I’ve test-driven loads of cars, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been as frustrated by one as I was by the 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI.
I’m not saying it’s bad. You can’t work up the energy to get frustrated with a bad car. The 2024 Golf GTI is frustrating precisely because it’s very good at some things and so bad at others that you can’t love it like you want to.
To Volkswagen’s credit, it has already taken steps to correct much of what I will complain about. To shoppers’ loss, those steps won’t come in time to improve the cars on dealer lots today.
My test model was a top-of-the-line 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI Autobahn with a 7-speed DSG automatic transmission with VW’s triptronic paddle controls. It retails for $41,730, including the mandatory $1,225 delivery fee.
The Good – Everything Not Electronic
The Volkswagen Golf is an institution. It has been in near-continuous production for 50 years, though it wore the Rabbit name in America for part of that run. There’s been a sporty GTI version almost all along.
For most of that span, it’s followed the same formula — a practical hatchback form, an engine just a little more powerful than you’d expect for its weight, and suspension on the sporty side of normal.
That consistency has made it beloved. Generations of car enthusiasts have respected the Golf as the choice of a practical shopper still too in love with driving to settle for a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic.
With your foot on the pedals and the steering wheel in your hands, the 2024 GTI seems to have perfected that formula.
It’s easy to live with as a family car. The hatchback form gives it plenty of cargo space, and 27 mpg in combined driving is enough to make driving affordable for most.
The 2024 model boasts a Goldilocks suspension — firm enough to be sporty when the road invites it but supple enough not to annoy you on a badly pitted road.
The steering is sharp and responsive. The surfaces you touch most frequently shape your experience of a car, and the Golf GTI’s steering wheel is an ergonomic masterpiece.
The 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, rated for 241 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque, is tuned to produce plenty of power at neighborhood speeds. The dual-clutch automatic transmission picks its timing so well that you may never touch the paddle shifters.
The Bad – Everything Electronic
Before I discuss the Golf’s interior, let me reassure you that VW knows what’s wrong.
The company has radically reconfigured how it writes software. It has promised to bring back buttons on future models. It has even made a $5 billion investment in startup Rivian, partly in hopes of getting access to better in-car software.
Soon, the 2025 Golf will be on dealer lots. It will get an interior makeover.
But, for now, 2024 models sit on dealer lots with this interior. It has some issues.
The steering wheel is full of touch-capacitive buttons that detect my touch inconsistently. Several times, I pressed the button to turn up the radio and saw the cruise control turn on and off (but the volume did not change).
Yes, I checked to ensure that I hadn’t fat-fingered the controls. They were simply detecting my touch in the wrong spots.
Even when they worked as designed, they weren’t always designed well.
The central touchscreen is recessed, creating a small shelf beneath it on which to rest your hand while you interact with it. That’s good design. But the shelf turns out to house touch-capacitive sliders for climate control. Placing your hand in the most natural place to rest changes the temperature. That’s bad design.
The climate control screen offers two interfaces – “classic climate” with the controls you expect, and “smart climate” with functions like “warm hands” and the mysteriously named “air care.” I’m not sure why that’s necessary. Change is not always an improvement.
Apart from the buttons, the Golf’s interior is fine. The seats are comfortable, and there is ample room in every direction. The materials are mostly soft to the touch and built to last.
Still Might Belong On Your List
The frustrations of the 2024 VW Golf GTI’s electronics are all things an owner would get used to, I suspect. If you love everything else about the car, there is no reason to avoid it.
But they’re bad enough that Volkswagen has already made significant changes to the car.
If I were in the market for a sporty hatchback at a reasonable price, I’d consider the Volkswagen Golf GTI. It’s comfortable and genuinely fun to drive, and it has the planted, firm driving feel longtime GTI fans look for.
But I’d wait for the 2025 Golf or try to negotiate the price down on the 2024 model. Its usability flaws are significant enough that the company has already taken action to fix them next year. Otherwise, it’s a delightful car, which should make it easy to recommend.
Cox Automotive, the parent company of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, is a minority investor in Rivian.
