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By now, most of us are quite familiar with the godfather of hot hatches. Always engaging and entertaining yet practical and rational, Volkswagen's Golf GTI has won us over time and again with the formula it introduced to the world nearly 50 years ago. Or maybe it's the GTI's non‑juvenile hot‑hatch persona—sans gaudy wing and shouty exhaust—that keeps us coming back for more. Either way, when the eighth‑generation GTI came out, we knew we needed one for a 40,000‑mile shakedown.

In a rare show of restraint, we chose the $30,540 base model and added only one option: the humble Moonstone Gray paint for $395. More than $30,000 for a base GTI, you say? In a world where you can spend six figures on a Jeep Wrangler or a Ford F‑150, we consider it a bargain.

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00:00 Intro
00:50 What we got, what it cost
01:21 What we liked
05:32 What we didn't like
07:06 Fuel economy
07:45 Winter
08:48 Service, maintenance, and repairs
09:54 Tire wear
10:25 Recalls
10:45 Wrap-up