2023 Volkswagen Golf GTI | Family Review

The 2023 Volkswagen Golf GTI is a compact performance car that competes with the Subaru WRX, Toyota GR Corolla, and Honda Civic Si. In this video, we drive a VW GTI base trim to review its positives and negatives from a family perspective.

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00:00 2023 Volkswagen GTI Review
0:16 Information Explosion
0:46 Interior & Safety Features
5:04 Arm Rest Test
5:55 Exterior Review
7:37 Driving Impressions
10:20 Evie Drives
11:31 Emotion Factor
12:50 Infotainment Review
15:28 Engine Choices & Fuel Economy
15:50 Which VW GTI trim is best?
16:30 Volkswagen GTI Competitors
16:58 Synopsis

[jcrbama]

One big, but not talked about, benefit that the GTI has over the others in it's class is that it can run on regular 87 pump gas. Si, WRX and everything going up needs premium. That's a solid $10 difference at every fill up. Also the WRX struggles to get out of the low 20's on fuel mileage. I love fast cars, but have to be somewhat realistic about a daily driver.

[quicktoreason]

ill be honest with ya, ive owned an mk8R for about 9 months and i can assure you, a lot of your complaints about the info tainment can be either made as a shortcut or you get really fast at using it- imagine it this way - i owned a blackberry, like most of yall and when the iphone first came out, people were worried about not being accurate or able to do certain tasks because of the lack of physical buttons. In the end, we got used to it and with software updates, it only got easier and substantially better than anything physical - this is the same case here. I recommend driving it for a week and its a lot easier.

[katiecannon]

I’m a 57 year old female who despises tech.

The entire information system took me a few hours to get completely used to.

It’s fantastic

And the touch capacitive buttons are perfectly fine

Reviewers just don’t have this car long enough to get used to

[StevenKrug]

I have a 22 GTI SE with the Dual Clutch. Yeah, I get the complaints about the infotainment but I’m completely used to it after a year of ownership. The only part that really bothers me is the climate control situation, mainly that you can’t just change the fan speed with ease. Otherwise it’s been a fun daily. Love being able to have the navigation map in the gauge cluster.

[levigato]

You use your key to activate the child door locks. There is a key slot next to the door latch.

[tjs]

Unless VW has changed it; the child safety locks are manually operated. You open the door in question and look directly above the latching mechanism on the door metal on the same face as the plastic door panel. There should be a key slot directly above the latch that you turn the key so the slot is at 12 o'clock to disable the safety locks and then inwards towards the seats to enable the safety locks. There should be a little icon of a person above the key slot.

[haze]

Q. Can a great car be ruined with terrible interior controls?
VW: "Hold mein bier."

[CLaFong]

She is absolutely right about seats adjustments. Manual front and back, electric tilt and lumbar.

[justaguy]

I had a 2011 GTI. Aside from some initial stalling issues!! 😮… I loved that machine. The materials in that were much better than this version! It was a near perfect vehicle!

[scotturich]

I have a 2022 GTI Kings Red S that I primarily use as a my Autocross car. Besides the infotainment system I love everything about the car. I’ve had 4 other GTI’s and driving dynamics the Golf 8 is the best.

[philliprollman]

I just got my 2024 GTI in moonstone grey and i love it and the piano black accents in the car look great but scratches very easily

[brendandevoy]

Americans are so lucky here in Ireland 🇮🇪 the base mk 8 GTI costs 60000 dollars and petrol costs about $10 a gallon 😢

[MajesticMalice]

Mk8 owner here. VW addict. This is the best fwd mqb car to date BUT the infotainment freezes very frequently on me. Like every drive over 30 mins frequently. Hopeful there is an update that helps but forum posts do not make me optimistic. 2023 delivered late February. Still love the car but the infotainment issues can genuinely get dangerous as they are distracting.

[derrickaf]

Always fresh and detailed reviews:)! Thank you...

[stms]

Manual is more fun. Don’t care if it’s a slower 0-60 than the auto. This is a car that is a great all-arounder, but if you don’t need to take two/three people with you, the brz/gr86 is a better option if fun is the priority

[petes_CE]

I am considering a performance hatch, since SUV's like the CX-5 aren't offered with a manual anymore. I normally don't care much for infotainment features and care more about performance and driving feel. Having said that, is the GTI infotainment so bad that it will detract from the overall driving experience?

[brandonhindmarsh]

What a fun family review! Great format and family!

I really like my '24 manual S trim. It. looks. sharp. I like the interior and lighting. I replaced the driver grab handle with a sunglasses holder and added a wireless carplay adapter. Sorted.

For me the GTI seat base is ever so slightly wider than the WRX which helped make the decision. I owned a '02 WRX and the seat felt the same in the '24.

There are several features that aren't obvious. I learned from your video about lowering the rear deck. Ty. Another is the button on the turn signal stalk to access menu where you can Disengage Lane Assist. I learned from a comment here about the child locks you mentioned.

Re lane assist: I found it waay too aggressive -Very dangerous - when you drive the car spirited (it's fine for long highway commuting). A related huge fail is the lane assist nanny sensitivity. It alarms even when you're steering! The ACC however is excellent - even in a manual 👍👍👍

My model in '24 came with adjustable suspension. It's nice but not really needed bc it's not really changing spring rate. Interestingly, VW allows you to lower the damping to be dangerously underdamped. In the extreme softest setting, the car oscillated a LOT on a long fast sweeper.

This is my first VW so I bought an extended warranty. Downside is it will be 10 yr/100k before I can tune the ECU. Hoping we are still making e85 in 10 yrs. Still, I find the stock power puts a smile on my face every time. (Also 87 octane at the pump.)

Potent fwd is all you need in a daily driver. I'm reminded of all the fun I had in my dad's Nissan SE-R which *only* had 140hp. Hot econo hatches have come a long way! Glad I snagged one to enjoy.

[pilot_gti]

I still remember Zach’s review of the 2015 Golf. I was looking for a new car back then. I guess the paradigm shift didn’t work in the USA; now we only have the GTI. I miss Zach 😢

[gregorriusadolphus]

Dang....I so wanted this car but the capacitive buttons COMPLETELY turned me off from it. I hope VW adds back some physical buttons

[THEREALTJP]

Test drove the SE & I really love this car... thinking about getting the S (base)