As much as we love high-performance hatchbacks that send their power through the front wheels, an argument can be made that if you have much more than 320 hp, you may as well have all-wheel drive. The owner of this VW Golf GTI Clubsport clearly doesn’t think that way and has created an insane hot hatch that continues to be front-wheel drive.
A multitude of modifications have been made to the car, recently driven by the guys over at AutoTopNL. Most notably, it features an aftermarket hybrid turbocharger, and a bespoke Gorilla exhaust system, among other upgrades, that see it produce 470 hp and 454 lb-ft (616 Nm) of torque.
Also Watch: Golf GTI TCR Is Volkswagen’s Hot Hatch At Its (Very) Best
To put those numbers into perspective, the flagship VW Golf GTI TCR pushes out 286 hp so this example almost has 200 hp more. Additionally, a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette pumps out 490 hp and 465 lb-ft (630 Nm) so this Golf isn’t far behind the sports car of the moment.
As you can probably imagine, this Golf is an absolutely scary beast to drive. The reviewer behind the wheel mentions that the hot hatch’s front differential has no idea how to deal with so much power so it spins up its tires through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears before putting its power to the ground more effectively in fourth. There also appears to be quite a lot of torque steer, not surprising for a front-wheel drive hatch with so much grunt.