Volkswagen Golf

The arrival of your 30th birthday often brings mixed emotions: the ending of your twenties can make you feel a little long in the tooth. However, Volkswagen has no such concerns about the Golf GTI - in fact, it is celebrating the end of the hot hatch's third decade with a special-edition model.

And now we've been invited to the party: a Tornado Red three-door Edition 30 recently joined the Auto Express fleet. Having run a white standard GTI for a year and awarded the VW victory in our Greatest Drives 2005 shoot-out, we are clearly big fans of the model. So the return of a performance Golf to our car park is welcome.

Yet it's not without a touch of controversy. With its body-colour trim strips and extra-deep front lip, this special GTI's styling has been a topic of much discussion in the office. And the general consensus is that we prefer the more delicate detailing of the standard GTI.

But as a former MkII GTI owner, I love the return of the 'golf ball' gearlever. Edition 30 badges adorn the dash and sill plates, while the seats, handbrake, gearlever and mats get red stitching. Little touches like those make climbing back into the GTI a real pleasure, although it's the fantastic driving experience which ensures I face an almost daily fight to lay my hands on the Golf's keys.

However, on the road the Edition 30 is subtly different from the standard GTI. Its suspension is 15mm lower and the ride is a fraction firmer. And while an extra 30bhp over the regular model (making a total of 227bhp) brings added performance, the trade-off is less relaxing power delivery.

It's a choice between two great cars. So far, I prefer the stock GTI, especially as it costs £1,715 less. Still, there's so much to praise about the Edition 30. And that's not just because it's rude to be nasty to someone on their birthday!