New 300hp VW Golf GTI Clubsport on sale now: price and specs revealed
December 03, 2020 by
The new VW Golf GTI Clubsport has gone on sale in the UK. Read on for more details about this 300hp, front-wheel-drive alternative to the likes of the Honda Civic Type R and Renault Megane RS.
- 300hp 2.0-litre engine
- Electronic differential lock
- 7-speed automatic gearbox
- 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds
- Lowered suspension
- More aggressive styling
- Two-part rear spoiler
- Interior upgrades
- On sale now
- Priced from £37,215
The VW Golf GTI Clubsport is the fastest, most hard-core version of this front-wheel-drive hot hatch. It’s on sale now, priced from £37,215.
New VW Golf GTI Clubsport design
The new VW Golf GTI Clubsport ditches the standard Golf GTI’s chequered-flag daytime running lights and adds an even larger, more gaping grille with chunky hexagonal mesh. The whole car is 10mm lower than the standard GTI, so its 18-inch alloy wheels appear to fill their arches even more closely.
As on the GTI, there’s a red stripe that stretches between the headlights and you’ll find some red GTI badging on the wings and bootlid. But, the new Clubsport gets rid of the standard car’s round exhausts in favour of a pair of huge oval pipes. There’s also a new double-layered spoiler perched above the rear windscreen.
New VW Golf GTI Clubsport engine and driving
The new Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport uses the same basic 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine as the standard GTI, but it has been tweaked to deliver 400Nm of torque and 300hp – that’s 55hp more than you get in a Golf GTI. This puts the new Clubsport model in the same league as the four-wheel drive 306hp Mercedes-AMG A35, 310hp Audi S3 and 306hp BMW M135i.
Unlike those cars, which are all-wheel drive, the new VW Golf GTI Clubsport is front-wheel drive only, just like the 320hp Honda Civic Type R. Where the Honda comes with a six-speed manual gearbox, however, the Golf GTI Clubsport gets a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic as standard, which helps it reach 60mph from rest in 5.6 seconds. That makes it the fastest-accelerating production GTI ever.
Compared with the standard Golf GTI, the Clubsport’s suspension settings and electronic vehicle stability systems have been retuned to make it more agile on a track. Volkswagen has also linked the latter with the car’s electronic locking differential for the first time, to help it muster up even more grip when you accelerate out of sharp corners.
New VW Golf GTI Clubsport interior
Don’t expect any particularly dramatic changes inside the new VW Golf GTI Clubsport. It gets the same basic cabin layout as the Golf GTI with an identical infotainment system, dashboard and mood lighting. The GTI’s tartan seats have gone, however – replaced by a set of more supportive sports seats.
New VW Golf GTI Clubsport price and release date
The new VW Golf GTI Clubsport is on sale now, priced from £37,215.
If you’re not sure whether the Golf GTI Clubsport is the hot hatch for you, check out carwow’s pick of the best hot hatches you can buy or let carwow help you choose which car to buy.
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