Volkswagen: One hot hatch around town

Volkswagen's Golf offers smooth city driving, effortless highway motoring and hot-hatch B-road performance. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

It's one thing to drive a hot hatch at its launch, with race-track shenanigans thrown in. It's quite another to drive it where its owners will - in the real world.

So I was looking forward to VW's latest Golf GTI. It was a ball on the race track, but not quite as exciting as some of the opposition - Ford's hooligan XR5 Focus, for example.

This VW gets a 2.0-litre TSI engine that throws 280Nm to the front wheels from 1700rpm to 5200rpm, just as the 155kW peaks at 5300rpm to 6200rpm.

That tally's not huge, and the zero-to-100 figure of 6.9 seconds won't go down in history. But the almost seamless spread of urge is incredibly effective.

Effective at almost any speed, too. You can drive this car like a normal Golf, fairly frugally and smoothly round town, effortlessly on the open road.

Or find a demanding set of swervery, and dance your fingers through the six-speed DSG double-clutch transmission to hit the meat of the torque.

This car's sports suspension features different springs and dampers to the standard Golf, which lowers the body. And there's an XDS electronic transverse diff lock, an extension of the ESP system.

The result is impressively nimble - enough to use all the power on tap and then some. Enough to give the stability control a workout despite its fairly relaxed approach to intervention.

Yet it's also supple enough to deliver a fairly cosseting ride in commute mode - and even when you're throwing it about.

You expect sporting suspension to crash over bumps and to jiggle your kidneys. This one doesn't - and it's therefore easy to underestimate your rocketing pace. Ultimately its lack of posturing may be what sees this car fail to fire, for those who like hot hatches prefer them raw and wild.

Even the looks are a touch understated, though the honeycomb grille, red and black trim detail and those wheels are rather nice.

I like hot cars a tad feral - when you know the performance edge is just a little ragged you truly feel alive. But such behaviour isn't available on NZ roads. And it makes a car wearing to live with.

Whereas this $57,490 Golf GTI offers the best of both worlds for those who need the practical benefits of four seats and four doors.

It's almost as innocuous as a standard Golf during daily duties. And almost as ballsy as a truly hot hatch.

Its ability to drive quickly without compromising everyday comfort means this car impresses in the real world more than it does on the track, where its very flexibility disappoints.

VW Golf GTI

We like
Very fast, very nimble, yet also compliant enough for real-world driving.

We don't like
Not as wild as the hottest of the hot hatch breed.

Powertrain
2.0 litre turbo, 155kW at 5300rpm, 280Nm at 1700-5200rpm, six-speed DSG auto drives front wheels.

Performance
0-100km/h 6.9 seconds, 7.4l/100km (claimed).

Safety
ESP, ABS, seven airbags.

What it's got
17-inch alloy wheels, rain sensor, park pilot front and rear, climate control air, cruise control and much more.

Vital stats
4213mm long, 350-litre boot, 55-litre tank.