Golf 8 GTI even faster than what Volkswagen is telling us

We can finally let the cat out of the bag after putting the Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI through a high-performance road test.

And much to the delight of every fan of one of South Africa’s most adored badges, the end results are nothing less than impressive. Let’s jump into them without any further ado.

Wolfsburg claims the hot hatch can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.4 seconds. We think they might have either played it very safe or are just genuinely modest.

In his efforts to determine how close the Golf 8 GTI can come to this claimed time, The Citizen’s Road Test Editor Mark Jones was in for a big surprise. It not only managed to beat the claimed time, but by a proper margin too!

The Golf 8 GTI managed to clock a seriously impressive time of 5.88 seconds in reaching 100 km/h from a standstill. This is a massive 0.52 – more than half a second – better than the claimed time. And this time marks an improvement of 0.70 seconds over the Golf 7.5 GTI, which reached 100 km/h from a standstill in 6.58 seconds.

The Golf 8 GTI runs the same mill as its predecessor, the 2.0 TSI upgraded to send 180 kW of power and 370 Nm of torque to the front wheels via a seven-speed DSG transmission. This is 11kW/20Nm more than the GTI 7.5 GTI’s powerplant, which was mated to six-speeds DSG transmission.

The eighth generation model is at 1 351 kg all of 53 kg heavier than the previous version, but because of the additional horses has a power to weight ratio of 133 kW/ton compared to its predecessor’s 130 kW/ton.

The longer the comparison between the Golf 8 and 7.5 GTIs continues, the bigger the margin gets. By the time the pair hits the 200 km/h-mark the Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI is over two seconds ahead.

What impressed us probably the most apart from its superb numbers, is how the GTI went about its business with very little fuss. The soundtrack is rather subdued, almost a tad too quiet for out liking. And wheel spin is also kept to a minimum during launch with the brakes in Sport ESC mode. You almost start to wonder if the car hasn’t perhaps become too civilised.

The Golf 8 GTI can still be a bit of a mongrel with some serious wheelspin during launch with ESC mode deactivated, but this should be purely reserved for crowd pleasing and not drag racing.

A lot has been said about the new version’s styling, the modernised cabin and its hefty price tag of R669 900, not forgetting about optional extras that will hike the price even further. But regardless what your opinion is of the Golf 8 GTI, the test results is a huge boost for its appeal.

ALSO READ: Golf GTI: From R11k to R670k

And just as important, the results are a major warning sign for the ambitious BMW 128ti which Volkswagen’s fellow German carmaker has boldly declared as a direct rival. BMW claims the 128ti can reach 100 km/h from a standstill in 6.3 seconds. This car will also have to shave a significant chunk of its claimed time if it wants the bragging rights in this battle.

All will be revealed when we announce the results of the BMW road test in due course. Stay tuned.

For more information on the Volkswagen Golf GTI, click here.