Top Gear claims the Golf GTI Clubsport S is a true supercar killer, but we're not so sure about that.

The Golf GTI Clubsport S is one of the most radical compact performance cars in the world. It is currently the fastest production front-wheel-drive car around the Nürburgring (7 minutes 47 seconds).

We’re talking about an ultralight model (it has no rear seats) with a two-litre engine capable of delivering 310 CV. This car stands out from the rest of its class thanks to special preparation that boosts its track performance. Nobody doubts the high performance of this sporty version of the Golf, but can all this be enough to dethrone supercars such as the Nissan GT-R or the Porsche GT3 RS? The answer is simply no, although Top Gear is determined to prove otherwise.

The video shows a sequence from the latest season of Top Gear, in which Sabine Schmitz (a German professional driver) drives a Golf GTI Clubsport S alongside one of the show’s presenters (Rory Reid). So far, so normal. What’s strange is watching Schmitz and Reid overtake supercars left and right such as the Cayman GT4, the Nissan GT-R, the Lamborghini Gallardo 570-4 Superleggera or the all-powerful Porsche GT3 RS.

According to presenter Rory Reid, those models were driven by professional instructors from the circuit itself (who must have many laps of the German track under their belts), and yet they are passed by the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S without offering any resistance. Does this make any sense? Not at all, and the scientific evidence is that the lap records of the supercars mentioned at the Nürburgring circuit are considerably faster than the time set by the German compact performance car:

• Nissan GT-R: 7 minutes 19 seconds
• Porsche GT3 RS: 7 minutes 27 seconds
• Lamborghini Gallardo 570 Superleggera: 7 minutes 38 seconds
• Golf GTI Clubsport S: 7 minutes 47 seconds

As you can see, these supercars not only outperform the Clubsport S in power (by more than 200 CV in many cases), but they also considerably beat the German compact on lap time, by as much as 28 seconds compared with the GT-R, for example. Of course, a show is there to entertain, but making us believe that a Golf GTI Clubsport S can humiliate the all-powerful Porsche 911 GT3 RS on its own territory seems a bit far-fetched, don’t you think?

Technical specifications of this car

HatchbackVolkswagen Golf28 versions · from 24,450 €