the masses the quintessential doitall family car with a bit of a rebellious streak it’s the classless performance car the thinking man’s hot hatch and now there’s a new eighth generation. gti firstly uh sorry about all the banging we are in wales and the weather’s taken a little bit of a turn now based funnily enough on the 8th generation golf you can tell this new gti from its slightly angrier face . You’vegot this full width honeycomb grille down at the bottom with these led lights punched into it you’ve also got now a full width .

Ledstrip that runs straight across there sounds cool but when you see it at night i think you’ll agree it looks a bit weird alloys that are trying a . Bitharder around the back wider set tailpipes and bigger gti badges you can only buy this in a five door now but the point is it’s not as subtle as . Itonce was perhaps the angry exterior is compensating for the lack of changes under the skin because compared to its predecessor there aren’t many yes faster performance pack and .

Rversions will arrive in . Timebut for now it’s 242 brake horsepower from basically the same two liter four cylinder turbo as it had before that’s the same amount . Ofpower as the old mark 7 performance pack mustard but still a fair bit behind rivals the i30n focus st and megan rs it’s still frontwheel drive still based on . Themqb platform and they’re still a choice of sixspeed manual or the more popular sevenspeed dsg gearbox now i’m not saying there’s anything wrong with vw’s if it ain’t broke don’t fix it approach it’s just not very interesting is it .

Atleast they’ve included gti staples tartan cloth on the seats and this dimpled golf ball gear knob here although i can’t remember seeing any golf balls that were that shape and here is where vw has really flexed its creativity . Withthis virtually buttonless interior and you know . Whati don’t it at all don’t . Getme wrong it looks fantastic it looks . Futuristicthe touchscreen responds .

Wellto your inputs and it will match the minimalist aesthetic of your iphone but it turns the simplest of commands into a massive ball lake imagine you’re driving down the road .

Andthere’s some decent twisty bits coming up ahead you might . Wantto slacken off the electronic stability control put it in esc sport to do that i have to jab vehicle vehicle again exterior swipe brakes for some reason esc system esc sport yup and then back to the home screen it’s just .