2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI: The cure for the regrettable ride

2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI 2.0 Turbo SE: Yippity yeehaw, as always?

Price: $37,225 as tested. No charge for the fancy paint of the automatic transmission.

Conventional wisdom: Edmunds likes the “sporty and fun handling, roomy hatchback design for passengers and cargo, sophisticated ride quality with the optional adaptive suspensions, high-quality interior materials,” but not that the “Infotainment system can be frustrating to use” or that there’s “not as much power as some rival hot hatches.”

Marketer’s pitch: “A hatch that has your back.”

Reality: A few unwelcome details — one new, one old — but still as fun as ever.

Testing 1, 2: People think it’s really cool when they hear I drive a different car almost every week. And while it can be, that isn’t always the case.

Like the rainy weeks where I get a Wrangler or a Miata and can’t open it up. Or the snowy weeks that I have a rear-wheel drive sports car. Or any week I get a terrible car.

It seems like I’ve gone through a string of regrettable rides in 2024 — the Polestar, the Lexus NX, the Volvo XC60. So I thought I’d change it up: Here’s a Golf GTI to enjoy a long trip to State College to visit freshly minted junior Sturgis Kid 4.0.

What’s new: Not much for 2024 since the 2022 redesign. Another redesign is looming for 2025.

Competition: Volkswagen Golf R, Subaru WRX, Honda Civic Type R, Audi S3, Mini Countryman.

Up to speed: I knew this would be all yeehaw, and I was mostly right. But this version of the Golf GTI seemed to suffer from some standing start lag more common in the Golf or the Jetta. It seemed to die out, mostly because it starts in second gear rather than first.

Once I figured out to downshift into first or press the brake pedal a little harder, everything seemed much better. The test model covered 0-60 in 5.4 seconds, according to Motor Trend.

Shifty: Shifting of the 7-speed shiftable automatic transmission is only available via paddles now, and I am sad. The little lever that controls Reverse or Drive offers no shift capabilities. Basically this is like an Audi now.

Ask me how many times I shifted from Drive to Sport mode thinking I was upshifting. Fortunately I never downshifted into Reverse, or this review would have a sadder ending.

But take heart — the Golf GTI does have an available 6-speed manual. Get one while you still can. It’s a second slower than the version tested, but I bet it’s worthwhile.

On the road: As fun as ever. I’d never taken one on U.S. Route 322 through the mountains west of the Susquehanna, but I felt like they were bending and shifting beneath me like a cartoon road as I zigged and zagged over hill and dale. Flames scorching the pavement as well.

And for those familiar with Seven Mountains — five miles of twists and turns with an 8% grade — that mountainous stretch was never more fun.

Heck, even following all the twisting exit ramps and route number changes from the Turnpike to 283 to 83 to the left lane then across four lanes to the right lane for 322 West — still kinda cool.

Driver’s Seat: I was prepared for a stiff ride in a hot rod Volkswagen, but the Golf GTI left me pleasantly surprised. The cloth seats were comfortable, if a tad narrow.

Friends and stuff: This is where all the happy talk goes to die. The rear seat is squished, cramped, uncomfortable. The center hump is so large it’s worthy of an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Sturgis Son-In-Law 1.0, who just traded his trouble-prone fun Golf GTI racer for something more suited to a first-time dad, wisely vowed he’d never get in the back seat of one. But Sturgis Kid 1.0 did, so we had to mollify him with pizza and nature hikes and other distractions.

Cargo space is 34.5 cubic feet with the rear seat folded.

Play some tunes: Now, back to the good parts.

Woo-hoo, the awesome sound system added to the fun. Once I fiddled with the equalizer, I found the sound to be among some of the clearest I’d heard in a while. I’ll stop at an A, as it just didn’t have all the follow-through it needed for an A+, but it’s a minor nit.

Control of the system is via the touchscreen, of course. A volume slider functions haphazardly, so I just used the button on the steering wheel. Other functions were fairly smooth.

Keeping warm and cool: This also happens mostly via the touchscreen as well, although there are black buttons for temperature on the outside of the screen. Defrost and stuff happen from another ebony pod over by the light control.

At first I thought the buttons were mashing together a lot — ask me how many times I blasted the defroster trying to turn on the lights — but I think I was pressing too hard.

Still, Volkswagen has dispensed with the simple knobs that made their vehicles awesome and gone full ID.4. Boo!

Fuel economy: I averaged a delightful 34 mpg on the trip home from State College, so the Golf GTI definitely does its best work on the highway. And, surprise, regular unleaded is just fine.

Where it’s built: Wolfsburg, Germany.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports pegs it to be a 2 out of 5 for reliability.

In the end: As fun as expected and as unreliable. (Just ask the son-in-law.) In any case, find a stick.