It’s rare these days we get to use the phrase ‘warm hatch’. There are two reasons for this. One, the description never really caught the wider public’s imagination like ‘hot hatch’ did, and manufacturers were very rarely heard to mutter it. They didn’t generally like the half-mast connotations it generated - even if what they were doing was very obviously half-mast. Also, it suited them that even very worthy warm hatches tended to live in the shadow cast by the more profitable full-mast version. It was like being Luke Hemsworth in a Thor movie.
Two, the same manufacturers came to realise that (in Britain especially) what a good many buyers liked about warm hatches was the go-faster look - something they could be offered for a premium without all the fuss and additional expense of making the engine or chassis more interesting. Hence all the trim levels called ‘R’ or ‘M’ or ‘AMG’ that have nothing really to do with ‘R’ or ‘M’ or ‘AMG’ as engineering entities. Or if they did, they were made hot hatches in their own right as the flagship versions ascended to a level of hitherto unimaginable performance. Either way, it has left precious little room for something categorically warm.
All of which goes to making the new Golf Black Edition seem like a jaunty novelty in 2024. We say ‘new’ - you’ll notice that this is still a Mk8 (while it announced last year, it only turned up in the UK last month) so its newness has been made to seem somewhat debatable. But its preordained warmness is beyond doubt: here is a Golf with a 190hp 2.0-litre TSI engine not previously offered in this country, twinned with 4Motion all-wheel drive and a seven-speed DSG. It gets a body kit and silly wheels. It has front sports seats. VW says it will do 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds. If it were a temperature, it would be baked beans at a Premier Inn.
Volkswagen has been half-clever with the badging. Thankfully there is nothing that proclaims ‘Black Edition’, with only a 4Motion badge at the back signalling the model’s crucial point of difference. But the presence of a standard R-Line trim pack does mean that your otherwise under-the-radar Golf is made to look slightly boastful by the letter R on the nose. And the exhaust-pipe aping design of the rear skirt (which doesn’t actually incorporate an exhaust). The inevitably black wheels are trim-specific, and, tellingly, 18-inch rather than the 19s you’d find on anything hot.
Accordingly - and in no small part thanks to our test car being optioned in Moonstone Grey - the Black Edition satisfies its half-mast brief: it looks sporty enough at a glance without treading on the toes of its betters. And for the most part, that’s the way it drives. Keen throttle response and the fattened torque delivery make the Golf seem eager to get going, and there’s a vaguely pleasing sense of being sat behind a chunkier engine (compared to the stock 1.5-litre option, at least). But it doesn’t take long to realise that this is more about everyday amenability than outright speed. There’s no headlong, muscular rush to the redline as there would be in the GTI.
In fact, when the 236lb ft of peak torque recedes after 4,000rpm, there’s precious little to get excited about; not just because the Black is more than 50hp shy of a GTI and feels it, but because VW has declined the chance to do anything even mildly creative with the engine or exhaust note. Given the decades of experience it has coaxing jazzy bass notes from four-cylinder petrol motors, it does seem a bit mean to leave the special edition as wheezy as a half-strangled guinea pig.
On top of all that, there’s the chassis. VW UK wisely took the precaution of option ticking the adaptive dampers - and this you should absolutely do - although, as you might expect, even their assistance can’t entirely paper over the fundamental absence of lower, sportier springs. The Black doesn’t have the nailed-on turn-in or the attentive body control of the GTI - and certainly it doesn’t have the same relationship between the front axle and steering column; the standard rack is fine for nipping to the shops, less good when you want to nip at apexes.
Initially, as you might expect, this combines to make the Black Edition seem more tepid than forever simmering. Two things are required to change that. Firstly, you need to stop expecting the car to do GTI-ish-like things. Because it isn’t going to. Secondly, you need to break out the Individual drive mode. ‘Sport’ mode doesn’t exactly fix the steering, but it at least gives you some resistance to lean into. Selecting the same mode for the all-wheel drive system though is essential; without it, the rear axle only involves itself in proceedings under duress and after a split second of thinking about it, doubtless with fuel economy in mind.
Granted, placing it in ‘Sport’ doesn’t turn the Black into a Golf R (far from it) but at least the torque split seems more task-orientated, and, with the DSG knocked from ‘D’ to ’S’, it’s possible to see where VW got a sub 7 second 0-62mph time from. Better yet, while it still can’t carve its way into a corner, there is a pleasing sense of neutrality when you power through a fast one. In fact, thanks to the presence of Bridgestone Potenza tyres and the modest amount of torque troubling them, it has a surfeit of grip and even-tempered stability just about everywhere.
Factor in a chassis chiefly concerned with compliance (and best left in ‘Comfort’ for that reason) and you do get an adept and dutifully swift cross-country hatchback. It still can’t do exciting per se because the steering isn’t sufficiently dialled in and the engine's delivery insists you make your peace with short shifting. But it absolutely can do that thing where you feel like you can give it death everywhere without a) seeming like it will come unstuck or b) breaking the sound barrier. As ever, there’s a lot to be said for a car that carries plenty of speed without reducing your vertebra to mush.
And if you really felt like fighting the Black Edition’s corner, the fact that we recorded 41.8mpg on a 170-mile, let’s-get-home-pronto motorway journey suggests that its lower output is partly compensated with marginally superior fuel economy. On the basis that VW still wants £36,700 (our test car cost £38,455; a GTI starts at £39,815) that probably isn’t sufficient to tip the scales in the car’s favour - although, truthfully, any dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast seriously weighing up the two would be better served by paying the premium. Perfect the outgoing Mk8 GTI is not, but it brings many more things to the party than the Black can claim to muster.
That, it seems only right to conclude, is by design. The comparative shortfall in the car’s performance could be easily overcome by mildly sharper chassis settings and a nattier engine map (or sports exhaust). But, evidently, VW wants the Black to seem like an upgrade from its run-of-the-mill options, not a cost-effective way into a fast Golf. On one hand, that seems like a missed opportunity in an overinflated marketplace, and largely nullifies the prospect of cult classic status in the future. On the other, the introduction of a bigger engine mostly for its own sake is so unusual these days that we’re predisposed to look kindly on what is essentially a likeable and good-looking hatchback. If nothing else, it’s hard to imagine VW building a more niche petrol-powered Golf in the future. That, at least, ought to make you feel warm inside with a Black Edition sat on the driveway.
SPECIFICATION | 2024 VW Golf Black Edition TSI 4Motion
Engine: 1,984cc four-cylinder, turbocharged
Transmission: 7-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 190@TBC
Torque (lb ft): 236@1,500-4,100rpm
0-62mph: 6.7 seconds
Top speed: 145mph
Weight: 1,515kg (unladen)
MPG: 38.9 (combined)
CO2: 165g/km
Price: £36,700 (as tested, £38,455 - comprising Dynamic Chassis Control £875, Keyless entry £445, Moonstone Grey £435)
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