Limited to 400 cars worldwide, the Clubsport S winds the GTI's 2.0-litre turbo's power up to 306bhp (even more than the awd Golf R), carries some substantial chassis tweaks, loses a fair bit of weight (some of it by chucking away the rear seats), and has recently garnered the coveted lap record for a front-wheel-drive production car at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Which, appropriately enough, is where we've tested it...
The power hike, from 261bhp in the Clubsport to 306bhp in the Clubsport S, comes largely from a larger, freer-breathing exhaust system. For the first time on a modern VW performance car, the speed limiter's been removed, allowing the S to hit 165mph flat-out – a figure that would be higher were it not for that big rear spoiler.
All that power flows through the regular GTI's manual gearbox rather than the DSG auto, since the dual-clutch 'box's extra weight would have negated its quicker shifts.
Aside from losing the rear seats, some of the sound deadening material has also been deleted, as has the variable-height boot floor, and an aluminium front subframe has been fitted. The net result is a claimed 1360kg kerb weight.
