THERE’S nothing raw about the latest version of the legendary Volkswagen Golf GTi. In fact, despite being the most powerful GTi ever, the Golf 5-based five-door hot hatch is a great example of how to build solid torque into a front-drive chassis without rendering it virtually undriveable. Even though the engine punches out a (very) useful serve of torque, the GTi’s chassis does a splendid job of containing torque steer. The whole car is similarly well balanced. As a five-door, it’s as practical as any other decent-size hatchback, while the styling – particularly at the front-end – is enough to advertise its status in the Golf hierarchy. Order books for the Golf GTi are overflowing and, with a pricetag under $40,000, it’s not hard to see why.