What's all this about?

It's time to light the candles and put up the decorations as the Volkswagen Golf GTI celebrates its 40th birthday this year.

Does that mean there is a special edition on the way?

That's right; the GTI Clubsport Edition 40 is available to order now with prices starting at £30,875. Expect the first cars to hit the road this summer.

Is it just some paint and trim?

There's more to it than that; with 290hp it is billed as the most potent GTI to date. The Clubsport Edition 40 also gets a new front bumper, side sills and rear diffuser. Volkswagen is only producing the anniversary model for a limited time and expects no more than 1,000 examples will reach the UK.

Sounds good, tell me more.

The body modifications are said to provide genuine downforce; in addition to the new bumpers there is a two-part roof spoiler that merges with the rear window surround. Standard wheels are 18-inch forged items, while two types of 19-inch alloys are available as options, including eight-inch wide 'Pretoria' rims wearing street legal, semi-slick tyres.

Inside, there are sports seats in Alcantara and black cloth with red stitching; sports bucket seats with 'GTI' lettering and a honeycomb patterned centre section are optional. Trim strips throughout the cabin repeat the hexagonal design theme.

Power comes from a 2.0-litre, direct injection turbocharged engine that develops 265hp. An overboost function increases the output to 290hp for 10 seconds when accelerating hard in third gear or higher. Manual or DSG transmissions are available with identical performance claims for both gearboxes of 0-62mph in 6.3 seconds and a top speed limited to 155mph. CO₂ emissions are 158g/km for the three-door DSG model with official fuel economy of 40.9mpg; the five-door DSG model is rated at 160g/km while the manual transmission increases the figure to 162g/km.