The Ultimate Hot Hatch?

It was about time the Volkswagen Golf nameplate arrived in India. Now it has, and in its Mk 8.5 GTI guise. Does it live up to the iconic hot hatch reputation? We sampled it in the best place to let it loose: the NATRAX proving grounds

- Gaurav Davare

EVERYBODY HAS THEIR PERSONAL preferences in life, and that includes their ideal type of car. Some would pick sport utility vehicles (SUV), for others it may be rough and tough off-roaders or even unobtainable exotics. To me, a hot hatch has always been my pick of poison. The reason is simple: they're compact, lightweight, and don’t need a huge engine or a bucket load of gizmos or sensitive aerodynamic appendages to go fast.

With utmost respect, the hatchbacks we get in India are more warm than hot and in order to even get into true hot hatch territory one needs to go towards the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+, which can head one towards that unobtainable territory. It looks like Volkswagen India have answered our prayers by bringing over the Mk 8.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI and we got an opportunity to push it to its limit at the NATRAX proving grounds in Indore; the perfect platform for me personally to finally try and tick off the bucket list item of experiencing a true hot hatch.

Before I start waxing lyrical about this hot hatch, it’s important to point out why the “Golf” moniker finally coming to India is a big deal. Basically, this is Volkswagen's most successful nameplate. As many as 37 million units, eight generations, and, not too long ago, it celebrated 50 years of existence. (For more on this, please turn over to page 40 of this very issue.)