2025 VW GTI: Buttons return however the stickshift retires

Volkswagen revealed the updated Golf to the world late Tuesday, marking the nameplate’s fiftieth anniversary with an overhauled (but not all-new) lineup that may come to our shores in the shape of the 2025 GTI. Sadly, it’ll be packing light this 12 months, as there is no have to bring the manual gearbox along. Just like the Golf itself in America, the manual GTI is but a memory. While its dual-clutch gearbox could also be a downgrade in engagement from a real-deal manual, it’s still a superb transmission that’s equally at home on the road or track, so let’s not write off the GTI’s enthusiast credentials just yet. And there is excellent news from a each day driving standpoint too, as VW has heard the criticisms of its touch-based infotainment system and never only updated the underlying tech, but brought back some key physical controls as well.

As the good philosopher John Dorian once said, little victories count for quite a bit around here, and for those who can look past the departure of the manual transmission, the Mk8.5 GTI is plagued by them. Power is up from 241 horses to 262 (VW says this spec is for European models, but we do not expect much to alter); that is six horsepower lower than the plug-in hybrid (and not-for-America) GTE, which continues to strike us as deliberate. No torque figure was available at publication time, but with power still coming from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, it’s unlikely we’ll see much increase from the 273 pound-feet offered within the outgoing GTI.

Then there’s the cabin. We have bemoaned the present (above left) GTI’s over-reliance on touch tech since release, and while the return of physical wheel controls (above right) is definitely improbable to see, perhaps the most important news here is that we’re getting a new edition of the software suite underpinning all of it. It might be easier to live with VW’s tech if it worked as intended, but the prevailing infotainment system has a repute for simply not booting up at times (or crashing with unusual frequency even when it does). And as a consequence of its integration with the remaining of the automotive’s computers, issues with a contemporary infotainment system can rapidly escalate to show-stoppers. VW says it’s MIB4 infotainment system should address the complaints leveled on the previous tech and offer more features as well. As an added bonus, with the brand new floating infotainment screen, we get a redesigned center stack featuring illuminated climate controls that VW says needs to be more ergonomically friendly. Those are small wins, sure, but surely they’ll improve the GTI’s day-to-day livability. 

Aside from the updated cabin and tweaked powertrain, there’s not a ton more to the Mk 8.5 GTI. VW’s release detailed the remaining of its European-market variants less three — the GTI Clubsport, Golf R and Golf R wagon. Those three can be revealed later in 2024 and can likely hit European showrooms in time for 2025. Of the models revealed Tuesday, only the GTI is as a consequence of come stateside; it and the Golf R were the one models not discontinued within the U.S. after 2021. Search for more on the R when it launches in Europe, at which point we should always find out about VW’s plans to bring it here.