VW Golf GTI and GTI Performance imminent

As sure as the moon revolves around the Earth and bears relieve themselves in woodland, VW is set to release another Golf GTI. Actually that’s not strictly true — tehnically speaking, it’s about to release two new GTIs

VW has announced the grandfather of all Golfs GTI will come in two flavours, GTI and GTI Performance, the latter being the faster car by a small margin.

Both versions are powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder TSI turbocharged direct petrol injection engine that produces 220PS (217bhp) in the standard GTI and 220PS (227bhp) in the GTI Performance. The GTI Performance version will blast from a standstill to 62mph in 6.4 seconds and maxes out at 155mph, which is 0.1 seconds and 3mph quicker than the standard car.

Both enjoy 350Nm of torque, stop/start technology and a 6-speed manual gearbox with the option of 6-speed DSG automatic.

47mpg and CO2 of 139g/km is possible in both cars – an 18 per cent improvement on the outgoing model. If you opt for the 6-speed DSG automatic gearbox, economy drops to 44.1mpg and emissions rise to 149g/km.

The Golf GTI compares favourably to its rivals, on paper at least. The (admittedly, cheaper) Ford Focus ST is slightly more powerful and accelerates just as quickly, but it has inferior fuel economy and CO2 emissions of 39.2mpg and 169g/km.

The Golf GTI wins against the similarly priced Mercedes Benz A 250 Engineered by AMG. The Merc can manage a respectable 44.1mpg and 148g/km but has a lower top speed of 149mph – not that three or four mph is much of an issue during day to day use.

Standard features on both the GTI and GTI Performance include 18-inch alloys, smoked LED rear lights, bi-xenon daytime running headlights, red brake callipers, ambience lighting in the cockpit, sporty suspension and tartan upholstery.

Prices have yet to be announced for the UK market but expect it to be competitive with the aforementioned Ford and the Mercedes as the European price starts at €28,350 (around £24,400). First deliveries will arrive in June of this year.

We’ll have a full review shortly.