Volkswagen Shows The Car It Did Not Want You To Have: The Golf GTI
When I helped Volkswagen launch its Golf GTI in 1976, Volkswagen wanted to make only 5,000. They wanted to make even less, actually, but 5,000 were needed for homologation as a racer. Volkswagen was convinced that no mentally stable person would be nuts enough to buy a little car like that with a 110 hp engine. Boy were they ever wrong. It took well into the 80’s for the Golf GTI to come to America. When I said “Americans love muscle cars,” the answer was: “Haven’t you heard? 55 miles an hour.” Wrong again. Today, Volkswagen shows the seventh generation of the archetypical hot hatch. at the Geneva International Motor Show.
With 220 hp, it has twice the power of the first GTI. For the first time, you can have even a little more. The GTI Performance comes with 230 hp and a front axle differential lock. Both are powered by a turbocharged gasoline direct-injection engine (TSI).
In Germany, advance ordering for the new Golf GTI begins on the 5th of March. Prices start at 28,350 euros.
Market launch in Europe: Initial markets starting May 2013.
Power: 169 kW / 230 PS from 4,700 to 6,200 rpm.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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The MK7 looks a lot like the MK6, but that's OK with me - the MK6 started out looking good. They got the weight of the GTI sans fuel and driver down to just over 2800 lbs.? That's stunning - nobody gets a weight reduction like that anymore. It's pretty commonly known the current 200 hp/207 lb/ft GTI makes around 205/220 at the wheels. VW always does this - the new 220 hp and 230 hp engines will easily make that at the wheels.
Is anyone else just over-the-moon about the weight reduction here? Seriously, if they kept everything the same from the Mk6 and ONLY reduced the weight by such an amount, they'd probably have my money. Combined with an an optional LSD? They've nailed it. This has everything I could reasonably want in a daily driver.