The Golf 8 GTI was starting to feel… a bit soft. Volkswagen must’ve heard this criticism, because they’re back with the Golf 8 GTI Clubsport facelift, which is perhaps what the GTI should’ve been from the start?

The top model of the Golf-range has a lot more competitors in the "five-door hatchback" set-up than as a break -called Variant at Volkswagen-.

Yes, we know! A lot of R’s in the title and almost as many as you can find on the Volkswagen Golf 8 R we had on test. Let’s start with a little bit of history - #RespectOurElders. The lifeline of the Volkswagen Golf started way back in 1974. Since then, the Golf has became one of the best selling cars in the world and has recently been given an 8th generation. The first Golf R came to life in July 2002 (MK4) as the “R32” -a 3.2-liters VR6- and on to the Golf 6 as the first 2.0-liter four-cylinder R.