Short Test: 2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport
Last month I had the pleasure of spending 3 days with what can be called the most desired Volkswagen currently on offer: the Golf GTI Clubsport. It's so popular that there simply wasn't room for more than 3 days! A first for me. So here's my rundown of the bedroom poster GTI Clubsport.
Clubsport is a relatively new term in the long and rich history of the Volkswagen Golf GTI legacy. Volkswagen introduced the term on the Golf Mk VII, subsequently a result of the immense popularity their GTI beholds. More flavors, more happy customers that are tailored to their niche GTI needs, and more exposure along the way. The car we're talking about today is the successor of that car, the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf. One that’s 200 kilograms heavier than the previous generation Clubsport. It stays true to the recipe: beefier looks, more power, and a sportier suspension setup. Sadly we Europeans don't get the manual option, only the silky smooth DSG. But that stings and it's not the only thing about the Clubsport that hurts your enthusiast's heart. It is a love story with a bad ending, so to say.
Enough of the negativity for now! As this was a short test, I'll save it for the end. A fitting construct of a review about the GTI Clubsport, brilliant beginning with a sore ending. Back to being positive, because there's a lot of plusses to this GTI Clubsport. Look at the car!!! Pfoe, I've rarely liked a Golf this much. Unique on the Clubsport is the spoiler, the stickers, the exhaust tips, it sits 15mm lower to the ground, and there are no GTI fog lights (the engine and brakes need the additional air that would otherwise be blocked by these fog lights). Subtle but very well executed changes, but funny enough there's not a single badge saying the car is a Clubsport. Move inside and the special feeling dissipates a bit. The only big difference compared to the normal GTI are the seats and the color theme on them.
Engineering marvel
In terms of hardware and software, the FWD top-tier Golf gets a good amount of love. Handling sits at the very core of the car's concept, even resulting in a specific drive mode for the Nürburgring. A reworked, 15 mm lower suspension gives one hell of a neutral car to drive, its neutral behavior in corners reminded me of the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S. Yes, it's that good. But it is worth mentioning I had the optional DCC aboard, Volkswagen variable chassis control. I can't tell you what the car would feel like without it but priced at 845 euros, you'd be a fool to skip it.
Volkswagen mounts an electronically controlled variable differential on the car, and together with the software they call Vehicle Dynamics Manager, cornering under load can be pushed to extremes with a fair amount of confidence. Because of its extremely neutral behavior, the GTI Clubsport tempts you into seeking the limits of its mechanical grip. There's a great reward in the reaction of the chassis and the drivetrain under dynamic driving. Believe me, your occupants won't like you when you suddenly take the car close to its edge unannounced. They also won't like it when you use the standard 18-inch discs upfront at their maximum potential. These are electromechanically controlled and thus making them very easy to dose.
You'll be thankful for the size of those brakes because the 300 hp and 400 Nm pull you into high levels of kinetic energy quickly. Zero to a hundred is something I clocked at 5.7 seconds but it's the rolling accelerations out of the apex that are very engaging in the GTI Clubsport. Its exhaust note sadly isn't engaging, only under spirited driving the occasional pop or bang exits the pipes. Overall I managed 7.3L/100 km on that potent 2-liter engine, not bad for a 1.461 kg kilogram hot hatch that lures you into shenanigans. And whilst we're on the subject of the drivetrain, this brings me to the elephant in the room: the absence of a manual option. Unlike the predecessors, this Nürburgring honed GTI doesn't come with a manual option for us Europeans. That wouldn't have been so painful if Volkswagen would have opted for different shift paddles. In a car that revolves so much around handling, you straightforwardly want more control over that DSG via bigger paddles. No manual? Fine, but at least put in the extra work for these!
Disconnected
There are sadly more things in the Golf VIII GTI Clubsport that create a distance between all the beforementioned positive notes about its handling. One is the lack of a physical ESP button and the second is that there's no proper placed button to switch drive modes. For both these things, both crucial in how you as a driver interact with a hot hatch, the only way to access them is via touch-based controls. Those buttons aren't in the right place either. For the ESP you'll have to go through the menus in the infotainment, for the modes there's a cluster just below the infotainment. You'll be spending way too much time with your eyes off the road searching for the controls, often killing the opportunistic moment when it would have been fun to switch to Sport in a blink. Or that moment when the road is still a bit damp in the morning and as you approach the corner and want to turn off ESP, you're probably past that wet patch before you find the ESP control.
But you'll be able to work around it by tuning the individual drive mode to your liking and turning that on before you set off. Next to that, you'll have to keep the screen with the ESP control open and all is well. What these drive modes do show, is just how well-composed the GTI Clubsport is as a terribly good all-rounder. In Comfort, the ride genuinely is comfortable, in Sport you’re kidneys partially come loose in your abdomen. Funny thing: the Nürburgring setting sets the dampening less stiff to cope with all the bumps there. Also funny, Sport doesn't even make the car the stiffest possible, that can only be done in Individual and with the DCC option, so it’s worth going through these option to get the best potential out of the car.
Tormented
I’d go as far and say that the GTI Clubsport is a form of torture for the enthusiast. It’s brilliant at what it does but frustrating to have such bad access to its brilliant potential. Even more so when you consider CUPRA does offer an ESP button and driving mode button. It’s as if there wasn't a budget left in the 55.145 euros this Golf GTI Clubsport will cost you here in Belgium. Never have I loved and hated a car as much as this, only to love it and then hate it again. I’m still confused by how tormenting it is. Can the Clusport S please come with bigger paddles? And the facelift with CUPRA genes!? Perfection is close but feels so far away.
