TESTER’S NOTE I don’t tend to like too much configurability in a driving experience, but the GTI’s new DCC slider gives you really fine control over damping adjustment. Shame it’s buried in the back end of the Individual drive mode; I’d like a fixed control for it. MS
TESTED 25.9.20, SURREY ON SALE NOW
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI Eighth-generation take on Volkswagen’s hot hatchback icon arrives in the UK
W
olfsburg has wasted little time introducing the eighth-generation Golf GTI into the wider Mk8 Golf family, which speaks volumes about how significantly the model now underpins the profitability of the Golf’s business case. Relatively restrained and judicious tuning has, as its four decades on sale have rolled on, given the GTI a broaderbased appeal than so many of its hot hatchback rivals. But does it still? While Volkswagen assures us that everyday, real-world driver appeal, along with that just-so blend of desirability and bangfor-your-buck value, remains the heart and soul of the GTI’s mission statement, it has certainly taken a risk with its golden goose this time around. So while the mechanical make-up of this car looks familiar, very little of it has escaped overhaul. The car’s engine may have the same headline outputs as the old GTI Performance, but it has a new, higher-pressure fuel injection system and revised combustion
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and emission controls. There may be the same choice of six-speed manual and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearboxes, but the latter is new to the GTI, offering shift-bywire technology for the first time. The XDS+ electronically controlled
locking front differential you used to get as part of an option pack is now GTI standard, and it has been tuned to work even harder to augment the car’s handling. You can now go as big as 19in alloy wheels on the GTI if you want
Chassis revisions have made the GTI more agile and playful than before
to. This car rides 15mm lower than a regular Golf but, compared with the outgoing GTI, it has spring rates firmed up by 5% at the front axle and some 15% at the rear. Reworked rearaxle kinematics and mountings have been adopted to create better lateral wheel control and chassis response, while the car’s ‘progressive’ risingrate steering has been quickened by between 5% and 7%. All this has been done, says VW, with a focus on creating keener handling response across the speed range, but specifically on better rotating the car’s chassis in tighter corners and in doing so producing a more poised, agile and – whisper it – slightly playful feel. It’s left quite a striking impression. The GTI is now more vigorous and potent-feeling than before, with a greater appetite for mauling Tarmac and changing direction. But the trouble is, well, that doesn’t sound very GTI, does it? This car’s dynamic stature has not, thus far at least, been measured by how quickly or neatly it negotiates an 18-metre slalom test.
