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Drive Thru: Volkswagen Mk7 Golf GTI

Mk7 Golf GTI

The evolution of the Golf GTI has entered its seventh stage and it’s almost as if the model has become a victim of its own success. The Mk5 GTI created a tidal wave of hype and the Mk6 followed suit, perhaps to a lesser degree despite sales remaining strong. But this time around it feels like the Mk7 GTI has quietly snuck onto Australian shores without much fanfare.

Not only did the Mk5 GTI reignite Volkswagen, especially in Australia, it reignited the hot hatch segment. Last decade you didn’t have to do too much to make people take notice. That’s not to say the Mk5 wasn’t a great car, it was, but we’re now in a more competitive market where buyers have a firm idea of what to expect from a Golf GTI. The likes of Ford and Renault, in particular know that too and provide very capable alternatives. Has the Mk7 advanced the cause enough for Volkswagen to ensure it still has a hot hatch winner on its hands?

Mk7 Golf GTI

Mk7 Golf GTI

Let’s start with the look of the new GTI. It’s straight from the GTI playbook, there’s no surprises here. Some people bemoan the fact the look of the GTI and the Golf VII in general is quite predictable. Personally, I appreciate that the Golf range has a clear evolution which can be traced all the way back to 1974 when the Golf was first introduced. Likewise, styling cues from the Mk1 GTI, first seen in 1976, can be found re-interpreted on the Mk7.

The red highlight on the grille now only found on the lower section works best when xenon headlights are optioned and the red line continues into the headlight cluster. This helps further enhance the overall effect of making the Mk7 look wider and more squat on the road. At the back more angular rear lights are the biggest difference from the Mk6.

Having worked so hard to win back GTI buyers, after losing them to complacency during the Mk3 and Mk4 era, Volkswagen clearly isn’t messing with its hot hatch recipe here.

The step inside the cabin reveals a greater leap forward with a more refined and cohesive result than the previous generation GTI. Materials appear to be slightly improved and the overall feeling is one of enhanced quality.

It’s still easy to find a comfortable seating position and in our manual equipped test car we found the pedal placement well suited to heel and toe downshifts. As an aside, we like that right hand drive Golfs still offer a dead pedal of sorts for your right foot, which makes highway cruising more comfortable than it would otherwise be.

Mk7 Golf GTI

Mk7 Golf GTI

The new GTI is packed with a raft of new standard equipment and it was the Driver Profile Selection which offered most interest for this review. It uses a revised Adaptive Chassis Control system to offer a choice of three main pre-determined settings: Comfort, Normal and Sport. These settings adjust suspension and steering tune. It will also adjust the behaviour of the DSG transmission if fitted.

In addition, there’s Eco and Individual settings as well. Eco is designed for improved fuel economy and will adjust functions such as the air conditioning to help its cause. Individual allows drivers to mix and match selections from the pre-determined settings to suit their own preferences. Want sharper steering all the time, but softer suspension for daily commuting, then here’s your chance.

All of these goodies cost money and as such the starting price for the GTI has moved beyond the $40,000 price point for the first time in recent years. That said the inclusion of standard equipment helps justify the extra cost, to the point that before turning the key the Mk7 GTI offers a noticeable improvement over its predecessor.

On the road the GTI is easy to drive and the manual ‘box had a great feel to it. Accurate and precise, it’s a shame the vast majority of GTIs will be fitted with a DSG.

Mk7 Golf GTI

It’s quickly apparent, too, that Volkswagen’s engineers have done a good job with the suspension tune. The Comfort setting allows you to cruise along without too many cares. On this setting the steering is too light for spirited driving and would be best suited to the grind of heavy traffic. Similarly, the suspension is soft and compliant but is quickly found out when the stakes are raised.

Pleasingly, when switching the profile to Normal or Sport the ride is still well composed and the new GTI will soak up bumps with ease. There’s a clear improvement here, especially when compared to the sometimes quite harsh Mk5. I couldn’t say I noticed a huge difference in ride quality between the Normal and Sport settings, but the steering was defintely sharpened up when set to Sport.

To be honest if you only had the choice between Normal and Comfort you’d find yourself with a well sorted hot hatch able to handle most driving duties. That said, when attacking twisty roads the Sport setting is the best option. It’s in the steering feel I noticed the greatest difference, where turn-in was good and quick direction changes felt best.

Mk7 Golf GTI

Once you find yourself on some fun roads the GTI will put a smile on your face with its overall composure. Again, I can’t praise the suspension tune highly enough, it offered stability when I needed it while remaining surefooted through mid-corner bumps.

The Mk7 GTI is a car you quickly feel comfortable in, I immediately felt confident to push the car to its limits and discovered a few new and pleasing GTI experiences while doing so.

There’s a liveliness to the chassis that is down to more than the car shedding a few kilos. The car moves around under heavy braking and the rear end is light and frisky at times. Normally you might consider these traits to be unfavourable but not once did I feel uncomfortable. In fact, it just urged me to push more. It’s a great experience when there’s a real willingness from both car and driver to hunt the next apex. And while enjoying this new flirty handling behaviour I was eager to nail it through corner after corner.

The more I pressed on the better the GTI was. There’s just so much grip and you can rip it into corners quite hard, that grip will carry you through corner exits as well. It’s contradictory in some ways, because the car always felt composed, but felt looser and therefore more alive at the same time. It’s actually very hard to explain the sensation in words other than to say this really is a new GTI.

