Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport joins the rest of the ‘FIXED’ 2024 Golf 8.5 range

The 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport arrives with the same tech fixes as the rest of the Golf 8.5 offerings, cosmetic tweaks but no more power.

At the start of the year, Volkswagen revealed the Golf 8.5 range designed to address much of the negative response the Golf 8.0 received when it arrived.

The negatives included moans about interior quality, awful infotainment and switchgear – as well as glitchy software – saw reviewers and buyers united in dubbing the Golf 8.0 a backward step.

The cosmetic improvements included tweaks to bumpers, new lights front and back, and a glowing VW logo on the grille, but the major updates were for tech and the interior.

That included new infotainment with MIB4 improving latency, graphics and menus, backlit sliders for volume and temperature, some actual buttons and a new AI personal assistant.

Now it’s time for the penultimate Golf 8.5 with the new Golf GTI Clubsport (the Golf R 8.5 is still to come) which comes with the same updates as the rest of the Golf 8.5 range, and a new 125.0″ infotainment, but with some chassis tweaking too.

The chassis tweaks include Dynamic Chassis Control which adjusts damper firmness, more focused steering and front-end geometry, and bigger brakes, and a centralized Vehicle Dynamics Manager.

Under the bonnet, things stay the same with a 2.0-litre turbo producing 296bhp and sending power to the front wheels – which has an electronically-controlled LSD – through a seven-speed DCT and good for 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 155mph unless you option the ‘Race Package’ which ups that to 167mph.

No prices yet for the 2024 Golf GTI Clubsport, but expect it to be over £40k when it goes on sale later in the summer.