Today turned out to be quite a special and memorable day for me.
Many thanks to ViperGTS for showing me round and allowing me to drive his new car.
I currently own a GTi PP which I find to be a good road car with the potential to have some fun, at the time of purchase I also considered a 997 GTS but the Golf won, mainly for it’s practicality.
I am old and experienced enough to make my own view on cars, having owned quite a few real Porsche Clubsport variants when manufacturers were allowed to do it properly!
I was cautious not to be over influenced by any preconceived judgement of the popular motoring journalists.
Having been fortunate enough to have participated in a few car magazine group tests, some involving world class racing drivers, I have a reasonable idea of the process and what makes a car stand out among it’s peers.
A few weekend visits to the ring have also proven that you don’t just turn up with a car out of the box and not find some area of the drive or dynamics that disappoints.
Apologies for the tedious prologue, I just wanted to point out I am not some wide eyed fanboy, looking at the shiny Golf! (It was shiny!
)
Initial impressions, for those unfamiliar with the Golf, at first glance it may look a little disappointing, maybe even bland, however the detail is there.
Apart from the larger wheels, brakes (ali bells) and exhaust pipes, the lack of parking sensors or front corner lights, show VW have paid attention to the Clubsport ethos.
Lighter battery.
For those with a keen eye, there does appear to be some negative camber on both front and rear axles, this looks far more pronounced on the rear compared to the regular GTi set up.
Front camber
Rear camber
Looking under the bonnet, it could be stock GTi, apart from the slightly smaller battery fitted and the repositioning of the smaller windscreen fluid reservoir. After all every litre of water weighs an extra Kilogramme. (@4degrees C).
In the cabin, the sports buckets are as comfortable and supportive as any other German manufacturer would supply, the alcantara steering wheel is more tactile than the regular GTi offering, although felt to be the same size. The rear view mirror is not the anti dazzle type you find in the GTi, just a flat mirror without a casing, that must save 200g?
The Clubsport-S. steering wheel does not have adaptive cruise buttons, but does have the front assist, which you can deactivate.
Looking through the set up, on either race or individual settings, there was no evidence of the mythical “Nurburgring” setting.
More on this when I discuss driving the car.Behind the wheel, at slow speeds the control weights are regular GTi, driving slowly apart from a little more noise from the exhaust and the odd stone flicking up under the arch which is amplified by no rear seats, no doubt due to lack of trim or sound deadening.
We drove over typical undulating twisty Kentish B roads, with only 70 odd miles on the clock the car obviously felt tight and had instant pick up without any rattles whatsoever.
Importantly the ride even in race was fine, communicative and so direct. So often on cars that have been modified from standard you find something has not been totally resolved such as the negative tendency to tramline.
As I mentioned earlier having driven the ring a few times, it is unlike a conventional race circuit in that you really need some compliance in the suspension to stay on line.
The lack of Nurburgring mode now doesn’t surprise me as such, the “race” setting felt perfectly compliant, I now wonder if this race mode was “ring” mode on this model?
The Nordschleife is a public toll road after all, we found race was spot on for the B roads we drove on.
After having been privileged to drive Viper’s car, I have to say I get it and was suitably impressed.
When I jumped back into my own GTi PP, I retraced the route we had driven as a comparison.
My own car, which I know well and is run in was great along those roads, there are a couple of tight second gear turns where I could feel the benefit of the VAQ diff playing it’s part.
So, to summarise the Clubsport-S.
It is perfectly tractable and provides so much feedback, exactly what a Clubsport variant of a regular model should offer.
I feel VW have put quite a lot of effort into this car, more than is immediately apparent, the important point being, even on a short drive the car let’s you know it’s potential. I can’t stress that enough.
From my brief drive, this car may not be for every GTi owner (apart from the 2 seats).
You get the impression the capabilities of this car are way beyond the regular GTi, it will come into it’s own where the GTi
ordinaire has become ragged. You really need the space and scope of a track to exploit that.
It really does feel as if they have developed the car to work with the driver, compared to some ring specials like the Ruf CTR which just wants to kill you and you need race driver talent to keep on the road, the Clubsport-S feels like it will be on your side.
Once again many thanks to ViperGTS, great to catch up and for letting me drive his sublime Clubsport-S.
Sadly I missed out on an allocation of a Clubsport-S, but will definitely look out for the opportunity to own one at a sensible price in the future.
Having owned and driven some of the best Porsche lightweights as well as some of their newer "GT" specials, I can honestly say I would take the keys to this Golf variant over a GT4.
