GOLF WAR

COMBINE THE PRICE TAGS OF THE contenders in this test, including options, and you reach a grand total of £96,820. And no, Dean Smith didn't forget to photograph a car.

- STEPHEN DOBIE 

Or two. Such are the peaks the market continues to scale that a pair of seemingly small, punchy specimens start at forty grand apiece. Then hurtle towards fifty with a handful of extras.

Plenty of people might never notice, leasing either of these for circa £500 a month rather than buying outright. And as hot hatch and coupe icons alike drop from the price lists with worrying frequency, you might even argue we should be thankful this test remains possible at all.

Each car represents the latest iteration of a very familiar recipe. The Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport is the firm's topmost front-wheel drive hot hatch and adds over 50bhp to the regular GTI with 296bhp and 295lb ft peaks from a tuned version of the familiar EA888 2-litre four-cylinder turbo engine. Here it's mated exclusively to a seven-speed DSG transmission with VW's VAQ differential newly gathered into a dynamics management system for more precise reactions. The headline is a 13-second reduction in Ring lap time over a stock GTI, but buyers are more likely to notice the dashing aesthetic makeover. A 15mm drop in ride height, more aggressive camber up front and an assertive (and functional) rear wing add up to a much punchier looking car than we're used to from Wolfsburg.

As standard, it slices a clean line between GTI and R pricing at £41,890, though the car you see here has spiralled up to £49,385 with the help of 19-inch alloys, a panoramic roof, an upgraded media system and - most crucially to folks like us - the £875 DCC adaptive damping that brings with it a Nürburgring 'Special' mode unique to the Clubsport. And you thought Honda's admittedly brilliant Civic Type R was pricey...