2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI: Here's Everything You Need to Know

• The Golf GTI is getting a makeover for 2025.
• Expect new looks, new go-faster tech, and physical buttons on the steering wheel.
• It will likely be on sale by the end of this year.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI is an icon, one that's been regularly reinvented over the last 50 years. For 2025, the GTI is getting a refresh and the changes are going to be pretty significant. The biggest difference, however, is in what we aren't going to get. The GTI's manual transmission is officially dead — the face-lifted version of the Mk8 (the car that's currently on sale) will be automatic-only. That's sad for those who like to row their own gears, especially in something as engaging as the GTI.

But the changes for 2025 aren't all going to be cons. Customers and the automotive media like us relentlessly maligned the current GTI's touch-sensitive steering wheel controls. The problem is they are too difficult to use when you want to do something and too easy to accidentally press, too. So many people complained about them that WV has finally relented and is putting a steering wheel with physical controls back into the GTI. The new GTI is also getting a larger infotainment screen, which will hopefully be more responsive and more functional than the current car's.

But that's not all the new GTI is getting. You can expect new front and rear fascias, new headlights, new taillights, a large spoiler on top of the rear deck, and what appears to be a new exhaust system as well. We wouldn't be surprised if power rose ever so slightly for the GTI, perhaps creeping into the 270-hp range (a fair bit more than the current car's 241 horsepower). This is likely the last GTI to be powered by an internal combustion engine, so VW might want to send its legendary hot hatch out with a bang.

Edmunds says

Hopefully, the changes bring the GTI back to the top of its game.