Park that cute little Fiesta ST in your
driveway, and the neighbours will think your kid is home from college. Do the
same with a Mazdaspeed 3, it'll look like the gardener stopped by to pick up
his check. Face it: The Volkswagen GTI has always been the only tarted-up
compact car an adult enthusiast can have in the driveway without implying
financial difficulties or a midlife crisis.
Enter the seventh-generation GTI. It's
longer, lower, and wider than the last one, and like all Golfs, it's small on
the outside and huge inside. Its cabin feels as chic as a $60,000 luxury
sedan's, if there were a $60,000 luxury sedan cool enough to wear red-and-black
plaid cloth.
The
Volkswagen GTI is a visual standout from every angle, inside and out
The best part, though, is under the hood.
The VW's turbo four is nothing like the old Audi engine with which it shares
its torque rating and a 2.0T badge. The GTI uses variable valve lift on its
exhaust valves instead of its intakes, helping to speed turbo response. Unlike
any of the VW group's other 2.0-liter turbo fours, this engine also uses both
port and direct fuel injection, a boon to cruising efficiency. Additionally,
its exhaust manifold now lives inside the cylinder head and is wrapped with
coolant passages. The resulting drop in exhaust temperature means the new
engine doesn't have to run rich to keep the catalytic converter cool. This
means the car burns nearly 20 per cent less fuel at full load.
Most important, unlike the old Audi mill,
which dumps a bucketful of torque at your feet and then begs for an early
upshift, the GTI's new engine pulls and pulls. Then it sends a fireball fart
out me exhaust on the upshift, after which it pulls some more. The GTI feels
game-changingly fast, and not just in a straight line. (The factory's
6.4-second 0-to-62-mph estimate feels unusually conservative.) The optional
Performance package adds 10 hp (which you can't feel), upgraded vented discs
all around (which you can feel), and an electronically actuated,
honest-to-goodness mechanical locking differential.
Step
inside and the spacious, high quality interior of the GTI still impresses
And oh, does that cliff make a difference.
Stay smooth on the controls, and you won't believe how the GTI explodes out of
corners- on dry pavement, the car almost feels like it's driving all four
wheels. Torque steer is blessedly absent, an achievement attributable to some
of the best electric-power-steering tuning in the business. As with the last
GTI, the steering rack still manages to tell you what you need to know without
feeling busy. And a Porsche-style progressive steering ratio swings the front
wheels from lock to lock in a scant 2.1 turns with no on-center nervousness
whatsoever. Topping things off, the GTI is remarkably neutral in corners, and
since the big Performance-pack brakes don't need to interfere to curtail inside
wheelspin, they're unfadeable on back roads.
A
380-litre boot is beneficial; it expands to 890 litres with the rear seats down
Sound like perfection? Almost. Widely
spaced accelerator and brake pedals make for difficult heel-and-toeing, the
GTI's electronic stability control can't be fully disabled, and skimpy rear
visibility means you'll need the rearview camera for parking. But the car's
biggest problem is that you'll have to wait until next spring to get one.
On the plus side, that should give you
plenty of time to clear out all that crap from your garage- this VW deserves a
spot indoors. Besides, leaving it outside would just give the neighbours more
to talk about.
