Name: NEW VW Golf GTI (Mk8.5) & The Story of the GTI so far
Uploaded: 2024-08-27T16:11:21.000Z
Duration: 26 min 27 s
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Right now I am driving a car that most people in the world haven't even seen yet in real life.

This is a car that is a design icon following on from many other design icons, eight and a half to be precise.

This is the new Golf, not only the new Golf, it's the new Golf GTI and like many of its predecessors beforehand, may be one of the most significant cars to roll out of the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg.

For one very good reason, hear that noise?

Yep, just like all the other reviews, that might be disappearing soon.

Hello, you're watching Driven, my name is John Markar and this is the Volkswagen Golf

So, 8.5 generations of Golf GTI, that in itself is enough worth celebrating.

But before we do, why don't we have a little recap on the story so far of one of the most iconic cars in the world and of course, one of the most iconic tuning brands, the Golf

The first ever Volkswagen Golf came along in May 1974 as a successor to the Volkswagen

It was styled by the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.

In a stark contrast to the Beetle, the new small car from Volkswagen had a front mounted water cooled engine and a very boxy shape, which was a new and some say, risky direction for Volkswagen.

Once the Golf had proven to be a success, a small committee of Volkswagen employees led by the head of press, Anton Conrad, decided a sportier version might be a strong seller.

One of the group, a marketeer by the name of Horst Deutersz-Wielinski, carried out some market research and came up with the Golf GTI name, with GTI being short for Grand Tourer

Designer Gunnhild Lilliquist, the first woman to join the team, is credited with creating many of the GTI's best loved features, such as the tartan interior and the golf ball gear knob.

The very first Mark 1 Golf GTI came with 108 horsepower, a four speed manual transmission and weighed in at 810kg, resulting in a 0-62 acceleration time of 9.2 seconds and a top speed of 113mph.

In 1984, the Mark 2 Golf GTI arrived with a bigger and boxier look, taken from the already existing Golf Mark 2.

The GTI had some new features like dual headlights and a rear spoiler, and it was powered by a new four-cylinder engine with a five-speed gearbox, giving similar acceleration to the predecessor despite being 180kg heavier.

The Golf GTI 16 valve then arrived in 1987 with a 0-62 time of 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 130mph.

The 1990s arrived and with it, so did the Mark 3 Golf GTI, which represented the end of the classically styled GTIs.

The new model, the Mark 3, had a curved shape and was deemed slightly less exciting by the fans.

It was also slightly heavier, but thanks to an engine upgrade with a 16 valve producing 148 horsepower, this saw an improved top speed of 134mph and a 0-62 time of 8.7 seconds.

Things got a little more confusing when the Mark 4 Golf GTI came along in 1997, as it was now essentially a sporty trim version of the Golf rather than an entirely separate model.

Gone were the red stripe and GTI badging on the grille, but now it was available with a wider variety of engines, including the diesel-powered GTI TDI, which many would later argue wasn't ever a GTI at all.

A 25th anniversary edition of the Mark 4 was released in 2001 with a more powerful 20-valve four-cylinder engine and an aggressive body kit.

Then came the return of the classic golf ball gear knob, something the fans of the classic

Having heard and listened to the groans from the press and consumers from the Mark 4, the

Mark 5 Golf GTI returned in 2003 as a clear and concise GTI model.

The Mark 5 had a new 16-valve four-cylinder engine delivering a 0-62mph sprint in 7.2 seconds, and classic elements like the red stripe, the GTI badging and the tartan upholstery as seen in the original Golf GTI had returned.

Performance was the focus of the Mark 6 Golf GTI, which arrived in 2008.

Racing driver Hans-Jochen Stuck was added to the development team to help get the GTI back to its original motorsport performance brief.

The Mark 6 had a new electronic differential, giving the car incredible grip.

The new car's 0-62 time was 6.9 seconds and its top speed was almost 150mph.

And thanks to a new twin sports exhaust, a new soundtrack, it sounded better and more purposeful.

A special edition called the Edition 35 was created to celebrate the GTI's 35th anniversary.

It completed its first outing at the Nürburgring clocking in an impressive 8 minutes 38 seconds lap time.

Production of the Mark 7 Golf GTI began in spring 2013 and it was launched with two different engines.

The basic GTI had 217hp and the Golf GTI Performance had 227hp.

