Every now and then a car comes along that's special. Whether it's by design, engineering, performance, etc, that car speaks to people and, hopefully for the automaker that gave it life, it sells. But here's the thing about the 2017 Volkswagen Golf R, which we recently sampled: it's expensive. Like $39,850 base price expensive. Its iconic and always wonderful front-wheel-drive GTI sibling begins at a much more reasonable $25,595. Our Golf R tester, however, came to a grand total of $41,715. So is the extra 15 grand money well spent?

That's what we wanted to find out and it really boils down to this: how much is more power and all-wheel drive worth to you? You can also think of the Golf R as the Audi S3 sedan in hatchback form - same AWD system and engine.

Speaking of which, the Golf R comes powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four with 292 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque. As is the case with the GTI, there's a choice between a six-speed manual or a $1,100 six-speed dual-clutch. Can't go wrong with either. The Golf R is also very much a premium car, hovering awfully close to being a luxury one. That said, it's nearly the complete package but we're still having a hard time getting over its $40k price of entry. Special thanks to DGDG.com for letting us film the car.