VW has finally pulled the covers off the
all-new, eighth generation Golf GTI and its siblings, the plug-in hybrid GTE
and diesel GTD, ahead of their official public premiere at the Geneva Motor
Show. As expected, the new VW Golf GTI isn’t a fan of loud styling exercises,
opting instead for a more subtle approach to display its high-performance
underpinnings.
The front end is dominated by the
one-piece honeycomb-pattern lower grille that features the striking, but
optional, X-shaped foglights. The standard LED headlights are united via a thin
LED strip with another colored strip runs across the width of VW’s iconic hot
hatch – finished in red for the GTI, blue for the GTE and silver for the GTD.
Moving on to the sides and we find a set
of new 17-inch Richmond alloy wheels offered as standard to the Golf GTI. VW
will also offer 18- and 19-inch wheels as an option while the brake calipers
are finished in the classic red. The side skirts are also wider and finished in
black.
The rear end of the new VW Golf GTI gets a
sporty diffuser, along with a roof spoiler, LED taillights as standard and the
iconic GTI lettering now sitting proudly in the middle, under the VW badge. The
new Golf GTI, GTE and GTD are differentiated in the exhaust department, with
the GTI featuring one tip in each corner, the GTD getting a double pipe on the
left and the plug-in hybrid GTE hiding its exhaust completely.
Power for the new VW Golf GTI comes from a
2.0-liter EA888 TSI engine (the latest evo4 variant of it), producing 242 HP and 370 Nm of torque. As standard, VW’s latest hot hatch
will be offered with a six-speed manual transmission, leaving the seven-speed
dual-clutch automatic unit in the options list. VW didn’t release any
acceleration figures at this point and didn’t mention anything about the
rumored TCR variant, which is expected to offer 292 HP out of the same
engine.
Moving on to the Golf GTD, which employs a
2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine that kicks out 197 HP and 400 Nm of torque. The powertrain is offered only in conjunction with
the dual-clutch transmission and features two SCR catalytic converters with
dual AdBlue injection.
We already know that the plug-in hybrid VW
Golf GTE uses a combination of a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine with 147 HP and a 112 HP electric motor. Together, they produce a combined 242 HP and 400 Nm of torque. A six-speed DSG is the only option here, while
the lithium-ion battery pack has increased in size by 50 percent compared to
its predecessor, to 13 kWh. VW claims an EV range of around 60 km and that the new Golf GTE can be driven in all-electric mode up to speeds of 130 km/h.
The big news in the chassis department is
the addition of a new driving dynamics control system called ‘Vehicle Dynamics
Manager’. The new system basically controls the XDS electronic differential
lock and the DCC adaptive suspension, which has been revised for this generation
of the fast Golf family and drops the Golf GTI and GTD 0.6 inches lower to the
ground than a standard Golf.
VW now allows the drivers to choose beyond
the preconfigured range of the Comfort, Eco and Sport modes when setting up
their Individual setting via a digital slider. The interior of the new Golf GTI is tarted
up with a new sports steering wheel with touch controls and three silver double
spokes, the classic golf ball shifter knob (if you go for the manual) and the
beloved tartan GTI sport seats.
The Innovision Cockpit combines a
configurable 10.25 digital instrument cluster with a 10-inch infotainment
system, while there’s also ambient lighting with 30 color options. Standard
equipment includes the Lane Assist lane keeping system, Autonomous Emergency
Braking with Pedestrian Monitoring, the XDS electronic differential lock and
the Car2X communication module. Stay tuned for more info on the new VW Golf
GTI’s performance numbers as well as its launch dates in Europe and North
America.