It’s Volkswagen’s performance hero – the Golf R – and it has just been launched in Europe with a piping hot 2,0-litre turbocharged engine under the bonnet. Making 199 kW and 350 N.m with all wheel drive, it’s said to be a cracking drive. But Australia’s heat issues have reared their ugly head once more and it seems the Golf R has suffered the same fate as the Audi S3 in that country. The Golf R has been detuned to output 188 kW and the final torque figure remains unconfirmed.

Now, the obvious question is…should we be worried and expect the same performance specification? Locally the Audi S3 also produces 188 kW and unfortunately, like Australia, we enjoy much higher average temperatures than Europe and our fuel is also of a poorer quality. Conditions that may well cause Volkswagen SA to rethink reliability and exercise a measure of mechanical sympathy.

We’ll investigate, but in the meantime, the folks Down Under are awaiting their Golf R’s, which are expected to be a few tenths slower from 0 – 100 km/h than the claimed 5.5 seconds of the DSG.

UPDATE: VWSA says “The final engine power output has not been finalized but we are likely to get the 188kW version like Australia because of SA’s warmer temperature.”