Known to hot hatch enthusiasts as the MkV (or mark-five), the 2006 Volkswagen GTI was a return to greatness for a nameplate that had gotten bloated and stale during nearly a decade of neglect that saw only minor changes made to VW’s flagship hatchback.

  

New management at Volkswagen made rehabilitating the flagging GTI a top priority and when the MkV was released, the turbocharged 2.0-litre inline-4 engine that pumps out 200 horsepower won acclaim from the automotive press, even being named the 2007 Car of the Year by Automobile Magazine.

 

A new innovation for the MkV was its Direct-Shift gearbox, which uses a dual-clutch setup to reduce shift time to 8 milliseconds. Its rakish lines suggest a car that should cost a lot more than it actually does, but you can find out for yourself in SHIFT if it lives up to the hype.