The new Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport officially debuts on May 31. If you’re the impatient type, don’t worry, VW has a teaser for you right now. We’ve seen some teasers leading up to this point, and while the images here are technically still teasers, there’s little left to the imagination. Visually speaking, anyway.
The Golf GTI Clubsport isn’t a GTI with some suspension tweaks and a badge. It wears a new fascia and upgraded headlights at the front, and the big VW badge in the grille also lights up. At the rear there’s a big roof spoiler that sits above new taillights and a rear fascia similar to the Golf R, albeit with single exhaust pipes at the corners. It rides on new 19-inch wheels, with Warmenau forged wheels weighing 17 pounds available as an option.
14 Photos
There’s still a body wrap on the near-production version presented here, but you get the general idea of how it looks. Mechanical changes are still largely a mystery, though VW promises the Clubsport will be the most powerful front-wheel-drive GTI of them all. Managing the power is an electronically controlled front differential lock, while DCC adaptive chassis control is optional. There’s also a special drive mode exclusive to the Clubsport aimed specifically at lapping the Nürburgring. Appropriate, considering that’s where VW will debut this new hot hatch.
While we don’t know how much horsepower is under the hood, it will be more than the GTI’s current 241 hp. VW announced a one-off GTI Clubsport 24h race car that’ll make 343 hp. We don’t expect the production Clubsport to reach such a lofty figure—it’s tuned to run on E20 fuel, among other upgrades. But it certainly has us wondering just how far VW will go with its track-focused GTI. Perhaps the 315-hp Honda Civic Type R could be in its crosshairs.
We’ll find out for sure later this month. VW will be at the Nürburgring for the ADAC 24-hour race, debuting the Clubsport and competing with the Clubsport 24h. We’ll share all the details as soon as we have them.