The Mk7 Golf GTI was always very good - the Clubsport S made it legendary
In the days of five-door, auto-only GTIs, with the most exciting Golf being a Black Edition R, it can be hard to believe that the seminal Clubsport S happened as recently as the previous generation. The sort of skunkworks special VW did seldom before and never since, it will always command a special place in the heart of hot hatch enthusiasts. The ‘ring record Golf must have been fairly close to not happening at all, given when it was launched and when VW was slapped with its Dieselgate fines.
It felt like the same attitude that got the Phaeton and XL1 off the drawing board made the Golf happen; when VW wanted to get something done back then, it threw everything at it. Stefan Gies, VW’s head of chassis development at the time, said back in ‘16: “I want to be able to give customers who want to go on track a Volkswagen, not an Opel OPC or Renault Sport Megane or anything else. The Nurburgring is kind of my home track, and when I look at the tourist days I see a lot of competitors’ cars.
It can definitely still be a GTI when required. There’s a bit more noise, both road and exhaust, from behind, but it’s more than liveable; the CarPlay is flawless; the ever-so-slightly-too-high seats superb and the powertrain as easygoing - light manual, torquey engine - as any other Mk7. It’s a world away from having to harness yourself into a Megane that doesn’t really work in ambient temperatures less than 15 degrees.
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