The driver’s seat feels small compared with the hot hatchback class norm and doesn’t offer cushion extension in support of longer thighs, but it’s nonetheless quite grippy and comfy, securing your backside well and feeling like somewhere you would be happy to spend plenty of time.
In the back, there’s probably slightly more outright passenger space than a modern supermini typically provides – which is one in the eye for the Alpine A290, Renault 5 and electric Mini Cooper, which are all quite a bit tighter by comparison (and in one case three-door only). Volkswagen is clearly to be taken at its word about its wish to make this a really usable, versatile daily driver. Of course it is.
The disguise leaves a few things uncovered. The fairly small, two-spoke steering wheel, with its flattened-off top and bottom rim sections, is chief among them, which it’s reassuring to find has spokes stuffed with proper buttons rather than ‘brush-by-mistake’ capacitive ones.
At the bottom, what you first take to be simply a decorative GTI badge is actually a drive mode button, one press of which puts the car into its most sporty and demonstrative driving setting.
More widely, you can see enough Dinamica microfibre on the door panels and dash to give the interior a strikingly plush and expensive, performance-flavoured vibe.
Under the central air vents I can just about see a row of physical ventilation controls, so not everything here will depend on the touchscreen infotainment system (another of Volkswagen’s learnings, clearly).
But my favourite discovery is on the digital instrument screen, where a few flicks of the ‘view’ toggle button unearths some retro-styled mock analogue dials styled up to look just like those of the Mk1 Golf GTI, with a faux digital clock between them.
Apparently the retro theme extends to the infotainment touchscreen too, where it adds audio remote controls styled like a cassette tape and a charge meter mimicking a 1980s fuel gauge.
All a bit twee, perhaps, but all undoubtedly good, evocative fun – if you ask this millennial reviewer, at any rate.