The 7.5 golf gti, pinnacle of the all round hot hatch, so get it while u can!

[juicelow]

I believe the 7,5 gti is, and will be remembered as, the absolute pinnacle of the complete hot hatch.
The electric revolution is coming, it will creep up sooner than we think, and I for one am glad I have bought this gti at this time.
Don't get me wrong, I think the inevitable electric gti of the future could be a very exciting prospect, I have no problem adapting with the times BUT with all the prospects of future autonomous driving etc and cities full of transporters with hushed, whirring battery packs, I have a feeling we will lose some of the character of the gti as we know it.
The 7,5 will be the last ever gti without electrical assistance of some kind and I believe may be the last of the true 'drivers' hot hatches....my opinion.
So as said....I am personally glad I had the chance to purchase one of these now, I intend do keep it, enjoy it and drive it every day for as long as possible until legislation and petrol availability and prices force the gti in to the garage as a weekend only novelty.
Hopefully that will be a long enough time in the future that the government have taken my license away anyway because I'm a dangerous old fart.
Thanks to this forum for giving us all a place to blab 

[Watts]

I certainly agree, though from the viewpoint of a 7 owner, that the GTI is a fantastic car but as the absolute pinnacle of the hot hatch? Of that I'm not so sure. The problem with that I think is that the greatness of the GTI is in it's all round ability, it's usefulness as an everyday car with comfort and good performance. These are qualities that I don't think lend it to long term greatness, the real classics and collectibles of the future are more likely those that excel in something tangible such as performance where perhaps the CS and CSS may do rather well. In 15, 20 years time these won't generally be daily drivers so the qualities we appreciate now won't necessarily be what will be sought as they won't be needed.

In the meantime though, I'm going to keep on enjoying driving what I think is one of the best cars out there right now

[I wanted a GTi]

One thing for sure is that the Mk7 won't be remembered in the same way as the Mk3/4

[juicelow]

The way I see it is that today's 10-15 year old gti's are still saleable and desirable because they are basically powered by the same IC engine ( give or take a bit of clever valve technology) as on a brand new car in 2017.

The issue that has me in a state of ponderence (and maybe I'm wrong) is that in 15 years time my 7,5 gti although still desirable in my eyes will be virtually unsaleable because The whole network by that time will be geared to EV's....and petrol may be close to unattainable?

I am hoping that the network for petrol is still ok by then because my point is I would like to continue driving my gti daily basically until the car is broken or I am too old to drive

I guess it's all wasted conjecture cos who knows really where we'll be in 2030....but it's interesting food for thought anyway.

[LRWmotorsport]

I completely agree with the original post.

[scanesare]

I would (of-course) replace the "7.5 GTI" with "5 door GTI Clubsport" in your title, other than that I agree with everything 

[Gulfstream11]

My pennys worth.MK7 owner and loving every day.However, MK5.. re-invented the GTI.I remember a post on this site in early 2008.The OP said rather passionately that the MK5 is the best GTI ever made and will be remembered so. I was ready for a change and ordered one,kid got it spot on. I loved that car. Unfortunately so did some scrote so it went God knows where,to be replaced with an Edition30. Hell yeah even better,so much so I missed out the MK6 generation and here I am MK7 GTI PP. Nearly a year of ownership and is great. The pinnacle? I don't know, I'll never forget my first MK5 but current car I'll change tomorrow for the facelift,then change again for the clubsport then,well you get the picture. Have I completely misunderstood this post,probably knowing me. 54 now and I have a aching for retiring with the MK4 R32 in reflex silver. Thank-you.

[Exonian]

The GTI is still the pinnacle of being the only VW hot(tish) hatch that's not also offered in heavy goods vehicle guise as well. It's stayed pure in that sense.

In many ways I'm really looking forward to the hybrid GTI's of the future. They'll be the next big leap forward and if they're anywhere near as good as some of the BMW offerings they'll be very interesting but very limited where I live as it's very hilly.
But yes, the FL GTI is probably at the pinnacle of FWD hot hatch 'all rounder' for now at least.
I get the feeling VW did the ClubSport Nurburgring thing as a swan-song to the FWD hot hatch to bolster interest in its latter years and a salute to its heritage.
The FL has polished the mk7 a little further easing in the next generation of tech.

But as above, I still think the mk5 was the best GTI.
Other generations were more fun, prettier, lighter, quicker, better on fuel...
But the mk5 had the best blend of modern dynamics but still the raw edge of the early hot hatches.