The Great Lie of the Golf GTI Clubsport S, as Told by Top Gear

Is it possible for a Golf Clubsport S to overtake a Porsche 911 GT3 RS on the Nürburgring circuit without breaking a sweat? Impossible. Yet Top Gear seems determined to prove the opposite.

The Golf GTI Clubsport S is one of the most radical sporty compacts on the market. It currently holds the lap record for front-wheel-drive production cars around the Nürburgring circuit (7 minutes 47 seconds). Nobody therefore doubts its dynamic capabilities. We are talking about an ultra-light car (it has no rear seats), with a two-litre engine capable of delivering 310 CV that sets it apart from the rest of its class thanks to a special tuning package that boosts its track performance. But does all this suffice to dethrone supercars such as the Nissan GT-R or the Porsche GT3 RS? The answer is simply no, although on the popular British show, Top Gear, they are determined to prove the opposite.

In the following video we can see a sequence from the latest season of Top Gear, where Sabine Schmitz (German professional driver) drives a Golf GTI Clubsport S alongside one of the show’s presenters (Rory Reid). So far, all normal. What is curious is watching the powerful compact from Volkswagen begin to overtake, without breaking a sweat (quite literally), vehicles that are theoretically faster, such as the Cayman GT4, the Nissan GT-R, the Lamborghini Gallardo 570-4 Superleggera or the Porsche GT3 RS. According to presenter Rory Reid, these models were driven by professional monitors from the circuit itself (some of whom must have accumulated many laps on it). Does this make any sense? None at all, and the scientific proof lies in the lap record of the aforementioned supercars compared with the Golf Clubsport S’s time (7 minutes 47 seconds):

• Nissan GT-R: 7 minutes 19 seconds
• Porsche GT3 RS: 7 minutes 27 seconds
• Lamborghini Gallardo 570 Superleggera: 7 minutes 38 seconds

As you can see, these supercars not only surpass the Clubsport S in power (by more than 200 CV), but also considerably outpace the German compact in lap time, by up to 28 seconds compared with the Nissan GT-R. Naturally, a show is there to entertain people, but making us believe that a Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport can humiliate the all-powerful Porsche 911 GT3 RS on its own turf seems excessive, don’t you think?

Technical specifications of this car

HatchbackVolkswagen Golf28 versions · from 24,450 €