Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport

FIRST DRIVE We find out if it's worth splashing out £2.3k extra for latest uprated version of Volkswagen's legendary hot hatch

- By Ellis Hyde

GTI – three simple letters that have been part of hot hatch lore for nearly 50 years, and worn by some truly beloved cars over the past five decades. But it wasn't until 2016 that we met the first GTI Clubsport: a more focused and more powerful version of Volkswagen's everyday hero.

The new Mk8.5 Golf GTI Clubsport sticks to the same principles. Starting from £43,215, it continues to serve as a bridge between the regular Golf GTI and the all-wheel-drive Golf R, which are currently priced from almost £41k and £46k, respectively.

Given that it costs only £2,340 more than the standard GTI, you might expect the Clubsport to just get some extra badging and maybe a couple of extra horsepower. But it actually has a larger set of brakes, more aggressive bumpers, a big two-part roof spoiler, a unique honeycomb grille, retuned steering and front-end geometry, plus a special Nürburgring mode, which we'll come to later.

The turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine gets an extra 35bhp, and with 296bhp and 400Nm of torque on tap, 0-62mph takes 5.6 seconds. As is traditional in a GTI, all that power is sent to the front wheels only, via an electronically controlled limited-slip differential and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. There's no manual gearbox option – which is also true of the regular GTI.