Hallowed hot hatch delivers more than enough thrills to keep any enthusiast happy.
Few cars are in greater need of a dose of context for Indian buyers than this one. Hear me out. It’s a large, premium hatchback, at a time when everyone has moved on to SUVs. And it’s powered by a potent 265hp 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine at a time when everyone is turning to EVs. So just what is it doing here?
At long last, Volkswagen has brought the Golf to India, and to understand its significance to the German brand, know that it is the spiritual successor to none other than the Beetle. Sure, it’s grown into a premium hatchback now, but in 1974, it was the ‘new’ people’s car – the volks wagen.
VW India says the market was never quite ready for something like this before, but it is now, and to sweeten the deal, it’s here in GTI hot-hatch guise. But then, it’s also a CBU import, which means the price is north of Rs 50 lakh. However, all 150 units of the first batch are booked at the time of this review, so clearly there’s a niche big enough to fit a large, sporty hatchback.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI exterior design and engineering – 7/10
Understated hatchback form, but instantly recognisable for those in the know.
The Golf may be new to India, but a GTI is not – we had the old Polo GTI in India a few years ago, and it’s the easiest point of reference to help understand this car. The Golf sits a size up from the Polo, and is about the same size as luxury hatchbacks like the Mercedes-AMG A45 S and the now-discontinued BMW 1 Series and Volvo V40.
Red band lining the grille is a signature GTI design element.
Where the old Polo GTI was a three-door hatch, the Golf GTI is five-door only, and is all the more practical for it. Its 4.3-metre length and 2.6-metre wheelbase are comparable to those of a Hyundai Creta, but its hatchback form and 136mm of ground clearance make it seem a lot smaller.
There are plenty of hot GTI signatures, particularly up front, where a red band lines the grille and flows into the upswept Matrix LED headlamps. The band and the VW logo are illuminated, and lower down, you’ll find LED fog lamps neatly integrated into the gaping honeycomb grille that covers the air dam.
18-inch alloys are wrapped in 225/40 section tyres.
Smart-looking 5-spoke, 18-inch alloys fill the arches nicely, housing red brake calipers within, and there are black skirts running under the doors. The rear is capped by a small roof spoiler, some clever LED trickery in the tail-lights that animate on start-up, and a pair of real dual exhaust tips. These highlights aside, the shape is quite plain and clean cut, in true VW fashion.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI interior space and comfort – 8/10
Spacious and practical enough for four, with requisite sporty touches.
The interior of this Mk8.5 Golf is, on its own, quite straightlaced too, but the good news is the GTI version is peppered with interesting details. It starts with the sports seats, which, though not leather upholstered, do have sporty Alcantara inserts, GTI stitched into the headrest and the signature tartan inserts running down the centre.
Front sports seats have Alcantara and tartan inserts, but are not leather upholstered.
A Golf GTI signature that’s missing, however, is the gear lever shaped like a golf ball on a stick, which has made way for a basic-looking toggle switch. You’ll find plenty of red accents, stitching and trim pieces peppered around the cabin, and though the steering wheel looks similar to what you get in every other modern VW, it features a sportier grip.
A 12.9-inch touchscreen takes centre stage, protruding up from the dashboard and causing quite a distraction in your line of sight. It’s paired with a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display that can be configured in a few different ways, and while the default setting follows the GTI red theme, there are a few other colour options. It’s a similar story with the discreet ambient lighting, which can be set to one of 30 colours.
Interior is peppered with GTI-specific details with red accents and unique trim pieces.
Quality is typically VW good, but also typical, like with the exterior, is that the design is a bit too understated, livened up only by the sporty GTI flourishes. The front seats feel nice and snug and offer a good range of adjustment and a clean view out. The rear seat space is somewhere between a compact and a midsize SUV, having sufficient leg and head room, but being a little short on width for three passengers.
Rear seat isn’t the most accomodating for three abreast.
The boot volume is a solid 380 litres, though the load area feels larger than that; there is no spare tyre included here, though.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI features and safety – 7/10
Euro-spec safety kit is welcome but more of the options should have been included.
Speaking of what’s included, at this price, the specification is interesting. This being a CBU import, you get a lot of what’s standard for a premium hatchback in Europe, like Matrix LED headlamps, LED tail-lamps, 3-zone auto climate control, a wireless phone charger, an AI-enabled voice assistant and the aforementioned screens. The touchscreen is pretty slick and logically laid out, but has no physical controls, save for touch-sensitive ‘slider’ indents for volume and temperature control, which make things slightly easier.
No physical switchgear means AC controls are baked into the touchscreen.
They’ve even thrown in the sunroof, which is optional in Europe. However, there are many options available in Europe which haven’t been ticked for India, like the 9-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, leather seats with power adjust and cooling; these ones are only heated. But even if you’re not interested in frivolities like this, one option they should ticked for this performance car is DCC or adaptive dampers, which sadly, they have not.
