Volkswagen Golf GTI long-term test: report 3

The car Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport 2.0 TSI 300 PS | Run by Darren Moss, deputy editor

Why it’s here To see whether VW’s iconic hot hatch remains the cream of the crop in its latest form

Needs to Be fast and fun, yet pleasingly frugal, be family friendly, and comfortable on long trips

Miles covered 2535 Price £43,075 Target Price £41,239 Price as tested £48,275 Official economy 37.4mpg Test economy 33.7mpg

28 May 2025 – All things in balance

American author Richelle Mead said that “for every bad thing in life, there are more good things to tip the balance”, and sure enough, having found something which annoys me in my Volkswagen Golf GTI, there's plenty else about it which I like.

The sense of annoyance is still there, however, and it stems from the on-board personal assistant, which is called IDA. Like many other systems of its type, it’s meant to be an upgrade on traditional voice control systems, which could only understand you if you spoke like a robot. Instead, IDA is meant to be able to understand natural speech. And in some Volkswagen models, it's even supplemented by artificial intelligence, using ChatGPT to return answers to complex questions or to suggest where you might want to go next.

Unfortunately, the version of IDA in my car is less cutting-edge technology and more like a curmudgeonly grandparent. It chooses when to recognise my voice, and when not to, and more often than not will tell me that it doesn’t understand what’s required of it.

For example, the other day, during a long motorway trip, my girlfriend asked me whether it was possible to change the background colour of the digital instruments. Indeed it is, I replied, and there are plenty to choose from, so I asked IDA to change the background colour from blue to yellow. A quick chirrup later, and the colour was changed. But when I wanted to change it back, IDA simply refused to co-operate, even when I used exactly the same command as I had previously, aside from transposing the words yellow and blue.

Okay, you might think, but how often are you really going to want to change the colour of your instruments? And, fair enough, you'd have a point. But when I asked IDA to change the temperature inside the car, it was again unable to accommodate my request – not very helpful.

Other features in my Golf GTI are far less temperamental, and one I’ve grown to love is the graphical display which pops up whenever I engage Travel Assist. This feature brings together the lane-keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control to help take the stress out of motorway trips, and it’s a brilliant set-up; it not only provides a clear display of my car, but also the other cars around me.

The system is also smart enough to know the difference between a motorbike, a car, a van and a lorry, with different graphics for each. It all helps to build a virtual picture of what’s going on around me, so I know exactly what's approaching and from where, and therefore when it's safe to change lanes.

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