It was about time the Volkswagen Golf nameplate arrived in India, and it’s in the Mk 8.5 GTI guise. Does it live up to the iconic hot hatch reputation? We sampled it in the best place to let loose; the NATRAX proving grounds
Story : Gaurav Davare
Photography: Kalidas M
Everybody has their personal preferences in life, and that includes their ideal type of car. Some would pick SUVs, for others it may be rough and tough off-roaders or even going towards the realm of unobtainable exotics. To me, a hot hatch has always been my pick of poison. The reason is simple, they’re compact, lightweight, and don’t need a huge engine or a bucket load of gizmos or sensitive aerodynamic appendages to go quick.
With utmost respect, the hatchbacks we get in India are more warm than hot and to even get into true hot hatch territory one has to go towards the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+ which can head into that unobtanium territory. But it looks like Volkswagen India have answered our prayers by bringing over the Mk 8.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI and we got the chance to push it to the limit at the NATRAX proving grounds in Indore; the perfect platform for me to finally try and tick off the bucket list item of experiencing a true hot hatch.
Before I start waxing lyrical about this hot hatch, it’s important to point out why the Golf moniker finally coming to India is a pretty big deal. Basically, this is Volkswagen’s most successful nameplate: 37 million units, eight generations and, not too long ago, it celebrated 50 years of existence. This legendary era began in 1974 when the Golf had massive shoes to fill, succeeding the iconic Beetle. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, out went the curves and in came a sharp boxy design. It didn’t take long for it to be an instant hit as it set a new template for the people’s car. Over the years, the Golf gained a reputation for being a car that got the job done as it was practical, efficient, properly built, showcased German engineering prowess and was priced in a way that wasn’t inaccessible to the everyday motorist.
The Mk1 1976 Golf GTI itself is an icon as it is the original hot hatch. A 1.6-litre petrol engine with fuel injection tech helped it put out 110 hp; not a big deal now, but it was back in the 1970s and with a kerb weight of just 810 kg, you got the best of both worlds in terms of power-to-weight ratio. It hit 0-100 km/h in nine seconds and had a claimed top speed of 182 km/h. All this was enough to gain legions of fans amongst enthusiasts, with the iconic GTI DNA still present eight generations later which I’ll get more into the nitty gritties of it. The acronym GTI has an interesting translation: Grand Tourer Injection.
Now, back to the present with the Mk 8.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI. I’ve always appreciated Volkswagen’s design language for not needing to be flashy to stand out and the same is the case here. The sleek silhouette is easy on the eyes with the sporty GTI elements starting up front with a honeycomb mesh front grille and an intriguing five-piece fog-lamp design with the same honeycomb mesh. The sleek LED headlights look angry and you get chunky 18-inch alloy wheels with a low 225/40R18 tyre profile. Personally, it would be nice to have a thinner spoke for the wheels or have something similar to the Golf R. Rounding things off are red brake calipers, a roof-mounted spoiler, a shark-fin antenna and two exhaust tail pipes. Of course the GTI identification comes from the iconic red accent at the front, “GTI” badging on the front grille, fender and the tailgate.
Step inside, and you get a familiar European level premium cabin with some intriguing sporty GTI-themed bits such as unique textures around the dashboard and door pads, red inserts, tartan-patterned sport seats with “GTI” lettering, red accents all over and unique graphics on the digital real estate.
Despite it being a hot hatch, there are plenty of niceties such as a 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, a wireless phone charger, 30-colour ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof and and a fairly premium seven-speaker audio system. There’s also a decent bit of practicality with deep enough door pockets, cupholders and a healthy 380 litres of boot space. Safety is covered by seven airbags, electronic stability control (ESC), a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), an electronic parking brake, and a rear parking camera with front and rear sensors. There are also ADAS assists which I didn’t really get to test it out properly, although the lane keep assist did correct the car’s trajectory in a gradual way even at speeds above 160 km/h.
The sports front seats are a nice place to be in with a fair amount of side bolstering for when you want to do some spirited driving. Not everything is rosy as you miss out on powered adjustment for the front seats and like the Tiguan R-Line, the touchscreen handles too many car functions for my liking. Fortunately, you do get some hotkeys for the drive mode, climate control, assists and the main menu. Also, it will feel a little cramped up at the rear with a lack of legroom, although it’s unlikely one would buy a Golf GTI to be chauffeured around in.
Now to the real meat of the hot hatch credentials that is under the hood. A 2.0-litre TSI turbo-petrol engine puts out 265 hp and 370 Nm. It’s mated to a seven-speed DSG. How does this all matter for the hot hatch experience? Well, the NATRAX proving grounds in Indore is the place to find the answer.
First impressions are everything, even in a car and it’s safe to say I haven’t stopped smiling. It starts from the growl of the exhaust with the symphony of pops and crackles almost feeling like an addictive high especially under motion. It’s quite rev-happy but it’s not just for show, as performance does pick up. Get the launch control working, put it into Sport mode and slam your lead foot on the throttle; it rockets away to triple-digit speeds, even pushing you to your seat, and all of this is done effortlessly by the engine and gearbox. It can even pull off a calm cruise without a hassle.
At NATRAX we got a chance to test this hot hatch’s capabilities at two circuits. The first one was the 12-km banked high-speed loop where the Golf GTI felt absolutely planted even when we topped it out at an indicated 267 km/h. Impressively, road noise was only noticeable once we crossed the 180 km/h mark.
The second circuit at NATRAX was the handling track which had a gem of a layout filled with slow, medium and high speed corners; a perfect proving ground to absolutely push the Golf GTI to the limit. If there is one word to describe the way it eats corners for breakfast, it would be “precise.” Be it any corner you tackle, it felt like the car could read your mind on what you wanted from it and allowed it to happen effortlessly. Even trying to force an understeer felt predictable and easy to correct. On the other hand, this means it’ll be difficult to get the rear loose, not helped by it being front-wheel drive.
Helping this hot-hatch hoon around corners is the 1,454-kg kerb weight, progressive steering and electronically controlled front-axle differential. Yes, the steering feels progressive, but you can still make quick directional changes. A real treat for the enthusiasts are the drive modes on offer (Eco, Comfort, Sport and Individual). These aren’t for show as they actually change characteristics of the car right from the driving dynamics to the engine and gearbox performance and even the growl of the engine. The Individual mode in particular is like a pick and mix mode where you can adjust a number of parameters to your liking.
It’s difficult to judge the ride quality considering the surfaces at NATRAX are perfect and it would be ideal to properly test it on everyday roads, but there wasn’t a feeling of unsettlement. Expectedly Sport mode will firm things up but even in the Eco and Normal modes, you would have to drive the Golf GTI with a degree of caution on everyday roads. If that’s not enough, the 136 mm ground clearance will have the speed breakers around more civilized roads, mischievously smiling at it. Overall, sure we don’t get the Golf R in India, but the Golf GTI lives up to the iconic GTI name.
At the end of the day, the Volkswagen Golf GTI is unapologetically made for the enthusiast and, more importantly, embodies the core elements of a hot-hatch and the GTI name—compact, lightweight, impressive handling dynamics and a decently potent engine. It is unfortunate that this being a CBU will mean it’ll be on the pricey side, but depending on the price, it can be a valid alternative to a Mini Cooper S. In fact, the hype is such that first batch is already sold out, so the Volkswagen Golf GTI is a good example of why hot hatches aren’t a deadend and if one gives them the love they deserve, one doesn’t necessarily need a complicated formula of big burly engines, a gazillion driver aids and a million aerodynamic surfaces to have fun.