Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video uploaded by car.blog.br with footage from Volkswagen
Volkswagen made a spiritual successor of the first generation Golf GTI, and it is called Up! GTI. You will be able to buy one in 2018.
When you first think about a spiritual successor of the original Golf GTI, the thought of the Polo GTI or the Lupo GTI comes to mind, but we have a better option. The said option is the Up! GTI, and this happens because of its compact size, along with performance levels comparable to those of the original car.
Volkswagen recently revealed a prototype of the Up! GTI to journalists, and some of them got to drive it on the roads in South Africa. In case you are not familiar with the VW range, the Up! is the lightest and smallest car in the portfolio, and the Up! GTI might be the only affordable performance model from this brand in many years. The last was the Lupo GTI, but it did not get the attention it could have obtained.
The Up! GTI comes with an interior that features the legendary "tartan" seat upholstery, but the coolest bits are the mechanical ones. We are referring to a 1.0-liter TSI unit that provides 115 HP, which is more than enough for a car this small.
Peak torque is rated at 200 Nm (147.5 lb-ft) by some publications, but others have not revealed the final value. Top speed is claimed to be 192 km/h (119 mph), which is massive for the Up!.
The Up!'s suspension, steering, and braking systems have been tweaked, and this car can sprint from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 8.8 seconds, faster than the original Golf GTI. The transmission is a six-speed manual gearbox, and it appears that it will remain the sole option.
The prototype also featured a few design tweaks, new alloy wheels, and a lowered ride height (by 15 mm). Some components are expected to come from the Polo, but there’s nothing wrong with a parts-bin strategy as long as it gets the job done.
Unfortunately, you will have to wait until 2018 to be able to buy this car, no matter where you live, Autocar notes. It is unclear why Volkswagen is taking such a long time to launch a car that they already had the courage to let journalists drive, especially in the context of a version of a model that has been on the market for a few years now.
Volkswagen recently revealed a prototype of the Up! GTI to journalists, and some of them got to drive it on the roads in South Africa. In case you are not familiar with the VW range, the Up! is the lightest and smallest car in the portfolio, and the Up! GTI might be the only affordable performance model from this brand in many years. The last was the Lupo GTI, but it did not get the attention it could have obtained.
The Up! GTI comes with an interior that features the legendary "tartan" seat upholstery, but the coolest bits are the mechanical ones. We are referring to a 1.0-liter TSI unit that provides 115 HP, which is more than enough for a car this small.
Peak torque is rated at 200 Nm (147.5 lb-ft) by some publications, but others have not revealed the final value. Top speed is claimed to be 192 km/h (119 mph), which is massive for the Up!.
The Up!'s suspension, steering, and braking systems have been tweaked, and this car can sprint from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 8.8 seconds, faster than the original Golf GTI. The transmission is a six-speed manual gearbox, and it appears that it will remain the sole option.
The prototype also featured a few design tweaks, new alloy wheels, and a lowered ride height (by 15 mm). Some components are expected to come from the Polo, but there’s nothing wrong with a parts-bin strategy as long as it gets the job done.
Unfortunately, you will have to wait until 2018 to be able to buy this car, no matter where you live, Autocar notes. It is unclear why Volkswagen is taking such a long time to launch a car that they already had the courage to let journalists drive, especially in the context of a version of a model that has been on the market for a few years now.
Google News