Volkswagen Golf GTI – ride and handling

First impressions of the new GTI are very encouraging. The instrumentation is clear (although some common tasks take a little learning to start with) and the driving position is great, your shoulders virtually in line with the B-pillar like in an old Super Tourer and your backside about a metre lower than in a fast Ford. The bucket seats feature retro cloth centres with Alcantara sides and are incredibly supportive, too.

So far, so good, the GTI feeling gutsy, alert, yet requiring little effort to pedal along quickly. Still, it's worth diving into the driver menu screen to experiment with the Individual setting to isolate and sample different aspects of the car’s behaviour. The more aggressive engine map feels like an essential for the extra dose of character and response it brings, and while the low-effort steering is fine for normal driving, some may want to bring in some increased weight for reassurance when pressing on. It doesn't chatter in your hands in any mode, however, and the weight build up feels articifical under hard cornering loads.

What the GTI doesn’t deliver are the ‘wow’ moments you get during your first few miles in a Civic Type R or i30 N. It’s calmer and less communicative than either of those, but if you take manual control of the gears, use more revs and go up three or four notches on the dampers, you might be in for a surprise. The GTI has really, really high limits. The way the front holds a line when charging at an apex is impressive, and you don’t need to be aggressively trailing it in on the brakes for it to bite. We suspect some of this is due to the Bridgestone Potenza S005 tyres; they aren’t an especially aggressive compound but seem to bring out the positivity in the chassis without sacrificing progression. Great in the wet, too. 

In Comfort mode the steering is light and a little indistinct, especially around the straight-ahead, and Sport adds extra weight without necessarily improving the sense of connection. Volkswagen says it has fine-tuned the Mk8.5’s steering, but it can feel remote unless you’re really leaning on the tyres, at which point subtle messages begin to come through. As you feed in the power the wheel can lighten in your hands as the diff pulls you through corners, and it shuffles around slightly when putting down maximum torque on a bumpy road.

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The diff is an electronically controlled XDS+ unit with a multi-plate clutch. It’s managed by the GTI’s ‘Vehicle Dynamics Manager’ and the locking factor seems less aggressive than in some hatches, including the technically related Skoda Octavia vRS. You don’t feel it fighting to pull the nose tighter under power, and while this means it blends in with the natural cornering process, driving to the strengths of the diff is part of what makes the best front-drive cars so much fun. Perhaps the GTI Clubsport will dial in some extra aggression in this respect. 

The calibration of the DCC dampers has been reworked for the Mk8.5, too, and the 15-stage adjustment gives you an enormous range to work with. Fully stiff is far too reactive and almost unusable on the road (it may be helpful on a dry track), but swiping all the way down to the softest setting allows the GTI to eat pretty much anything you throw at it. Bumps roll under the wheels without jostling the body around and you can carry impressive speed, but there’s a laziness in the way it reacts that doesn’t feel very GTI-like. Comfort strikes a good balance between absorption and control, but when the surface allows, somewhere near the middle between Comfort and Sport feels best. The extra support gives the GTI more precision and agility without taking the ride to pieces. You could argue that these settings are another thing to distract you from the job of driving, but once you’ve figured them out, optimising the car for the road and conditions can be quite rewarding. 

It's no great communicator, but the GTI invites you to tap into its outright capability and only gets a touch ragged at the extremes, losing clarity through its controls. Still, you need a healthy dose of commitment to reach this point, and while the Hyundai i30 N is a far more entertaining dance partner, most will appreciate the GTI's accessible, searing pace. 

The normal stuff, the Golf does well. When you’re not in the mood you can calm everything down in the drive mode menu, visibility is good and, outstanding ergonomic niggles aside, it’s a pleasant thing to drive day-to-day. Spacious, too, although there is a surprising amount of road noise and resonance that filters into the cabin on poor surfaces. Big imperfections can sometimes upset the ride, too, particularly with the dampers set beyond Comfort. Generally, though, the GTI is a solid all-rounder and it’s one that you warm to as the miles roll by.