2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI S

The Golf GTI is Volkswagen's hot hatch, the one that started the whole segment back in the Seventies. The ride is firm but never harsh, and the front seats are some of the best in any car under forty grand. You get a genuinely useful hatchback with a big cargo opening and rear seats that fold flat, so it works as a daily driver too. Cloth Scalepaper Plaid seats and the 8.25-inch touchscreen set the S apart from the SE and Autobahn trims above it. Its 2.0L I4 makes 241 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque, sent through a seven-speed automatic to the front wheels, and it returns 27 mpg combined. The S comes with the VAQ limited-slip front differential as standard, which helps put the power down without torque steer.