WHERE DOES THE GOLF R LEAVE THE GTI?
We took a Golf R along with the Golf GTIS to Bruntingthorpe to answer a simple question: does the new breed of superpowerful 300bhp hatchbacks undermine the case for more traditional cars like the Golf GTI, which are happy to exist with rather more modest outputs under the bonnets and rear axles devoid of driveshafts?
And in the leaden skies and sopping surfaces that greeted us, there would probably never be a better opportunity for the Golf R to make the Golf GTI look weak and silly.
The threat never materialised. I bow to no one in my admiration for the Golf R, but in all the laps I did around a soaking Bruntingthorpe, it failed entirely to diminish the GTI in my eyes. Yes, it was quicker, but not wildly so, its power advantage offset to some extent by its extra weight. It felt a little less agile on initial turn in to a corner but, of course, could deploy its all-wheel drive to best effect at the exit.
There is another breed of far sharper hatchbacks, best characterised by the Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus RS, and these do feel a breed apart from the GTI strain, but so, too, do they seem rather different from the Golf R, despite their similar prices and power outputs. These cars are much more overt driving machines, but what they gain in sheer dynamism and however much they may appeal to the more hooligan side of our natures, these very abilities also compromise their chances of fitting into our lives in town, on choked commuter roads and on motorways. And this is where the Golf, or Golfs, excel. And don’t expect VW to lurch off in a new direction any time soon: the Golf R’s pragmatic, subtle approach has been successful not because it varies the formula of the GTI but because — despite its four-wheel drive, huge output and different name — it sticks so closely to it. Remember, too, that Volkswagen has been making Golfs that go faster than the GTI for years. Remember the Golf G60, the Golf Limited, the Golf Rallye, the Golf VR6 and the Golf R32? They all came, and they all went. The GTI alone has endured.