Slowly but surely, the seventh generation Golf family which Germans have been able to buy since 2012 is finding its way to the US. Short of the mighty near-300-hp R version, this is as good as it's going to get, but it's still good enough.
A brand new 2015 model year Golf GTI has been spotted on the road in the US. Featuring Michigan license plates and full spec, this hot hatch is likely a VW USA or dealer-owned car.
Before you kids make the "but it looks just like the old one" joke, let's just walk though all the changes that make the 2015 GTI a superior model. Wider, longer and slightly lower, the hot Golf is also going to be faster and more economical than its predecessor. At the front, the old-fashioned round honeycomb grille is replaced with a distinctive red stripe going through both headlights. You can also order it with the Performance package, which adds a limited slip diff and 10 extra horsepower for the 2.0 TSI turbo.
The sad fact is that even with the power pack, this GTI will not have as much power as its main rival, the Ford Focus ST.
This new GTI and the regular Golf models are all going to come out from the same new factory built in Mexico. Since this is a 2015 model year car, it should have been delivered this Summer at the earliest, which means this is a very rare sighting.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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