Not many sequels live up to the original but I think this one just might, dynamically at least.
I suppose at this point I should post up a photo or ten but the weather has been rubbish and I found this vid by pure chance which shows an identical car from far better angles than my dreadful photography and ageing iPhone would ever allow:
https://youtu.be/Hl_1UiP9BiwJust like the video above, my car is a Pure White bog standard GTI Clubsport which ties in well with my previous PW Clubsport which also had zero options aside from a black roof so there’s much I can directly compare with.
Should the new one even be called a Clubsport?
I’m leaning towards it should have been called a GTI Cupra (yes, Cupra not cup) due to the fact it has FWD, 300 bhp and oval tailpipes! Oh, and the fact the interior trim is more Cupra quality than we have gotten used to with the last few generations of Golf.
A few have commented on whether VW were planning on calling the model something else originally but now I have the keys to one in my hand I do think it was always planned as a Clubsport. Watered down in unique styling bits maybe but certainly not in the hardware department.
The Clubsport has this distinctive feature common the both generations linking the front bumper canard/air deflector thingy to the side stripe properly moulded into the plastic, not just a sticker.
temporary photo sharingand also common to both generations is a little bit of cost cutting right here (no illuminated sill trim)
Sitting inside the car for the first time was quite a surprise even though I’d seen dozens of photos and watched numerous videos featuring mk8 Golfs.
There’s a certain familiarity immediately, I mean it’s the same car I’d been sat in for nearly seven years underneath after all, but also a very different look and feel. Similar to having your lounge redecorated removing your comfortable furniture and replacing it with more stark, minimalistic contents.
I had one of the early mk5 GTI’s many years ago (it was a few years old when I bought it but a very tidy example) and sitting in one of the last ones before the mk6 was released it was evident a fair bit of cost cutting had taken place over the lifespan.
Same for the mk7. I had an early GTI PP then a 2015 R and the next mk7 I sat in was one of the last pre-facelift GTD’s which I can remember SWMBO sitting in just after I picked it up commenting on how the plastics looked cheaper somehow which was surprising as she has zero interest in such things and didn’t exactly spend much time in the previous Golfs.
Well, she’s not sat in the new Clubsport yet but would be taken aback how much cheaper a lot of the trim looks and feels.
Yes, the door bins are flock lined but only on the side you can see! The outer section is just hard scratchy plastic. The interior door pulls wouldn’t look out of place in a Caddy van and nor would the centre tunnel console. The door cards sound hollow, very hollow. The glove box is hard lined, or unlined more accurately. There’s no PedalBox cubby.
The seats are ArtVelour which feel nice to the touch but the upholstered door sections are cloth like the seat side bolsters and not pleather and/or alcantara like the Ed40 or TCR.
... and hang on a minute, I know the Ed40 Clubby had man made steering wheel coverings but I’m sure the ‘grippy’ section of the mk8 sports steering wheel feels more like dimpled rubber than nice perforated leather like the TCR
Extra external mood lighting elsewhere to compensate door sill and interior door handle lighting cutbacks:
is that a golf ball logo projection? Oh those Germans and their sense of humour!
I’ve literally driven the thing 10 miles and have no idea how much of the infotainment works. Most of it I’ll probably never use anyway. There’s a lot of tech in this car making the cabin feel far more of a leap into the future than we might expect from a heavily facelifted mk7.
The tech is merely a sign of the times. We are being eased into electric cars and thus the exteriors of the cars need to be ever more aerodynamic (hence the different nose line and side sculpting to stream airflow) and the interiors reflect the growing digitalisation and move towards autonomous driving.
But, being as this is a heavily facelifted mk7 then it was only right that the revered mk7 chassis was developed further, which considering how good the last iteration was means it might not have been the easiest feat.
Easier than getting an all new chassis perfect straight out of the box though!
When the salesperson told me the mechanic who PDI’d my car was really very impressed by the chassis on his short drive, despite being an old hand well used to driving the performance VW range, I took it as the usual salesperson exaggeration to reassure the punter their £££££ was well spent.
Damn me if within a mile or two I wasn’t thinking exactly the same thing as the VW techie.
Even at low speeds in traffic there’s a certain something to the handling that I cannot put my finger on. Let’s just say “it’s good, very good”
It’s a bit choppy, not in a bad way. Certainly not almost miraculously compliant and solid like the M135i on 19’s but more like my last generation Ed40 Clubsport in ride quality with even slightly sharper feeling steering and suspension.
I remember saying the Ed40 Clubsport felt like an athlete compared to the TCR feeling more like a heavyweight fighter due to a combination of looks, chassis and engine tuning.
The mk8 Clubsport feels like a mixture of things to me during the short acquaintance so far. Familiar but different. Unmistakably Golf DNA but... different.
I expected to be massively underwhelmed but I’m not. Far from it.
One quick shot of the car from its best angle
More to come at a later date when I actually get to drive the thing!
Hopefully it’ll be with me for a while, I did actually buy a service plan with this one
