When you push the car hard, ABS is active
on the approach to almost every bend, while ESP helps to straighten the line
more often than expected. Having said that, a hard-cornering GTI will still
lift its nearside rear leg like its predecessors used to do, it still fights
crumbling kerbs and sudden camber changes with that angry tug at the helm, it
still hugs the road through zig-zag bends as if the chassis was conceived by
Nintendo's virtual reality artists and not by VW r&d boss Ulrich Hackenberg
and his team of fettlers.
The
standard multi-device interface makes connecting many smartphones easy
Standard equipment includes the so-called
'Progressive Steering' which works either in Normal or in Sport mode. This
constant-effort, variable-rate device requires only two turns from lock to
lock. While the ratio around the straight-ahead position is very similar to
that of a run-of-the-mill Golf, the steering will speed up as you turn in
thanks to a progressive gearing between rack and pinion. This system yields two
effects: reduced effort at parking speeds and quicker action on winding roads.
It takes some getting used to, but it's not as artificial and lifeless as other
electro-hydraulic systems. I found myself liking it. True, the set-up is on the
light side, the feedback blurs a little bit as you wind on more lock, and the
self-centering motion could be more pronounced, but it's hard not to be smitten
by the go-kart-like directness, by the absence of filters and softeners, and by
the depth of feel at the limit of adhesion ...
The
Driver Profile Selection allows you to tune the car's responses to your tastes
If you're looking for the perfect test
route, then the dans la campagne between Paris and la champagne around Reims
comes agonisingly close. Embedded in endless farmland dotted with picturesque
villages, the crème de la crème of French B-and C-roads await us: long
straights, sweeping corners, rolling hills, more long straights. And not too
many forests for traffic police and their electronic measuring equipment to
hide in. This side of the ubiquitous 90kph speed limit, with the DSG locked in
sixth gear at 1,500rpm and the brain humming along in long-haul mode, the new G
TI feels almost as quiet, comfortable and unhurried as a Golf TDI. True, the
15mm lower sports suspension and the extra-cost 225/40ZR18 Conti Sport Contacts
do impair the in-built cushiness of the lesser models. But with DCC in Comfort
you can set all other parameters in Sport and the Golf still won't punish you
with an overly brittle ride. That's the beauty of this car: it is so composed,
so balanced and so compliant no matter what kind of dynamic challenge you
choose to direct at it.
The
2.0-litre turbocharged engine puts out 217bhp in standard guise
At the outskirts of Compiegne, a Clio
Williams throws down the traffic-lights gauntlet. With ESP deactivated, the GTI
takes off like a hooligan, shrieking for traction and over-revving briefly as a
result. Just as the Renault has inched one full car-length ahead, the Golf
finally manages to put all the power down and to roll out its impressively long
torque carpet. At 6,200rpm the dual-clutch 'box whips in second gear - with no
loss of forward thrust whatsoever but accompanied by that characteristic
blat-blat intonated by the two XL tailpipes.
