The countdown to the Golf VIII continues with the lookback at the Golf MK V.

• Golf MkV in 2003 demonstrates the muscle of the range more than ever before
• The 200 PS power of Golf GTI MkV is celebrated today as a sporting icon

The Golf's debut in 2003 left many a competitor from the higher mid-class standing with its comfort, dynamism and quality. Just one year later, a 200-PS Golf with black radiator grille and sports seats in the legendary tartan “Interlagos” fabric heralded the comeback of the GTI. 

Demand for the Golf, and demand for the GTI, has never let up since. To date, the Golf GTI is the most successful sportscar in the compact segment. 

The Golf itself is unassailable as the best-selling European car ever. Now just before the launch of this bestseller update in November, it’s time to take a look back: at the Golf MkV and 2003. 

Retrospective: In 2003, Europe experienced a particularly long, hot, summer. Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley feature in ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean’’. 

The greatest of all little heroes, however, remains the sorcerer’s apprentice in the 55 million-selling book ‘‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’’. The automobile highlight of the year is the new Golf MkV - bigger, safer and higher quality. 

By 2003, the Golf had been the bestselling car from Germany for almost three decades. It has generally come to be regarded as ‘The’ car par excellence, as the only truly classless compact class model. 

And the fifth Golf? It is still built on the DNA of the first generation - but the MkV itself will be visually reinvented. The design of the Golf MkV with the characteristic C-pillar; the powerful rear; the sporty front end and the muscular silhouette rising toward the rear shows pure dynamism. 

Another Golf innovation is the front end: for the first time, the bonnet follows the contour of the headlight, like a sports car.