VW’S Fright Club

The Volkswagen GTI Clubsport and I were travelling in a westerly direction on the A303 (as the Old Bill might say) when the heads-up display, helpfully showing me the speed limit for the road we were on, suddenly changed from 70 to 110mph.

I doubt the excuse when caught for doing 110 in a 70 zone – ‘but the car told me it was OK, your honour’ – would stand up in court.

I mention this because it shows how far off self-driving or autonomous cars we still are. A self-driving car will need a mass of information for it to drive itself safely and if it thinks it’s in a different country

(the French national speed limit on main roads is 110km/h) and has its units muddled, things are going to go badly.

Sorry for that diversion but it was very worrying that it happened and needs to be said.

Right, to the GTI Clubsport itself. Here’s the recipe: take one Golf GTI and its 2.0-litre EA888 engine, fit a different turbocharger, a larger intercooler and add some new software and you have a GTI with 300PS, or 65PS more than the standard GTI. Then add to this suspension lowered by 10mm, recalibrated steering with just 2.1 turns lock to lock, bigger front brake discs and revised front suspension geometry and new bearings in the rear suspension control arms.

Got all that?

Of course it’s got to look the part too – and for that we have a new front bumper with larger air intakes, flared side skirts and a larger than standard rear wing.

Volkswagen says there’s less lift front and back but more drag. You’ll not notice either, I suspect. If your car has the optional Dynamic Chassis Control (at £785 it’s worth it) then you’ll be able to select a driving mode called Nurburgring.

Talking of that famous German circuit, the Clubsport is apparently 13 seconds faster around that track than the regular GTI.

Unfortunately, although that figure is no doubt impressive, it doesn’t mean the Clubsport is any more fun than the GTI or worth its sticker price of £35,985.

The trouble is I remember how good the last Clubsport was. That was a brilliant car, particularly in its extreme ‘no rear seats’ and very limited edition Clubsport S guise. If you’ve got one of those, hold onto it as it’ll be a future classic.

This new Clubsport is very fast as numbers like 0-62mph in 5.6sec and a top speed of 155mph show – but it doesn’t feel really special.

For starters it only comes with a 7-speed DSG gearbox which takes the fun out of it a bit.

Also, the extra power comes in at the top end of the rev range where on the road it’s less useful (even with a 110mph limit).

Almost 300bhp is a lot of grunt in a front-wheel drive car. And on some surfaces, especially in the cold, the tyres struggle to find grip, even with a

limited-slip differential.

The trouble is there’s a firm called Honda and it builds a car called the Civic Type R that is quite brilliant. It is extreme both in looks and behaviour but very special to drive.

A car carrying a name like Clubsport should be very special.

There’s another problem too: Volkswagen itself makes the Golf R, a four-wheel drive rocket with 310PS. We’ve tested that, too, and you’ll read about it soon. Without spoiling the story, it’s a much better car than this Clubsport.