Just as TG.com had donned its Christmas jumper and settled into the festive season, Volkswagen reveals one more piece of four-wheeled news for 2016. This is the new version of one of TG's very favourite hot hatchbacks. Meet the facelifted VW Golf R.

Volkswagen showed us the facelifted regular Golf ' and boosted GTI ' a little while ago, so the Golf R's trick LED lights and redrawn bumpers aren't a surprise. The new rear lights are sharper ' a tad Audi, perhaps ' but what you actually need to know is it's got faster.

The 2.0-litre turbo engine's up from 300hp to an Audi S3-matching 306hp. Well, having a flagship 4x4 Golf be outmuscled by a Seat Leon Cupra would never do, right?

Meanwhile, VW's ditched the ageing 6spd DSG transmission the old car used, and fitted a faster 7spd dual-clutcher. Again, like the Audi S3. That ought to mean shorter gearing and more speed for the 52 per cent of Golf R buyers who opt out of the 6spd manual. And it does.

VW claims the new R launches to 100km/h in 4.6secs – a whopping 0.3sec quicker than the old car. But don't believe that. Top Gear ran a DSG-equipped Golf R as a much-loved long-term test car in 2015, and it regularly scored 4.5secs runs from 0-100km/h.

Could this new version really giant-kill the likes of the Mercedes-AMG A45 and Audi RS 3 sedan? Surely not...

Meanwhile, we're told there are new, bigger, sharper screens in the cabin, but VW's chosen not to reveal pictures of the tech, instead giving us a gallery of the Golf R's fresh bodywork in hatch form, and the obviously cooler estate.

So, first impressions time – does this knock the drifty Focus RS off your Christmas list?