New Milton Advertiser 11th Dec 2020

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VW loads up the big guns: Golf GTI Clubsport and R hothatches ready to open fire

■ Golf GTI Clubsport

■ Golf R

■ By Matt Lawrence, Motoring Correspondent

VW’s halo hatchbacks arrive with 316bhp and 310 lb-ft torque on tap from AWD Golf R and tons of track-focused accessories. As 2020 draws to a welcome close, here’s a bit of festive cheer for us beleaguered car fans. With season’s greetings, Volkswagen has lovingly gift-wrapped two of its most popular hothatches, adding a label marked “R” and “GTI Clubsport”. Forget reindeer power, Santa could be bringing some horsepower to your rooftop this festive season – as much as 316bhp to be precise. These are of course the two flag- bearers of the Volkswagen Golf range, representing the absolute pinnacle of hothatch performance to come out of Wolfsburg. The Golf Mk 8, the car on which this dynamic duo is based, is well into its first year of full production. Sales have been swift – it’s a Golf after all – and with the docile family hatchback now well ensconced in the UK, focus shifts to its rather rowdier relations. We’ve already got the lowdown on the trio of ‘basic’ performance

versions of the Golf. As with the seventh generation car, these will be the GTE plug-in hybrid, the souped-up GTD diesel and the iconic GTI. However, these three are simply the prelude to our main protagonists, the newly con- firmed four-wheel-drive Golf R and Nurburgring-honed GTI Clubsport. So what do we know about this pair of Golf halo cars? Well for starters, anyone lucky enough to get a taste of both the standard GTI and the untamed Clubsport will absolutely notice the extra kick. The most power- ful of the front-wheel-drive Golf family, the 2021 Golf GTI Clubsport eclipses its stablemate by amping up the power from 241bhp to 296bhp. This extra shot in the arm, plus an improved 295 lb-ft torque from the same 2.0-litre four-cylin- der turbo, propels the Clubsport from 0-62mph in just 5.6 seconds. Thus, it takes the title of the fast- est-accelerating Golf GTI to date. Delving a little deeper into the Clubsport’s considerable armory reveals several unique fixtures and fittings that are very much the preserve of the elite hothatch. Catching your gaze with an over- sized two-part spoiler spewing

from the top of the tailgate, the Clubsport also incorporates a new front splitter for an extra dose of downforce on the front axle and an enhanced rear diffuser bookended by twin oval tailpipes in place of the standard GTI’s circu- lar exhausts. Combining brains with brawn, the new GTI Clubsport can also deploy a raft of technological wiz- ardry to beat its rivals on and off the track. Incorporating an elec- tromechanical front-axle locking differential, the hothatch mitigates the kind of understeer issues that often plague front-wheel-drive speedsters of this ilk. Larger brakes keep that bulked up powerplant in check, and the whole package can be upgraded with adaptive damp- ers via VW’s optional Dynamic Chassis Control system. Over and above the standard Sport mode, this latest incarna- tion of the hardest-hitting GTI also gets a driving mode devel- oped especially for the demands of the Nürburgring, where much of the car’s testing and develop- ment took place. Indeed, the Golf has some history at this mecca of motor racing. The 2021 GTI Clubsport’s predecessor briefly

snatched the title for the fastest front-wheel-drive car around the ‘Green Hell’ back in 2016, before having it wrestled away by long- time sparring nemesis the Honda Civic Type-R. On top of the exterior and per- formance upgrades, the Golf GTI Clubsport gets a minor interior spruce up, with the addition of Clubsport-specific sports seats. VW’s much-lauded Digital Cockpit Pro and Discover Media naviga- tion system remain, as this is in essence a road-going, rather than a purely track-focused hothatch. Despite the rich performance history of the GTI moniker, most enthusiasts well know that, these days, it no longer stands trium- phant atop the Golf performance pyramid – at least not when the numbers are crunched. The outright flagship Volkswagen Golf on the market today is the Golf R, a rally-derived and, crucially, four-wheel-drive pocket rocket capable of leaving many a sports car in its wake. Back for 2021 and the cherry on the cake of the eighth generation Golf rollout, this firecracker has an exalted history of its own – if not quite the iconic status of the GTI.

The first Volkswagen in the world to be available with a dual-clutch automatic transmission, this AWD hatch outstripped its sales pro- jections threefold when it first launched back in 2003. It seems our appetite for the Golf R remains unquenched, and a glance at the latest edition’s stats leaves us in no doubt as to why. Packing a huge 316bhp and 310 lb-ft torque, the snarling R is officially the quickest Volkswagen on sale today with a 0-62mph sprint time of just 4.7 seconds. Top speed works out at 155 mph but die-hard track day enthusi- asts or those who happen to have an autobahn handy can squeeze as much as 168mph out of the super-hatchback with the optional R-Performance Pack installed. Armed with a 7-speed DSG transmission, as with its many esteemed Volkswagen R prede- cessors the 2021 version also employs 4MOTION all-wheel drive. Comprehensively uprated for the latest generation of Golf R, the AWD system debuts advanced torque vectoring that distributes engine output to all four wheels. What’s more, the new differential on the rear axle further funnels

drive variably between the two rear wheels. With up to 100 per cent of torque capable of being sent to the outside wheel under sharp cornering, the 2021 Golf R has the best tools in the business in the fight against understeer. In terms of design, the Golf R gets 18-inch ‘Jerez’ alloys as stand- ard plus a full R-spec body kit. That means you’ll get a roof spoiler and quad exhaust pipes together with hallmark blue brake callipers and matt, chrome-effect wing mirrors. Inside, the cabin is still fit for everyday purpose despite its per- formance-bias. It includes a heated steering wheel which houses the R drive mode select button as well a pair of paddle shifters. Sports seats with integrated head restraints are finished in black-blue cloth, the colour scheme synonymous with the R stable. That’s not all, as a further outlay of £2,000 will equip your Golf R with that aforementioned R-Performance Pack. As well as the extra burst of speed, it endows the 4WD hothatch with bespoke 19-inch alloy wheels, an extra-flared rear spoiler for added downforce as well as a duo of new drive modes; Drift and Special.

Track day geeks will be more than familiar with ‘Drift’ mode, which essentially throws off the R equivalent of bicycle stabilisers, allowing drivers to burn some rubber and paint the circuit black without the tutting disapproval of the car’s torque vectoring computer. Also thrown into the R-Performance mixer is a ‘Special’ mode akin to that of the GTI Clubsport. An enhanced ver- sion of the standard ‘Race’ driv- ing mode, it’s similarly tuned to tackle the demands of the famous Nürburgring, with transmission, progressive steering and the all- wheel drive setup turned up to eleven on the sporty scale. Other extra bits and bobs from the R-division parts bin include a snarling Akrapovič titanium exhaust, panoramic sunroof, Harmon/Kardon sound system and a head up display. Volkswagen’s pair of hatchback big guns are available to order in the UK now, just in time to open fire at the opposition early next year. Price wise, the Golf GTI Clubsport starts at £37,215 while its AWD partner in crime the Golf R is priced from £39,270. ■

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