This is one of the great B-roads. Running from a little way south of
Peterborough all the way down to Bedford, it somehow manages to dodge most
villages as it weaves and carves along. Like many great B-roads, it contains
surprises of the “Why on earth did they put a bend there?” variety, and is
well-sighted and therefore quick. If we clarified one thing on this trip, it’s
that progress is not only more entertaining on a B-road, but often faster than
on a single-carriageway A-road where everyone travels at 45mph line-astern.
Please note, from previous experience, I know this does not apply in the parts
of Britain where they favour high hedgerows or
dry-stone walls. Yes, Cornwall and Cumbria, we’re
looking at you.
The Golf R has
296bhp on offer from its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine
Both cars lap up the B660, allowing them to reveal their own
character traits. The Golf, as expected, is the tidy sock drawer type. It’s
efficient, ordered and incredibly rapid. It has less turbo lag, and works its
chassis very evenly. The Merc has a looser grip on
itself. There’s a bit more slack around the
straight-ahead of the steering, a hint of torque-steer, a gearbox that hands
out downshifts only when it’s good and ready. Drive it at 6/10ths, and it’s not
really too bothered. Heap a couple more tenths on, and it’s suddenly all there.
