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Paris 2012: Volkswagen Golf VII GTI Concept

Slightly more power and quite a lot more economy is what Volkswagen is giving the seventh-generation Golf GTI. The car made its debut as a pre-production concept at the Paris Motor Show.
Volkswagen Golf VII GTI Concept 12 photos
Photo: original image created by autoevolution
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As a concept, the three-door Golf GTI isn’t all that imposing. The upper grille is small, and instead of the red line surrounding the whole thing, it just goes from one side to the other, cutting across the headlights. Not only is it strange, but it’s also lacking the power and presence of a proper hothatch.

The power department is also shabby, as they’ve only given the 2.0-liter TFSI turbo a measly 220 horsepower. That’s a 10 horsepower increase to you and me from the GTI VI. To put that into perspective, Renault gave the Megan RS 15 more hp just for the facelift last year. What’s more, the Focus RS has 250 hp and the Opel Astra OPC has 280 hp.

Thankfully, the Golf is now 100 kg lighter, so the 0 to 100 km/h time of 6.6 seconds is not too shabby. But some extra power would have been welcomed.

On the economy side, VW says the new Golf GTI is 1.3 liters more economical, representing an 18% decrease. This means it will do 39 mpg US highway or 6 l/100km.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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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.
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