The 2020 VW Golf GTI proves you shouldn’t overcomplicate an icon

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  Did you know that the US and Canada account for 45 percent of all VW Golf GTI sales? [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

Volkswagen might not have invented the hot hatch, but from the day the first Mk1 GTI rolled off the Wolfsburg line in 1975 it has become synonymous with the concept. And as ideas go, it's a breathtakingly simple one: take a cheap front-wheel drive hatchback and then add some performance bits. A more powerful engine, better brakes, uprated suspension, and maybe a few styling tweaks to let the cognoscenti know this one is a little bit spicy.

You can blame my background for the fact that I have a huge soft spot for GTIs. There were few cars more desirable yet theoretically attainable to a young driver growing up in London in the early 1990s, though in truth the epidemic of joyriding meant insurance premiums far outside the budgets of most students. Despite this longtime fondness for the GTI, we've yet to review one here at Ars. I've raced a Mk 2, we've tried the more powerful, all-wheel drive Golf R (twice!), and the Jetta GLI, but the week that I just spent with a 2020 GTI is the only seat time I've managed in a Mk7 GTI, minus a couple of autocross runs a few years ago when Chevrolet brought one along to benchmark the handling of the Bolt EV.

And yes, I did mean to write Mk7. Although VW revealed the Mk8 Golf late last year, and briefed us on the Mk8 Golf GTI last month, that car won't go on sale in the US until late 2021. So the Mk7 continues here into model years 2020 and 2021, in large part because the US and Canada make up 45 percent of all GTI sales now.

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