AS far as iconic monikers go in the hot hatch world, the Golf GTI - thanks to its almost 50-year history over eight generations - arguably sits at the very top of the pile.
While it’s never been the finished article in out and out precision - aside from the original when the market was much less crowded - what it has always offered is sheer class. It’s everything to everyone, a car that would look at home whether one’s house is worth £150,000 or £1.5m.
In truth, I was never a huge fan as a kid. My eyes were drawn to Renaultsport’s dazzling Clios and Meganes instead of the podgy mark four GTI. However, the mark five was a revelation and I’ll always remember my dad going to look at an Edition 30 in my early teens, but it wasn’t until I started reviewing cars that I understood just how broad the hot Golf’s abilities truly are.
The first car I ever reviewed was a mark seven Golf GTI and I remember it as if it was yesterday. It was a white, manual, five-door example and indeed it was the car which I brought my newborn son home from the hospital in, so it’ll always retain a special place in my heart. Not just for sentimental reasons, though - it was a car that looked the part, drove exceptionally well and the perfect all-occasion hot hatch.
Park a mark seven next to a mark eight and the difference is stark: the latter looks leaner, meaner and aside from the somewhat tacky GTI badging which adorns its front doors, it looks sensational from every angle. It’s unquestionably moved the game on. The front’s honeycomb grille, the signature red piping on the headlights, the ever-so-slight extended rear spoiler hint at its extra pace without ever being crude.
Ah, its pace… there’s 265bhp so although that’s easily enough to flummox its front wheels from standstill, it means there’s a full-bodied mid-range and it makes the GTI feel staggeringly fast on any road. Through third and fourth gears on the famed Buttertubs Pass in the Yorkshire Dales, it dazzles. On tighter, second-gear sections, if you’re too heavy-footed you will overwhelm the front wheels if it’s wet, but get it on a dry section and you’ll be mesmerised by how it goes about its business.
There’s a gripe, though, and it’s one I found in its smaller Polo GTI stablemate. It’s its gearbox; leave it in automatic mode and it’s one of the very best, but take control, use the paddles in its sportiest setting and although it claims you’re in full-on manual mode, it will still interfere and change up or down for you. ‘Manual mode’ should mean what it says on the tin, so it’s irritating when you’re wanting to feel its third-gear torque and it immediately goes into second…
The paddleshifts - as ever with VWs - are far too small, but the GTI-badged seats and the fantastic steering wheel make up for that. The interior’s class-leading, oozing quality and is thoroughly modern, although its touch-sensitive controls for the heating can be slightly dim-witted.
One of my favourite routes in the Dales - the B6255 which connects Hawes to the Ribblehead Viaduct for 11 glorious miles - is utterly perfect for the GTI. It’s well-sighted, it’s wide, it’s often quiet and it’s where the GTI felt communicative and trustworthy. Its damping’s just right and although its steering isn’t brimming with feel, it’s an eight-out-of-ten sort of hot hatch in every single department. The brakes, the handling, the in-gear surge of turbocharged grunt… it’s a car nobody could ever get bored of.
For £40,000, it’s pretty much an unbeatable proposition. Whereas other hot hatches may be better when you focus on driver involvement alone, they lose points on other things whether it’s their compromised rides, inferior interiors or their designs. What the Golf GTI does is be very good at everything - it’s always been the thinking man’s hot hatch and it’s not hard to see why. The mark eight is better than ever.
