BUY, LEASE OR FINANCE A VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI FROM OSV: https://bit.ly/3g7bWNE

The Volkswagen Golf GTI returns and with each generation, it just becomes more polished. This MK8 model is pretty much as new as a fresh Golf GTI tends to get. It's a decent step forward - and a little of the original GTI DNA still remains.

Market and Model

You'll now need to think in terms of a budget getting on towards £35,000 or more for a Golf GTI, once you've specced it to your precise requirements. Once, that was the amount you'd have needed for the more potent Golf R, but things have moved on. Prices start at around £33,500 for the manual variant; you'll need another £1,500 more for the 7-speed DSG auto paddleshift version. To justify its asking price, this MK8 Golf GTI arrives with quite a portfolio of optional semi-autonomous driving tech, including a 'Travel Assist' feature that allows the car to accelerate, steer and brake on motorways at speeds of up to 130mph.

Standard equipment includes a 10-inch centre-dash infotainment screen with an operating interface that responds to the command 'Hey Volkswagen', followed by whatever you want to ask. This is the segment's most interactive voice control system. Also standard are the full-LED headlights and the 10.25-inch 'Digital Cockpit' instrument binnacle screen. Volkswagen also says that this eighth generation model will be upgradeable, so if required, features like adaptive cruise control, light assist and a wi-fi hotspot can be added and enabled after you bought the car. Most owners will want to consider the option of adding DCC adaptive damping. The car's driver assistance systems include lane change assist and Travel Assist with Side Assist and Emergency Assist.

Cost of Ownership

There's no mild hybrid tech offered on this MK8 GTI model's 2.0-litre turbo engine but Volkswagen still claims that efficiency has improved by around 10%. Let's get to the WLTP figures. In manual form, the car manages up to 38.2mpg on the combined cycle and up to 169g/km of CO2. As a DSG auto, the figures are exactly the same. If that's not enough for you, then switch your attention to the diesel-powered Golf GTD version of this model. That black pump-fuelled variant gets an AdBlue delivery system that cuts nitrogen oxide emissions by 80%. Whatever engine you select, the car's coasting function (available with DSG auto transmission) is always active helping with its efficiency figures.

And the warranty? Well the standard package is three years and 60,000 miles. We can't see why Volkswagen couldn't extend that mileage limit to 100,000 miles, since that what you get on its mechanically very similar Caddy model. Doing that though, wouldn't give Volkswagen dealers so much of an opportunity to sell extended warranty packages. There's one for four years and 75,000 miles or, if you plan to see a bit more of the world in your Golf GTI, there's a five year / 90,000 mile package.

Summary

When the Golf GTI was first launched in 1976, Volkswagen wondered whether it would struggle to sell an early production run of 5,000 vehicles. Today, well over two million sales later, the issue is not whether this car will sell but who will buy it. After all, in recent generations, this model has mainly sold to folk who, if they were honest, would probably admit to having out-grown the shopping rocket genre it originally created.

These people will really like this eighth generation car. It needed to return a little to its roots - add an old fashioned dose of fun into the mature mix. It has.

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