Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport celebrates 40 years of GTI

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The Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport has been revealed as a harder edged, more powerful Golf GTI, built to celebrate 40 years of GTI. Debuts at Frankfurt 2015.

It’s 40 years since the Golf GTI arrived, and Volkswagen are celebrating that anniversary with this, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport.

The GTI Clubsport is a harder-edged GTI with more power than the regular GTI – but sitting below the Golf R (and the anticipated Golf R420) and is a car in a similar vein to the new SEAT Leon Cupra 290 which was also revealed this week.

Using the same engine as the Golf GTI (and the Leon Cupra) the GTI Clubsport has its power upped to 261bhp (the regular GTI has 216bhp) and can also deliver a 10 second boost of up to 286bhp (which is what the Leon Cupra now has all the time). As a result, the GTI Clubsport can get to 62mph in 5.9 seconds (with the DSG ‘box).

There’s also cosmetic titivation fro the Clubsport, with a bigger lower air intake at the front, bigger brake cooling vents, front splitter, multi-part rear spoiler, 18″ alloys and new sills. VW has also added black stripes on the side – with ‘Clubsport’ lettering – to evoke the original Golf GTI.

Inside, the racing seats get partly trimmed in Alcantara with red stitching, Alcantara steering wheel, red seatbelts and black headlining plus a set of stainless steel treadplates.

The VW Golf GTI Clubsport is expected to go in to production early in 2016, and although VW hasn’t revealed pricing it should be comfortably the right side of £30k.