This Is The Mk8.5 VW Golf GTI Clubsport, And Not Much Has Changed

With the arrival of the Mk8.5 VW Golf GTI earlier this year, it was only inevitable that an updated version of the Mk8’s Clubsport would soon follow. That car is now here and changes are err, minimal at best.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The EA888 2.0-litre four-pot lives on with 296bhp and 295lb ft of torque, up from 261bhp and 273lb ft in the regular GTI. That continues to be sent through a seven-speed DSG to the front wheels, with 0-62mph sorted in 5.6 seconds and a limited top speed of 155mph. In case you’re a Nürburgring or autobahn weapon, you can have that raised to 167mph with an optional Race package.

Mechanically, there are no dramatic changes either. The suspension setup of the base GTI carries over into Clubsport as before, and the once model-specific diff tuning on the Clubsport is now deployed on the regular car too. It still gets 20mm larger front brake discs over the base version, though.

In fact, the only real driving-focused change compared with the outgoing Clubsport is a tweak of the electronic steering setup’s software with input from former Bugatti test driver Sven Bohnhorst. Apparently, some influence has been drawn from the Chiron Pur Sport as a result – we’ll volunteer ourselves to try both cars back-to-back to find out for sure.

Really, the biggest differences come in the cabin. Like the rest of the Mk8.5 range, it gets a new 12.9-inch infotainment display with VW’s newest MIB4 software which is a marked improvement on the old one based on our use of it in other models.

It does mean touch-sensitive climate controls still (boo, hiss, etc.) but does bring physical buttons back to the steering wheel. In the year that is 2024, that’s genuinely quite exciting.

There’s a rejig of the front and rear designs, with a bit of an angrier face compared with the old car and the option of new ‘IQ.Light’ Matrix LEDs. There’s the new Alfa-like set of alloys too.

No word yet on pricing for the VW Golf GTI Clubsport, nor the regular car still for that matter. We’re expecting the Clubsport to approach the £50,000 mark. Unfortunately, hot hatches are just very expensive now.