Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport 2021 UK review

More oomph and lower suspension brings Golf GTI closer to the reward of its best rivals Go to a test track anywhere in the world of a manufacturer in the business making hot family cars and you’ll find a Golf GTI used for benchmarking. It has been the go-to daily-driven hot hatch for generations, with the odd blemish when Volkswagen has made something a bit fat or unsatisfying. Like, you could argue, the overly-synthetic current Mk8 GTI.Here, driven in the UK, is VW’s alternative GTI, a more powerful and focused Golf but still one that aims to retain its daily usability. They all do, to an extent. Even the old Clubsport S, the one with no back seats, was rode well and was relatively habitable.They won’t do that this time around, by the way, despite the name – the exclusively five-door Golf’s rear doors open up to a rear bench. Only Renault lets you open the doors to nothing but carpet and red painted metal stiffeners.The Clubsport’s power is up by 49bhp and torque 22lb ft over a regular GTI, owing to a different turbo and revised cooling, so 296bhp and 295lb ft, so a satisfying round metric 300 horses to turn the heads of those looking at a Honda Civic or Megane.The Golf’s 2.0-litre engine drives the front wheels through a seven-speed dual- clutch gearbox that has a lower final drive than the regular GTI. There’s an electronically controlled mechanical limited-slip differential at the front too, suspension is 10mm lower all around and there are a few external indications – no Clubsport badges but a different lower grille, rear spoiler, sill extensions and graphics. Also on our test car were adaptive dampers (£785 extra) and 19in alloy wheels (£825).