06 VW GOLF GTI

AS A HOT-HATCH consistently regarded as the consummate all-rounder, the Volkswagen Golf GTI hasn’t needed to set race tracks alight. The heritage-heavy hatchback’s success has been based on an endearingly durable formula: fun-to-drive five-door (sometimes three-door) with refined everyday utility over raw, single-focused ability.

As we find ourselves at Sydney’s Luddenham circuit for the local launch of the eighth-generation GTI, the “brains over brawn” approach – to use VW’s words – is even more emphatic.

While the Mk8 GTI carries over the same 180kW/370Nm