2010 Volkswagen Golf GTi

This is the sixth generation, and it's better than the last one.

Hmm. Twenty four words down and 476 to go.

OK, when the fifth generation golf GTi was launched it was like a breath of fresh air after being tied up in a corrugated iron box for ten years. VW had previously gone soft on the GTi, to the point where the badge had become something of a joke, as the cars got heavier and the engines failed to keep up with the weight gain.

Generation Five blew that away in an instant. The 147kW 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine had sufficient power to distort your eyeballs under acceleration, but more importantly the car bought back the old joy of screaming around corners at velocities that would strip a tile off the space shuttle.

For the NZ$57,490 sixth generation Golf GTi, VW has sharpened the front end of the car so it looks like a slightly older, slightly flabbier Scirocco, but more importantly has upped the power from 147kW to 155kW.

It's not through retuning though, but due to a new 2.0 litre TSI turbocharged engine that also happens to produce what is essentially a 280Nm plateau of torque from 1700rpm all the way up to 5200rpm. It's less an engine and more of a rocket motor in the way it delivers thrust.

The car comes with what VW calls an XDS transverse differential lock, which uses the front brakes instead of mechanical LSD to spread power across the front wheels. It works exactly as advertised, and the car grips the road more like an all wheel drive car.

There's also Dynamic Chassis Control, which alters the damping of the suspension from Comfort through Normal and ending up at a truly hipbone breaking Sport.

These days twin clutch manual gearboxes are fitted to everything from supercars to commercial vans, and in this iteration the six-speed DSG unit works exactly as advertised, changing gear virtually instantly when you flick a paddle or gearlever. There's still a pause if you suddenly select a gear the 'box isn't prepared for, but it's now far less noticeable.

And you can leave the gearbox in auto, but since you've bought a GTi you'd never use it, and if you do the Police should take you away.

So that's about it. The GTi MK VI looks better, goes harder, is more fun, and still has the 1970s tartan cloth on the seats.

There are hatchbacks on the market with much larger power numbers, but tellingly only the similarly powered Ford Focus XR5 comes even close to combining just the right amount of power with the right amount of handling and delivering it in a real fun to use package.

Like I said, the sixth generation Golf GTi is better than the last one - and that's saying a lot more than you think.