I wouldn’t ever recommend anyone changing from a late model mk7(.5) performance Golf to a mk8 unless the end of a finance agreement is looming on the former or the prospective mk8’er feels like doing it just for the hell of it.
At the risk of being Roger Irrelevant here as I’ve never even driven a 7.5 GTI Performance, I have at least owned a mk7 PP, R, GTD, Ed40 and TCR before ‘graduating’ to a mk8 Clubsport.
The two models are similar enough underneath obviously, but there are enough detail differences between them that do create a gulf between the generations of MQB Golf.
Styling is personal but to me the 7.5 looks way better from the front. Way way better.
From the rear the mk8 reigns it back in a bit.
From the side? Well, spoilers aside it’s the same car! A few creases and details differ but….
Inside the cabins it’s been discussed to death so not worth reiterating too much.
The mk8 haptics take a bit of getting used to but it’s ok once you familiarise. The mk7 feels much better quality and more ‘traditional’.
The mk8 reflects where almost every manufacturer is heading as far as digi-displays and ‘one pad equals half a dozen buttons’ switchgear goes. I doubt there’s any going back now, they want us in ID models.
Driving. Day to day the 8 Clubsport drives like a Golf GTI. Comfy enough, economical enough, taut enough and so on. Familiar. Reassuring. Nice.
Then you get a day like I had yesterday. A few long busy crappy weeks on the bounce blown away in one trip out. A dawn blast on country roads, nothing too fast, just real life point to point quick.
One of those journeys where you had no intention of doing anything other than pootling along, but from the off the car itself seemed to want you to take it by the scruff.
There are trips like that where you realise there is a point to cars like the Clubsport still.
The engine is more responsive than the mk7 even if you don’t use high revs, the gearbox will perform ok even in comfort with the right amount of throttle input and some paddle use, the brakes are superb and that chassis…
The mk7 chassis is excellent, the TCR chassis even better, but the Clubsport does actually feel even more polished than the latter. Just.
I can remember is Arcade Fire’s Wake Up on the playlist and the car just stringing together endless A/B road bends, not needing to touch the brakes once. I was surprised at the amount of ground covered in the duration of one song without even breaking the National speed limit. It’s those chassis tweaks that make the Clubsport feel special.
And then a few hours later the car was just being a normal Golf again, taking a load of rubbish to the tip in comfort.
On the right road, under the right conditions the Clubsport does drive significantly differently to a regular 7(.5) GTI PP. it’s more urgent (engine, gearing, steering turn-in) and has more composure at high cornering loads (and you don’t have to be doing Nurburgring speeds to appreciate it).
Whether it’s worth the ££££ to change is an individual choice.