The Golf GTI never has the most powerful engines or aggressive body kits. But it's the most popular blank canvas onto which hot hatch lovers express their custom low-rider passion. Now there's an all-new Mk8 model, and we were curious to see what tuners had done to it.
Tuning usually means big wings and increased turbo boost. But for young drivers, who are modifying on a shoestring and live in constant fear of their insurance company, it's usually just about the chin spoiler and rear diffuser. As such, while 1,000 horsepower Brabus Rockets attract headlines, body kits like the one made by Maxton Design get the average buyer interested.
Maxton is a European shop that seems to be interested in popular but affordable cars. Got one of the millions of Skoda Octavia liftback sedans or wagons? You might want to consider their aero. Also, they've made a tiny Fiesta resemble the old Focus RS, and that's always going to be a memorable thing.
The body kit for the new GTI includes a central rear splitter, their side splitters, new side skirts, and a front splitter. Also, you can add a little lip to your trunk spoiler and explore some extra ground effects for the nose of the car. Each part is sold separately, so you'd need to pay for anything you don't like. For example, the GTI already has black plastic side skirts, so we don't see the need for add-ons there. Honestly, we'd only have the center rear splitter and the front one, and maybe the wing enhancement, which would cost about €400 ($475) altogether.
The showcase vehicle in the video also appears to feature coilover suspension, most likely of the KW variety, and a set of BBS wheels that are pretty common in the GTI community. From what we understand, German regulations don't allow you to increase the width of a car, which is why you almost never see aggressive widebody kits. Better leave that to the Rocket Bunny crew!
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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