TOO MUCH. TOO SOON.

I was pretty perplexed when I saw VW had released pictures of a ‘Clubsport’ model of the new MK8 Golf GTi. The reason for such ptrplextion? I had spent the previous week trying to nail down when a we could order the not yet to hit the UK or US regular GTi. With a test drive Vito only being lifted in October so the journalists could enlighten us with the thoughts and a car configurator only just live a couple if days after it seems absolutely crazy to already let potential GTi customers know that the car they want has already been bettered. As yet there is still no R model details which seemed like the next natural step. In my experience the GTi and R have quite fundamental offerings and I know first hand there customer is subtly different. Not to mention the R MK7 dominated the GTi in sales.

The GTi has a heritage the R can not live up to, it also a sublime subtly the R never gets close too. I ran a MK7 GTi PP and drove a few R on release and honestly you would never get me to swap.

Golf 8 R. Spotted it its usual rubbish blue colour.

Would I have liked a Clubsport, yes. So what’s my probable, just order one of those!? Well for someone immersed in the aftermarket special additions usually raid our parts bin and add a significant amount of margin. A Regular GTi could me made much better than a Clubsport with the right modification, plus I always know the wheels are going off as is the suspension. I suppose it comes down too the fact I know for sure I can modify a car better than any manufacture and I won’t charge myself a stupid premium for the pleasure.

My old Golf 7 GTi PP