The Golf GTI gets 7 airbags, a rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking, on the safety front.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI performance and refinement – 9/10
No shortage of punch, and it’s well delivered too. Enticing burbles from the exhaust.
Of utmost importance in a car like this is the performance and how it’s delivered. The latest GTI has been given a 265hp, 370Nm version of the popular EA288 2.0-litre TSI turbo-petrol engine that does duty in a number of VW Group cars, including the recently launched VW Tiguan and Skoda Kodiaq. Power is sent to the front wheels only via a 7-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission, but crucially, there is a limited-slip locking differential to help mete out all that torque.
Golf GTI clocked a top-speed of 267kph at the NATRAX high-speed oval.
And it all comes together brilliantly. 0-100kph is dealt with in just 5.9 seconds, and we managed to do a quarter mile in just 14.005 seconds. Yes, some torque steer during a full-bore launch from standstill is, expectedly, present, but the GTI finds its grip and starts pulling very quickly. This version of the DSG gearbox also doesn’t waste any power between gears, and there’s little of that jerkiness or interruption that a lot of dual-clutch gearboxes suffer from. The pull stays strong, and on NATRAX’s high-speed oval, we managed to max it out at an indicated 267kph.
Most impressive is how well understeer is contained in corners, thanks to that clever differential. Few front-wheel drive cars with this amount of power deploy it so effectively, and rather than washing wide, the GTI pulls into a corner even if you floor it.
Few front-wheel drive cars steer as well as the Golf GTI, thanks to the clever differential.
Drive it gently in Comfort mode and it feels like any other VW Group TSI car with a DSG gearbox: smooth, refined and easy to drive. In Sport, the exhaust note is brought in through the speakers to amp things up, and though not incredibly loud, it gets the job done. Some owners will no doubt look to the aftermarket if they want more aural thrills. All things considered, the performance is more than ample, delivered smoothly and relentlessly, if a little clinically.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI mileage and fuel efficiency – 6/10
Not great, but par for the course for a performance vehicle.
Single-digit fuel efficiency can be expected in real-world driving conditions.
Though we were unable to test fuel economy on this performance-focused drive, expectations aren’t high. The WLTP rating for the Golf GTI in Europe is 13.70kpl-14.08kpl, and in real-world driving, expect it to drop into single digits. Moreover, turbo-petrol engines in general and VW TSI engines, in particular, tend to be very sensitive to your driving style, and even a hint of excited acceleration – as you would in a GTI – tends to see the economy figure plummet.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI ride comfort and handling – 9/10
Extremely playful and light on its feet; clever diff keeps torque in check well.
It feels extremely eager to turn in; steering weighs up progressively
There’s a distinctive handling characteristic to front-wheel-drive performance cars, hatchbacks in particular, that you don’t get in any other kind of car. Its enjoyment depends on the power being delivered effectively, which, as we’ve established, the GTI does well. It’s incredibly eager to turn into corners thanks to its quick steering that feels super light at first but then loads up progressively as you dole out the lock.
In fact, it’s easy (and incredibly fun) to just hurl the car into one of the NATRAX handling track’s many corners and instantly induce oversteer; no handbrake needed here. And it’s manageable, so you can easily rein it back in if you feel you’ve overcooked it. It feels smaller, nimbler and tighter than its size suggests, and very similar to the old Polo GTI, rather than a larger version of it. With a kerb weight of 1,454kg, it’s heavy by hatchback standards, but feels about right for the performance on offer.
It feels rock solid and calm even at speeds well north of 200kph
Also impressive is how stable it feels at speed. Holding a steady 267kph on the heavily banked high-speed oval track felt rock solid and very calm, with no need for steering intervention to maintain the line. While ride is something we couldn’t evaluate properly, the few bumps and speed breakers we encountered were handled well on the 18-inch wheels, and the absence of DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control) was not missed.
2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI price and verdict – 7/10
Expensive, but worthwhile for the niche buyer who wants a compact performance car.
Viewed in the context of its badge, size or body style, the Golf GTI doesn’t sound like good value for its asking price of over Rs 50 lakh. However, when you consider what it’s for and how it delivers on that front, it starts to make more sense. Fun – that’s what you’re paying for here, and for the 150 people that have put their deposit down, that’s what matters most. They won’t be concerned that it doesn’t have the ground clearance of an SUV, or the back seat of a sedan. They’ll like the snug bucket seats even though they’re not ventilated or powered. They might, however, be annoyed that it doesn’t get adaptive dampers, when the Tiguan R-Line does.
The Golf GTI is expensive, but it delivers what it’s meant to – fun – in spades!
Expensive? Yes! Rational? Absolutely not. Emotional? Absolutely! It’s a purpose-built fun machine that’s designed to tug at your heartstrings, and as such, it currently has no rivals. Until the Skoda Octavia RS comes back, of course. Fun times ahead!
Also See:
VW Tiguan R-Line review: Is it worth Rs 50 lakh?
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