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By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 51

Want a more focused Volkswagen Golf GTI? Then you want the GTI Clubsport version. There's a little more power, a little more visual presence - and a lot more motorsport tuning care. Producing what many enthusiasts will feel is a very satisfying end result. Here, we look at the updated version.

Background word count: 198

The space between the Golf GTI and the Golf R is surely the smallest of market niches, but Volkswagen has for years been determined to fill it - and continues to do so in the updated MK8 Golf range with this car, the GTI Clubsport. To wonder why this model exists when for not much more, customers could go faster and get 4WD in a Golf R is to miss the point. Golf GTI enthusiasts often dismiss the Golf R as a hot hatch for bored executives, rather than one for the Nurburgring. They want something more focused - a Golf GTI with motorsport genes. The sort of thing that was served up in the old pre-2020 MK7 Golf range by the GTI TCR, those letters standing for 'Touring Car Racing'. But by the time of this Golf MK8's launch in 2020, Volkswagen had turned its back on the TCR class, so for this uprated version of the GTI, decided to return to the 'Clubsport' name that had last been used on a Golf in 2016. The Golf GTI Clubsport arrived in 2020, but it's the updated facelifted version that followed in mid-2024 that we look at here.