Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S

The GTI event at Lake Worthersee has officially kicked off, and with that kickoff, Volkswagen has debuted the new king of the Golf GTI lineup: The Golf GTI Clubsport S. The car is based on the Golf GTI Clubsport, but has gone through numerous upgrades and refinements to make it the fastest and lightest Golf GTI yet. In short, Volkswagen engineers were able to reduce the car’s overall weight to 2,998 pounds while upping permanent engine output to an impressive 306 horsepower – that’s a 30 horsepower increase over the standard Golf Clubsport. The Clubsport S will be produced in just 400 examples.

The whole idea of the Clubsport S came about during the testing of the final version of the Golf GTI Performance. Karsten Schebsdat, the Head of Chassis Tuning, said, “It was obvious to all of us that this GTI had immense potential, so we decided to get the most performance possible out of this car. A small team went through the entire process, from bottom to top, pretty much like it was back when the first Golf GTI came into being.” Needless to say, it wasn’t an easy task and VW engineers had to put in a lot of work, but that work paid off.

The payoff came when the Golf GTI Clubsport S smashed the lap record at the Nürburgring for front-wheel-drive production cars. With Benny Leuchter behind the wheel, the car hit the lap in 07:49:21 – that’s 1.4 seconds faster than the previous record that was set by a Honda Civic Type R. To make this possible, the Clubsport S received a special sport chassis, refined interior, and an extensively adapted engine control unit that all helped to raise the crowned Clubsport S above the standard Golf GTI Clubsport it was based on. So, with that said, let’s take an in-detail look at what makes the Clubsport S so much better than the regular Clubsport.

Continue reading to learn more about the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S.

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