2009 Volkswagen Golf GTI

The 2009 Golf GTI starts off with a great advantage, being based on the standard, excellent Mk6 Golf.

That more pedestrian Golf is itself a fantastic little car – well put together and great to drive, and the GTI continues that excellence.

It takes the looks of the standard Golf and adds a more aggressive bumper, with a traditional red line-and-honeycomb grille as well as some very smart and now almost compulsory 17-inch GTI alloy wheels.

The interior is also very similar to the standard Golf, with a few little additions to differentiate it. The leather-covered steering wheel is trimmed with red stitching and has a racing-style flat bottom, with a metal GTI badge at the bottom. It’s chunkier than the regular steering wheel but shaped nicely with paddles mounted on the rear to change gears on the six-speed DSG dual clutch transmission.

The seats are sports ones with more lateral support than the regular chairs, available with the GTI trademark checked fabric upholstery or, as in our test car, leather. They’re very good; aesthetically pleasing and supportive enough to hold you in place when flying round corners.

Other touches inside include more red stitching on the gear knob and the handbrake. There are stylish, textured black plastic inserts on the doors and dashboard that give the car a contemporary air.

An LCD touch screen sits in the dash in all models, even those without satellite navigation, and the car also comes with an auxiliary input socket for MP3 players, and dual zone air conditioning. It also comes with a bottle opener in the centre console – a feature long associated with Golfs and one I’ve never quite understood the point of.

Being a Golf, the GTI is still very practical. We drove the five-door version, which is easy to get in and out of and has plenty of room for three adults in the back seats. The boot is a decent size too, with lots of space for shopping and everyday detritus.

The engine is a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit with 210bhp and it’s brilliant. It’s tremendously satisfying and responsive and very torquey, and is mated to an also-superb DSG gearbox. Acceleration is brisk and accompanied by a wonderful but unobtrusive boom from the exhaust above around 2,000rpm, and gears are shifted smoothly and at lightning speed. Even when driving in a spirited fashion, changing gear mid-corner fails to unsettle the balance of the car.