I have a very distant, decade-old memory of driving the entry-level Mk7 Golf GTI when it had 220hp and a manual gearbox, and thinking that while it didn’t make for a deeply thrilling hot hatch - ...

With a better interior and tweaked dynamics, the GTI is once again one of the best all-rounders on the market. I don’t know if the Mk8 GTI fully deserves its bad reputation. It was a good car, but it ...