|
|
|
|
07/08/2011
REVIEW by MURRAY HUBBARD
|
|
|
It’s seems hard to believe that Volkswagen’s Golf GTi is celebrating its 35th birthday. A special production run of just 5000 Golf GTi’s was planned back in 1976, but three and a half decades later almost two million have been sold worldwide.
Volkswagen is celebrating the Golf GTi’s ongoing success with a limited edition – called Edition 35 – with Australia getting an allocation of 200 of the variant.
VW has squeezed another 18 kW out of the standard GTi engine to 173 kW, plus upped the torque to 300 Nm from 280 Nm. The car will be available from September with dealers ready to take orders now.
The GTi Edition 35 adds $3000 to the bottom line of the GTi at $43,490 for the six speed manual and, for those who prefer DSG, add another $2500. The engine in Edition 35 is the same as used in the AWD Golf R and employs a turbocharger with intercooling.
Golf Edition 35 covers 0-100 km/h in just 6.6 seconds. VW has measured its consumption at 8.3 litres/100 km from the manual shifter and 8.2 L/100 km from the DSG.
Edition 35 has a number of changes from the standard GTi. The body is 35 mm lower and sits on 18-inch silver alloy wheels with 225/40 R18 tyres. The front bumper is new, with lower bumper extensions and black painted inserts. There are also widened side skirts of the same colour as the body, and also black painted exterior mirror housings.
Four colours are available in gloss, metallic and pearl effect. Badging includes a stylised ‘35‘ on the front guards.
VW announced the new Golf GTi Edition 35 in Brisbane at a media conference at which its new model timelines were released. While 2011 has seen several new releases, with more to come – 4Motion Caddy, Jetta, Tiguan and Golf cabriolet, Volkswagen Australia says 2012 will be a year of ‘emotionalising’ the brand with the launch of a new Beetle.
Volkswagen Australia is keen to bring in an entry level car that’s smaller than the Polo, the oddly named VW Up! (complete with that exclamation mark) would therefore need to be priced under $15,000. The Up!, which has been shown in various concept formats at motor shows over the years, will finally be unveiled at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September.
Amarok utility will have a single-cab automatic version with torque converter transmission, possibly the eight-speed unit introduced on the 2012 VW Touareg SUV. This transmission will also become available on the Amarok AWD. |
|
|
|
|
|
Print Article
Submit Feedback
Email This Article
