Volkswagen celebrates 50 years of Golf with this updated Mk8.5 GTI.
This week, the quintessential hot hatch saw its latest update, bringing quite a few important tweaks to the equation. Most notably however, as we reported back in August, there is one major omission from this upcoming model year’s GTI: no manual transmission. From here on out, the dual-clutch automatic transmission will be your only option if you’re looking to snag VW’s latest hatch. (Keep in mind, the regular Golf hasn’t been around for the entire Mk8 run, and that will still be the case for 2025.)
While that news sucks for #savethemanuals enthusiasts, there is some positive news. Not only are there some good quality-of-life improvements, but power is up for this year’s model as well. As ever, the 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI makes its power from the venerable 2.0-liter EA888 engine, but this time it puts out 261 horsepower. At least, it does in European spec: VW hasn’t shared U.S.-specific details yet, but it shouldn’t stray too much from what you see here.
Inside, the 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI gets a new infotainment screen, packing the brand’s latest version of its MIB4 infotainment system. It scores a few important updates that aim to improve its overall responsiveness. It’s a welcome change, as past versions of VW’s software ranged from momentarily fussy to downright frustrating to use. While you do still get haptic controls on the center stack for climate functions (at least they are backlit this time), VW did revert back to physical buttons on the steering wheel, as it previously said it would.
Overall, the 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk8.5 incorporates a number of small changes, from the new badges on the doors replacing the old-style fender badging to the automatic-only layout and improved controls. Provided we actually get that power bump in U.S. models, you could argue this GTI is a worthwhile upgrade if you’re looking to get into owning this hot hatch for the first time or you’re upgrading from a Mk6 or Mk7.
Overseas customers get a few other flavors of Volkswagen’s iconic hatch, as well. Apart from getting the standard Golf (which we haven’t seen at all this generation), there’s also GTI Clubsport, the plug-in hybrid GTE and the Golf R variant (wagon). We in the U.S. only get the GTI and the Golf R hatchback.
The updated Golf GTI will launch in Europe first. We don’t have a time frame on when it will land at American dealerships, but hopefully we’ll see it emerge sometime in the next several months.
