This car does not need make-up

After all, I drive a fifth generation model myself, my son drives a fourth generation version and the family between them at one time shared three second generations.
If it’s any consolation though, that oft-acerbic TV personality and occasional car commentator, Jeremy Clarkson, went into a state of near delirium of the delighted type when he first got his hands on a Mk5 GTI.
He rightly asked why anyone, regardless of how deeply lined their pockets might be, could possibly want more than the GTi offered straight off the showroom floor. I couldn’t agree more and my ownership experience has simply confirmed that still waters run very deep indeed in this case.  
You see, a Golf GTI doesn’t need flashy bits and pieces and gaudy add-ons to draw attention to itself.  A couple of subtly placed strips of red trim here and there, a slightly lower ride height and bigger wheels hidden by discreetly more muscular wheel arches almost sums up the visual change from a normal Golf, yet those little tweaks say a thousand words.
What you see before you is all substance and toned muscle and it’s enough to make it stand out from the crowd. It’s the quintessential sports hatchback that every manufacturer in the world has in its sights.  Some might provide more outright performance, some might produce a car that handles a mite better on the limit, some might produce a more flashy dash layout, but try as they might, none of them can match the all round competence of the pioneer of hot hatchbacks.
Now it just happens that when the Golf 6 GTI slunk onto the roads earlier this year, the critics had their pencil sharpeners rotating at a furious pace. “It’s looks far too much like its predecessor” they all cried — “Where’s the progress?”
What these early-bird critics had overlooked is that Golf GTI owners don’t like massive change — they like evolution but only when that evolution is based on engineering applications which enhance the totality of the driving experience. If you read the plethora of pure drivel that swamped many of the web blogs, you’d have thought VW were in the process of committing harakiri.
As ever, these one-eyed critics look only for how many kW the engine produces and how fast it goes from 0-100 or whatever.  What really matters though is how that power and torque is produced and this is precisely where the GTI punches way beyond its bald figures.
It produces chunks of torque from below 2000 rpm and it doesn’t have to rev itself into oblivion to produce genuine, usable power. The reality is, readers, that you don’t spend your motoring  day hurtling from a standstill or blasting about at maximum revs.  You spend your day on the move at generally low to mid revs and this is where the Golf scores nearly all its points while still being capable of getting to 100 km/h in a scant 6,9 seconds and running on to near enough the 240 mark.
I raise all these issues because I’ve just been given the opportunity to drive  (for the first time) a Golf 6 GTI equipped with the stunningly effective DSG dual clutch gearbox that has proved such a delight on my own older GTI.
The drive was admittedly short but it was also sweet. If the truth be known, the Mk6 Golf is really a Golf 5,5 and it was produced as much to give VW the chance to reduce production costs as it was to create a wholly new and therefore more appealing model.
So, it wasn’t hard to feel at home. The interior has been treated to softer-touch plastics and the instruments have shed their lovely blue glow in favour of an icy white display that is ever so clear. The electric window switches are mounted at a more sensible angle but the front seats haven’t changed one jot, which is how it should be because they were already the best in the business, regardless of cost.
Even the engine sounds just the same although it produces a few more horses and is actually rather seriously re-engineered in places you can’t see.
What is quickly evident though is the fact that number 6 in the line offers even greater levels of refinement. The insulation from extraneous noises is akin to an E-Class. The ride, despite very low profile tyres seated on 18 inch rims, is still supple but athletic.
It’s all just that bit smoother and more sophisticated but plant your foot and the response is instant, lag-free and muscular and the appealing exhaust pop on gear changes is still there.
The reality is that the new GTI manages to blend hot hatch with the attributes of a sophisticated and decidedly refined cruiser and it does it very, very effectively.
Car magazine SA hasn’t yet found a rival to dethrone it and Britain’s Autocar also ranks the GTI as its class leader,  summarising its broad spread of talents with — “…still the definitive GTI…it shows its rivals the way home”.