Our favorite hot hatch is back, and now with a drop-top roof. The most powerful VW Golf GTI will make its debut at the Geneva Motor show next week.
Why we love this car so much is because it reminds us of the Mkl model of the 80’s. The Golf GTI Cabrio Concept was revealed at Worthersee VW tuning event in Austria last year, and it has paved the way for the production model.
VW gives the Golf GTI Cabriolet a restyling, starting with the radiator grille, which gets honeycomb structure. Framed in red, the grille also gets embraced by GTI badge. It also carries forward the traditional vertical fog light of the Golf. The rear features two circular-cross-section chrome-tipped tailpipes, and taillights featuring dark LED units. Attempts have been made to give the car very sporty and aggressive look. And it seems to have worked pretty well.
On the interior, there is class and luxury, featuring ‘Jacara’ cloth upholstery with an optional Vienna leather upholstery. Leather finishing is carried on for the steering wheel, handbrake and gear lever gaiter, which also feature contrasting red stitches, stainless steel pedals plus back ‘Edge’ accents.
With the roof up, Volkswagen has accentuated the inside of the soft-top in black, with windscreen pillars to match. This is another GTI cue that’s complemented by high-gloss black stripe dashboard inlays. As expected, the car’s 19-inch alloy and extreme bodykit have been replaced by more conventional styling in line with the GTI hatch. The car’s fabric roof takes just 9.5 seconds to fold away at operating speeds of up to 30kmph.
Powerplant of the Golf GTI Cabrio is borrowed from the hatch; a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, giving a max output of 210 hp and 280 Nm of torque propels the car from 0-100kmph in under 7.3 seconds. The car has options for the transmission from a six-speed manual and a six-speed dual-clutch DSG gearbox, giving it a top speed of 236kmph and 233kmph respectively.
On the technology end, the GTI Cabrio sports EDS electronic differential lock and XDS transverse differential lock, together with automatically deploying rollover protection, front and side head/thorax airbags and a driver’s knee airbag is also standard.
The GTI Cabrio will hit the UK market in September 2012, with prices not announced closer to launch date. We will get you more of it when it celebrates its world debut at Geneva next week.