This was powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine and was the first Golf GTI to go past the 150mph speed limit thanks to a 42kg weight cut.

In 2016, whilst in the Mark 7 era, Volkswagen launched the Golf GTI Club Sport S to mark the 40th birthday of the model.

It introduced an aluminium subframe and disposed of the rear seats, helping to achieve a lap time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife of 7 minutes and 49 seconds.

That was a new record for front-wheel drive production cars at the time.

Orders for the Mark 8 GTI opened in the autumn of 2020.

The new car offered aluminium subframes and stiffer suspension as seen on the predecessor and a new vehicle dynamics manager that adjusted all running gear functions up to 200 times a second, making it the most responsive GTI yet.

In a throwback to the classics, the Mark 8 had a single red GTI line above the headlights and, for the first time in its history, the GTI was only available as a four-door car.

The 45th birthday of the GTI was honoured with the release of the GTI Club Sport 45, which featured some beautiful styling cues and even a Nürburgring driver mode setting.

But now we have a new Golf to talk about.

And we are back in 2024 with the latest iteration of the Golf GTI, the 8.5.

Now the very observant of you, and especially those of you watching this in 4K, may notice that this car is quite dirty.

There are lots of dead bugs on the windscreen, there's a little bit of bird poo there, and it's splattered with dead bugs on the front.

That's because this exact car, along with myself and photographer Henry, have just returned from a 1,500 mile road trip from the Volkswagen headquarters in Milton Keynes here in the over to the Volkswagen headquarters in Germany in Wolfsburg for the GTI Fan Festival.

Now that is a completely separate video all in itself, and also is the first ever attempt at vlogging that we have done here at Driven.

Now without giving too many spoilers, I'm going to preface the title of that video, which may already be live.

It's called Probably the Worst Automotive Vlog Ever, because we simply forgot to carry on filming once we got to Wolfsburg.

But hey, doesn't matter, have a watch, see what you think.

If you like the style of where it's going, tell us and we'll do more.

But anyway, back to the subject in hand, the new Golf GTI Mark 8.5.

A very, very, very, very significant car for many reasons.

It's probably worth now mentioning what's different from the 8.

Now if you're familiar with Volkswagen Golfs and familiar with the life cycle in which they progressed, then you'll be all too aware that more often than not, what you get is a Mark and then a 0.5, and that is, as many manufacturers do, a mid-life upgrade.

So there's a few little changes, usually styling and a bit of power, and that's exactly what this one has got.

So a smidge more power, we've got 20 more horsepower than the previous Mark 8, and that rewards a slightly better acceleration time from 0 to 60 of 5.9 seconds.

The 20 horsepower upgrade results in 261 horsepower, so that's up from 240-ish before, and whilst it's not a huge big difference, it's enough to be a bit of a selling point, I guess.

The other main changes all refer to styling.

So if we look at the front of the car, we have a slightly adapted and redesigned front bumper with, I'm going to say it, some of the best fog light design I have ever seen.

I usually get really grumpy when I see people driving along in broad daylight, no fog, and they've got their fog lights on.

But this, when the fog lights are on, it looks so good.

So I would actually be tempted to be a bit of a moron and drive around with my front fog lights on.

These are the ID LED Matrix headlights, which, Volkswagen say, illuminate things up to half a kilometre away.

And then on the subject of lights, the entire front grille now lights up, and so does the badge.

And at the back of the car, it's a similar story.

We have redesigned rear lights, which I think are very nice, and a slightly tweaked rear bumper.

All in all, making this, in my genuine opinion, a very, very good-looking car.

And along the side, we've got some new wheels.

These 19-inch wheels are affectionately called the Richmond.

Those are Queenstown wheels, and they will cost you an extra £1,270.

And there are additional options that you can pick on the configurator.

We've also got a slightly confusing new location for the GTI badge.

I think maybe it would be better there, but that's just my opinion.

But subject to configurator, it's probably worth mentioning the price, because this new 8.5 does have a fairly big price tag, with prices starting at £38,900 before options.

If you then do want to put some additional options on, things like slightly different wheels, a sunroof, some interior comfort options, upgraded sound, for example, then that price does very quickly grow.

And having a little play just now on the configurator, I managed to get a price tag of just under £45,000.

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NEW VW Golf GTI (Mk8.5) & The Story of the GTI so far

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