The Volkswagen Golf GTI 50 left me speechless, and not because of the price tag

“Fifty grand for a Golf GTI? They must be having a laugh!”

… is what I said while browsing the Volkswagen configurator ahead of my drive in the new Volkswagen Golf GTI 50. This special edition is a 50th birthday present to VW’s iconic hot hatch, and there’s more to this car than a handful of new badges and some side stripes.

It has plenty of mechanical upgrades to make it feel more agile and fun to drive, but despite this I couldn’t wrap my head around why anyone would buy this over the more powerful Volkswagen Golf R.

After a day with the Golf GTI 50, it’s safe to say I changed my tune.

What is the Volkswagen Golf GTI 50?

The first Golf GTI went on sale in 1976, so this year it’s celebrating its 50th birthday. To mark the occasion, Volkswagen wanted to build something really special. Enter, the Golf GTI 50.

It started out in life as a GTI Clubsport, but the 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine has been tuned from 300hp to 325hp, and the 0-60mph sprint time is reduced from 5.6 to 5.3 seconds.

The suspension has also been fettled to make the car feel more agile and fun to drive. Some of the mounting points have been strengthened and the rubber bushes have been stiffened up to improve responsiveness, and you can get a performance pack which lowers it by 5mm.

And that all sounds marvellous, but at a shade under £48,000 this car is not only around £3,800 more than a GTI Clubsport, it’s £1,000 more than the more powerful Golf R. By the time you’ve added the Performance Pack you’ll be pushing over the £50,000 barrier.

Volkswagen Golf GTI 50 design: how does it look?

There are a few visual changes to help this stand out compared to a normal GTI, the most obvious being the colour. My test car was finished in Moss Green, which is a shade unique to the GTI 50. Tornado Red is another exclusive option, and it’s much brighter than the burgundy colour you can get on other GTI models.

The wheels are another distinguishing feature, although I’m not convinced that it’s in a good way. You get black wheels with red highlights as standard which I’m not sure suits the car, but that’s just personal preference. You can opt for other alloy wheel designs in black or silver if you agree with me.

Beyond this there’s a “50” badge on the huge rear wing and a red side stripe, but other than that it looks pretty much like a Golf GTI Clubsport. That’s no bad thing in my view, because I think that car is just the right level of aggressiveness.

Volkswagen Golf GTI 50: what’s it like inside?

At first glance, it appears to be Golf GTI business as usual. You have the same spacious rear seats and capacious boot as any other Golf, making it a practical family runaround, and the 12.9-inch infotainment system is just as easy to use.

Differences are subtle, but add up to make the car feel more special. The most obvious sporty upgrade to my eyes was the optional Alcantara steering wheel, and I also loved the special tartan pattern on the seats with additional green stripes.

You also get red pedals and seatbelts, and a few more Edition 50 badges around the place.

On the road: Is the GTI 50 still a usable hot hatch?

My day with the Volkswagen Golf GTI 50 saw me drive from my hotel in Barcelona around 45 miles up the motorway before sampling the car on some twisty mountain roads. There were also some sleepy Spanish towns to navigate along the way, so this was a proper test of this car both as a relaxed cruiser and as an angry hot hatch.

During my motorway stint I almost forgot about the lowered, stiffened suspension and track tuning, because once you switch on the adaptive cruise control it drives almost like a normal Golf. Only over sharper expansion joints do you feel a bit of a thud.

Then on the mountain roads the GTI 50 starts to come alive. Putting it on sport mode stiffens up the suspension and sharpens the throttle response, and it feels fantastic when you chuck it into a bend. It’s not like a Golf R in the way it sticks to the tarmac like a limpet, it feels a lot more playful than that.

You can feel the car moving about beneath you, but not in a frightening way. The traction control does a great job of making sure you can have some fun while still keeping you safe. It’s way more entertaining than the ballistic Golf R.

Once you hit a town you do notice that the suspension is a touch firm over broken surfaces, but it’s by no means uncomfortable. This is a car which can be huge fun when you want it to be, but it can also settle down when you just want to go home.

On the track: Where the Golf GTI 50 really impresses

It may be slightly down on power compared to a Golf R, and it’s only front-wheel drive, but the Golf GTI 50 is actually a full six seconds faster around the Nurburgring than its all-wheel drive sibling.

So I headed out onto the track following one of Volkswagen’s test drivers in a Golf R pace car, and this is where the GTI 50 really left me speechless.

This is where you can really feel those suspension upgrades, because the grip you get from the front end is immense. You can feel exactly what is going on underneath you, and through the corners you can even feel the back end sliding around – it doesn’t feel like a front-wheel drive car out on the track.

My final verdict: Is the Golf GTI 50 worth £50,000?

I went into driving this car confused as to why you’d buy the Golf GTI 50 over the more powerful Golf R, but after spending a day with it I’ve realised that these two cars serve very different functions.

The Golf R is insanely fast in a straight line, and the four-wheel drive system makes it feel very safe through the corners at any speed. It’s the Golf equivalent of a Porsche 911 Turbo.

The GTI 50 is more like a 911 GT3 – it’s not about straight-line speed. It’s been designed for proper car enthusiasts who want something to take on track days and have fun with on twisty roads.

But unlike a Porsche 911 GT3, the GTI 50 is still practical and comfortable enough to use everyday. Beyond a £94,000 BMW M3 Touring, I can’t think of any car which gets this balance so right. I would buy a GTI 50 over a Golf R in a heartbeat.

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