Review: 2023 Volkswagen Golf GTI Autobahn

This was the first Golf I’ve ever tested with an automatic transmission, which is like taking all the chocolate chips out of the ice cream. But there were other reasons it was tough to get behind the 2023 Golf GTI.

Let’s start with the good news.

For 2023, a hasty turbocharged, 2.0-liter, 241-hp four-cylinder powers your front wheels through either a seven-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual. My mileage was somewhere between 25 MPG and 31 combined city/highway. A 40^th Anniversary edition is available, adding to the S, SE, and Autobahn (my tester) trims. Otherwise, it’s a carryover. Base price is $39,870; as tested it was $41,360.

Thought the Golf had reasonable get-up-and-go, the ride was terrible, every pothole and divot crashing into my cockpit to the point where there were certain rough roads I avoided, roads which I have no problem on with other rides. The nav/sound system is one of the most convoluted, ill-designed units I’ve ever given up on.

It didn’t help that SiriusXM Satellite Radio wasn’t enabled. It’s hard for an anal-retentive musician/audiophile like me to test a sound system by scrolling through the no-quality AM stations, or generic FM ones. The interior materials, too, were Motel 6-ish, comfort-wise, even though there was plenty of room for the big and tall – two things I’m not, but maybe you are. The red stitched accents helped. The hatch also fits a reasonable amount of stuff, so no problem there.

But one wants to feel excited, jazzed, adrenaline pumping when getting behind the wheel of a brand spanking-new hot hatch! It never happened. A lot of journalists have heaped praise on the Golf GTI, I know. But just because everyone loves franchise movies or Foo Fighters doesn’t mean I have to.

The Golf GTI’s safety and driver-assistance features are on point. The 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI was named a 2022 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) when equipped with High Beam Control (Light Assist). It also comes with a variety of standard driver-assistance technology as well and optional upgrades. VW’s notorious IQ.Drive system is available on all trims, for example, and you get automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assist and a variety of other safety features.

My biggest gripe came on the last night of the test when, for time reasons, I took that aforementioned “rough road,” which is actually a 385-mile highway that’s been under construction near me since the Bush administration, seemingly. I went slow and absorbed the bumps and was almost to the end of the rough part when I heard “flippity-flippety-flippity” coming from my right front tire. I thought I knew what it was – a flat.

“Doorknob!” I said to myself. “It’s 10:30 at night and you knew you shouldn’t have taken this route!” I gripped the wheel and limped along about ¼ mile to the nearest exit, then pulled off into a gas station, got out and looked at my flat.

But there wasn’t a flat. There wasn’t even a tire. I’d lost the tire somewhere along the feeling of “flat” and the gas station.

Fortunately there was a donut in the trunk and, 30 minutes later, I was rolling again.

But the rim was toast, and so was I as far as the 2023 Golf GTI was concerned.