Braking is, of course, over-assisted at first—a Volkswagen Group trait—but in general terms the feel through the pedal is quite good. It’s unlikely you’ll run out of brakes on public roads that’s for sure.

With 162kW this is also the most powerful GTI ever made (discounting special editions) and when you’re hunting those apexes, in third and fourth gear especially, the car has good throttle response and mid-range grunt. At other times it doesn’t feel terribly quick, although some of that is due to the expert chassis beneath you which could comfortably handle more power—bring on the Golf R, I kept thinking to myself!

Mk7 Golf GTI

For a car with only a few hundred kilometres under its belt it did perform well and was very willing to play high in the rev range. I can’t say I expect the extra 7kW offered in the Performance Pack (due in Australia from the second quarter of 2014) to provide too many extra fireworks, but it will be very interesting to see how its electronically controlled mechanical diff alters the driving experience. Certainly, the standard GTI handled most corners I threw it into quite well. Understeer only became an issue when deliberately looking for it or, at times, through longer radius bends. Overall, though, this is a very fine handling front-wheel drive car.

In conclusion the GTI is everything you expect it to be. It will live up to its well-deserved cliché of being the best all-round hot hatch in its class and, in time, you will see plenty of them on the road. As is to be expected you’ll need to wait in line if you want a car built to your spec, with the current lead time being around six months.

Continuing the clichéd summary of the GTI, it still can’t quite match the connection or raw thrills provided by a Megane RS 265, for example. However small, there is a sense of detachment at times. But if asked to choose between the two I’d still be taking the GTI every time. The really nice thing about the new GTI is that it delivers everything you expect it to—better than it has ever done—but does so with a friskiness that’s been missing from the GTI repertoire until now.

If you’re shopping for a hot hatch there are more options worth considering than there has been in the past. But, to quote Jeremy Clarkson when he tested the Mk5 GTI back in the day, if you want a hot hatch that is “all things to all men” save yourself the bother of shopping around; just buy a Golf GTI.

Mk7 Golf GTI

Mk7 Golf GTI

Thank you to Lennock Volkswagen for their assistance.

12 replies on “Drive Thru: Volkswagen Mk7 Golf GTI”

Good review. Having just returned from 4 weeks overseas where I had a Mk7 TDI Bluemotion, I was impressed by the innate sense of “what a nice car this is to be in, and to drive”after the first day, and which persisted until I handed the car back. VAG has made incremental, but noticeable improvements everywhere. Thus, I have expectations of the GTI, which your review indicates will be met.

Yes, there are other hot hatches; the price is up, and perhaps an R might be better, but I think most people will find themselves struggling to find reasons why they don’t buy the GTI, after driving it.

Great write up Ausmotive.

Still struggle with the thought that with DSG/roof/leather they are over $55k

Very good review Liam.
Still glad I have my MkV, though the VII does look very tempting. Though I think a base car without Sat Nav and adaptive suspension would be better.
I drove a Focus last year through Germany and was very impressed with how it went and handled. Also the interior was leaps ahead of where the XR5 was. The ST could be a worthy competitor.

In curious to try both this and an R when it comes out, but pricing of the later will be interesting to not step on S3 or performance pack GTI.

Great review Ausmotive! It’s hard to imagine that these cars could get any more refined, and the small price increase does seem justified. This truly seems to be the swiss army knife of cars.

Might just have to look at the new golf R when it arrives as a replacement for my b7 rs4…hmmmm good review.

Nice writeup Liam. You don’t even need to go back that far to hear Clarkson heap praise on the GTI:

http://www.driving.co.uk/clarkson/volkswagen/golf/the-clarkson-review-volkswagen-golf-gti-2013/13104

“For me this car is perfect. And if you’re honest, it’s perfect for you too.”

Then there’s Top Gear script editor Richard Porter (aka Sniff Petrol):

http://sniffpetrol.com/2013/10/18/a-week-with-a-golf-gti/

“There are more excitable hot hatchbacks but I suspect they’d become annoying where the Golf will give years of quiet satisfaction when you’re tired and moments of genuine joy when you’re not. In short, it’s brilliant.”

Yeah good review Liam.

I think they still are bottom of the pack style wise (good steering wheel, but the rest of that interior – blurgh) but the ride/handling balance is superb and the price is still great (if you can leave the options list alone). I think the main criticisms in terms of ownership would be friends that have had plague ridden DSG boxes in their Mk 5 and 6 GTIs, and the well documented ratlles (although in fairness any relatively firmly sprung car will have these with our woefull coarse chip roads).

Despite the downsides, it really is a hard one to beat.

Great review. Just placed an order for a White MK7 GTI manual with Xeons. Dealer told me it was a special build because of the manual as most are DSG’s. I think as a nation we have forgotten the joys of manual driving especially when it’s as easy to shift as the GTI. BTW my trade in car is a 2004 Mazda 6 manual hatch that I’ve had since new, only ever owned I auto, VT commodore, couldn’t wait to ditch it for a manual.

Looking forward to something sporty and giving my son a run for his money with his Sirocco R

Great write up of the new GTI.

Alpine: Full retail on a GTI with all those options should be under 54K (from VW website). And to get any of the competitors with those options (A250) would cost more.

Jav, It’s not the beating it’s the trying that’s the fun part and the egging him on.

I’ll also point out that I have a spare tyre and don’t need a tow truck if the if the puncture repair kit doesn’t work because the puncture is to big.

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