Gr8 expectations
Price: R669 300 0-100 km/h: 6,48 sec Top speed: 250 km/h Power: 180 kW Torque: 370 N.m CAR fuel index: 8,40 L/100 km CO2 : 159 g/km
Remains a properly poised hot hatch with improved sophistication
Nikesh Kooverjee
Comfortably wears the mantles of tech-laden sophisticate and genuinely entertaining hot hatch – an impressive achievement
Gareth Dean
Almost impossible to find fault … aside from how faultless it is
Ray Leathern
In its eighth iteration, the Golf GTI has gone from the performance-orientated flanker of a broad model range to being the “everycar” of a local line-up that will now solely comprise it and the fire-breathing Golf R. Consequently, the pendulum of defining liveability-entertainment scale has swung towards the former. With more technology aimed at a broader audience, will the 8 GTI exceed expectations?
Finished in metallic Kings Red and replete with such traditional GTI addenda as red pinstriping, a body kit that neatly treads the line between sporty and upmarket and the particularly striking light bar spanning the nose and quintet of LED foglamps that wink out of the honeycombed front air dam, the 8’s styling is a neat amalgam of modern and historically accurate touches.
