In the days of five-door, auto-only GTIs, with the most exciting Golf being a Black Edition R, it can be hard to believe that the seminal Clubsport S happened as recently as the previous generation. The sort of skunkworks special VW did seldom before and never since, it will always command a special place in the heart of hot hatch enthusiasts. The ‘ring record Golf must have been fairly close to not happening at all, given when it was launched and when VW was slapped with its Dieselgate fines. A 400-unit run of Golfs designed to go fast around racetracks - featuring bespoke hardware not found on any other models - would have been very easy to scrap on cost-saving grounds alone. One of many reasons why the Clubsport S is so revered.
Of course, the hot hatch landscape looked very different in 2016. SEAT would sell you a Leon Cupra with four stereo speakers instead of eight, big Brembo brakes, a set of Cup 2s and a wild attitude that’d do 7:58 around the Nordschleife; Renault Sport seemed determined to resurrect the glory days of French tarmac rally cars with the Megane Trophy-R, itself capable of 7:54; and Honda offered up a Civic straight from the Midnight Club that, in prototype form, had done 7:50. VW decided it wanted a slice of the action, despite SEAT already being in the mix, and the Clubsport S was the result. Ostensibly, it was a car made to celebrate the GTI’s 40th anniversary, its original 7:49.2 lap was bested a few months later with a remarkable 7:47.2, just to show how determined Volkswagen was to muscle in on the action. And, er, mark its birthday. That sportauto achieved a 7:56.9 with a press car demonstrated what had been achieved. The Golf GTI track car sounded almost oxymoronic in a modern context, yet it was the real deal.
Indeed, while the Clubsport S was undeniably brilliant to drive, it's hard not to return to the idea that part of the car's legendary status is linked to the unlikeliness of its existence. Honda and Renault had made their name with hardcore hot hatches, and have continued with the FWD arms race; it was their thing, basically. VW did (and does) make decent, solid hot hatches for families, not track tearaways. The apparent mismatch was intriguing enough on paper and even more beguiling in reality - it seems very unlikely now that a car so extreme will ever again emerge with a VW badge on the front.
It felt like the same attitude that got the Phaeton and XL1 off the drawing board made the Golf happen; when VW wanted to get something done back then, it threw everything at it. Stefan Gies, VW’s head of chassis development at the time, said back in ‘16: “I want to be able to give customers who want to go on track a Volkswagen, not an Opel OPC or Renault Sport Megane or anything else. The Nurburgring is kind of my home track, and when I look at the tourist days I see a lot of competitors’ cars. We would like to see more of our cars.” So the Clubsport S team were camped out at the Nordschleife for months, chassis guru Karsten Schebstadt and tame racing driver Benny Leuchter tinkering and finessing their pet project along with a wider (but not massive) team.
The obvious changes were the weight-saving ones: this a Golf GTI without rear seats and with a chunk of sound deadening removed. However, the really effectual ones were those that couldn’t be seen, including a new aluminium front subframe to boost negative camber on the steering axle, aluminium hub carriers that would lower unsprung mass, geometry and elastokinematic changes plus a rework of the DCC dampers to include the now famous Nurburgring mode. Tweaks to the venerable EA888 2.0-litre turbo were less drastic, focused on mapping and a naughty exhaust, though still yielded 310hp - making the Clubsport S the most powerful front-drive Golf ever, then and now. All this was done for 400 cars, 150 of which came to the UK and without a huge premium: £33,995 was about R price in 2016, for a front-wheel drive icon. Today that’d be £45k. Or still about Golf R price.
Just fitting into the range, being another GTI to most folk and not some £50k crazy thing with magnesium wheels, was probably a blessing and a curse. Even the PH classifieds think it’s a 265hp Clubsport. The CSS would fit in anywhere, from the Pistenklause to the Pantechnicon to your local Prince of Wales, because it was a Golf, without standing out to anyone apart from VW afficionados (whereas you’d never miss a Trophy R). This wasn’t a car that made sense to the uninitiated, because it was the eminent everyday hot hatch made into a two-seater and with a small infotainment screen. But if you knew, you knew alright, even if it took spotting the extra ‘S’ or the soft play netting in the back to be sure. A Golf track car was still a Golf, cool and classy to the end. Arguably it did mean that maybe it didn’t get the recognition it deserved - an under-the-radar Hero, perhaps.
