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GTI gets a 20bhp uplift to 262bhp and is now automatic-only

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Major overhaul of VW Golf headed by pumped-up GTI Big ergonomic, powertrain and design revisions aim to reinvigorate hatch’s appeal

Volkswagen has comprehensively rebooted the eighthgeneration Golf in a bid to sustain its appeal to the end of the decade, when it will be replaced by the electric Mk9.

As it turns 50, the German firm’s all-time best-seller receives a wide-reaching suite of technology upgrades, usability enhancements, material improvements and a new look inside and out.

The powertrain line-up has been revamped, too, with the addition of new long-range plug-in hybrids, revised petrol and diesel options – and more power for the GTI hot hatch, which will head the line-up

until the launch of the revised four-wheel-drive Golf R later this year.

Due in the UK in April, the 2024 Golf seeks to reinstate the model as Europe’s number one by sales volume after

supply chain bottlenecks and a drop in popularity caused it to slip behind the likes of the Peugeot 208, the Dacia Sandero, Volkswagen’s own T-Roc and the Renault Clio in the sales charts.

4 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 24 JANUARY 2024