Impressive! I hate that custard colour, but impressive
13 seconds quicker than the Clubsport S, which was specifically tuned for the ring!
I've always said the MK5 is a difficult platform to improve upon because it's so torsionally stiff, and that the newer Golfs don't represent the same leap forward as the MK4 > MK5 did. Dynamically speaking, VW built the MK5 ahead of it's time, imo. Instead of the usual corporate drip fed gradual updates, they went all out with Johnny 5. 16 years on, most motoring journalists still hark back to how good the MK5 is/was when comparing it to the MK7/8.
The newer stuff is only marginally quicker point to point, largely down to much faster DSG response and active dampers. They tick all the on-trend boxes for being rolling cocktail bars with tacky RGB lighting and cheesy ipads tacked onto the dash, and of course the super fashionable pops and bangs, but where it counts in the meat and potatoes department, meh, barely any different. Worse in some areas, with deletion of alloy goodness in favour of cheap skate stamped steel and plastic sumps.....and a return to the bonnet prop, not seen since the MK3!!
VW are a mess at the moment. I think I'd rather buy an Audi these days.