It can definitely still be a GTI when required. There’s a bit more noise, both road and exhaust, from behind, but it’s more than liveable; the CarPlay is flawless; the ever-so-slightly-too-high seats superb and the powertrain as easygoing - light manual, torquey engine - as any other Mk7. It’s a world away from having to harness yourself into a Megane that doesn’t really work in ambient temperatures less than 15 degrees. Four hundred motorway miles in a day is no hardship, because it’s a Golf, and if ever there was a road racer not to tuck away it’s this - there’s not a journey it won’t suit. Or markedly improve.
Appropriately, the GTI had a big journey during its time with us to drive the 488 Pista and 911 GT3 Manthey we reviewed recently. Just like those cars, the VW feels related to the (very good) standard model, albeit with every element made tangibly better; precisely the sort of overhaul that makes every drive memorable. The changes to the front axle mean a Clubsport S steers cleanly and crisply enough to make a standard GTI seem fuzzy and muted by comparison. Despite wearing Pirelli P Zeros rather than the more aggressive Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, there’s a precision and tenacity here that marks out the uber Golf. Look at that steering wheel, too - it’s perfect.
And flippin' heck it's fast. Genuinely exciting, too, which isn’t often said about hot hatches with the ubiquitous EA888. That torque peak is greater than a current Golf, and you’d swear peak power was made higher, such is the way this rips around to 7,000rpm. It’s all asked to move just 1,360kg with you in it as well (or you from 2016, perhaps), giving it 100-and-a-bit kilos advantage over an R. Once up and running through some pleasingly short ratios, the Clubsport S is rampant - it actually kissed 157mph on its original record lap, which may have influenced the decision to ditch the limiter and let it run all the way to 164mph. Never does this feel any less than very, very quick indeed.
But it's the damping that really marks the Clubsport S out, as is so often the case with track-honed road cars. The Nurburgring setting, accessed through the default for the Individual drive mode, is a masterstroke, absorbent yet completely controlled - manna from heaven for a B-road hot hatch. It can be seen in the onboard video of the 7:49 lap from the Nordschleife, too, Benny taking great gobs of kerb at every opportunity yet the Golf totally unruffled. It’s easy to see how much pointier this GTI is, all while retaining stability - and that’s in evidence on the road as well. Without being as hyper-alert (and borderline intimidating) as a Megane, there are subtle adjustments to be made with brake and throttle that don’t register to the same extent in standard Golf. It’s a more vivid driving experience at every turn, without sacrificing approachability or usability - a very clever compromise, in other words.
Probably this should have the big Brembos to really make the most of the performance, and owners have cited some later clutch issues as well. It isn’t hard to imagine how stellar something more extreme again could have been, given the star quality, yet the risk then would surely be jeopardising the innate Golf-ness. It’s a Mk7 GTI, complete with beautiful dials and an infotainment screen that makes sense, right up until it doesn’t need to be - the best kind of dual personality. Having covered the car since its launch in 2016, riding alongside Benny as he lapped the Nordschleife with two wheels over just about every single kerb, it’s a joy to have all that initial excitement come flooding back. Whether presenting a video in the rain as a 25-year-old kid or pitching it against Civic and Megane or taking it to the Peaks, it’s always felt like a truly great car. Time has done nothing to dull that impression; it may even have enhanced it, in fact, as hot hatches become less significant and small-scale, driver-focused projects like this become harder for manufacturers to justify.
A PH hero then not just of the highest order, but one that is unlikely to be diminished by a replacement. Little wonder they are highly prized then, with cars boasting a few thousand miles for sale at more than the original RRP, and examples with three-digit mileage around £45k. At which point it might become hard to fling it at every apex possible, but that was the joy of the Clubsport S - it didn’t need a race track to feel exceptional. It just helped. Suffice it to say that values seem likely to stay strong as the hot hatch segment tapers. If there’s one in the collection, congratulations - go and drive it now, because it’s probably even better than you remember. And to those in the position to justify a three-door, two-seat Golf GTI, you simply must; there are precious few hot hatches that feel quite so special.
SPECIFICATION | VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI CLUBSPORT S (Mk7)
Engine: 1,984cc 4-cyl turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 310@5,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 280@1,850-5,700rpm
0-62mph: 5.8sec
Top speed: 164mph
Weight: 1,360kg (EU, including 75kg driver)
MPG: 38.2 (NEDC)
CO2: 172g/km (NEDC)
On sale: 2016
Price new: £33,995
Price now: from £35,000
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