2010 VOLKSWAGEN GTI<\/p>\n
BY DAVID COLMAN\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 27 years old now, you were born the year VW introduced the GTI to the USA.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been 27 years since the original hot hatchback hit these shores.\u00c2\u00a0 Back then, the Rabbit GTI, as it was originally known, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really all that hot: 90 horsepower, 14 inch wheels, 60 series tires?\u00c2\u00a0 Today, it sounds like the start of a Jay Leno joke, but back in 1983, those were considered supreme performance refinements, hungrily sought after by a burgeoning legion of VW enthusiasts who had been waiting no less than 7 years for this previously Euro-only model to make its tardy debut in America.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, the advent of the GTI even occasioned release of the pop tune \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Kleine GTI\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little GTI\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), carefully modeled after Ronnie and the Daytonas hit 60\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ode to Pontiac, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little GTO.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
2010 marks the debut of the 6th version of the GTI, dubbed A6 by VW.\u00c2\u00a0 Aside from the carryover tradition of the hatchback body and red grill stripe, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be hard pressed to find any similarities to the original GTI of 1983.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, horsepower has more than doubled, to 200hp, thanks to VW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s terrific 2.0 liter turbo TSI engine which produces 207 lb.-ft. of torque without lag. You can order your GTI as either a 2-door, or a 4-door hatchback. \u00c2\u00a0We drove both versions extensively through the winding mountain roads north of Santa Cruz.\u00c2\u00a0 The 4-door version was equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission, standard-issue plaid cloth seating surfaces, and baseline 17 inch alloys wearing 225\/45 17 Continental tires.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2-door GTI which we drove on the return from Santa Cruz to Palo Alto boasted the optional DSG gearbox and black leather seats, and rode on upgraded 18 inch \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Detroit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d alloys with 225\/40 18 Pirelli \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rosso Nero\u00e2\u20ac\u009d tires.\u00c2\u00a0 All in all, and much to our surprise, the 4-door was more fun to drive than the 2-door.\u00c2\u00a0 The manual gearbox is so sweet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shame to swap it for the $1,100 more expensive DSG.\u00c2\u00a0 Although the paddle-shifted DSG is quick to respond to your input with its 1\/10 of a second shifts, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still not as precise nor as predictable as the manual.\u00c2\u00a0 The standard plaid cloth seats not only look great, but they are also emblematic of the GTI look, and cradle you with more grip than the optional black leather chairs.\u00c2\u00a0 The 17 inch wheels and longer wheelbase of the 4-door make for a much more comfortable ride then the admittedly nastier looking 18s on the 2-door.\u00c2\u00a0 If ultimate cornering grip is your target, then opt for the 18s, but if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to trade a little grip for a lot of comfort, then stick with the baseline 17s.\u00c2\u00a0 In a similar vein, although the 2-door looks racier than the 4-door, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find the sleekness deprives you of practicality.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much easier to open a rear door to chuck your jacket or parcel in back than it is to snake those items into the comparatively inaccessible back seat of the 2-door.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever body configuration you chose, Generation 6 of the GTI is by far the sleekest looking version VW has produced to date.\u00c2\u00a0 Headlamps are set lower in the nose than on the previous Mark 5, oblong tail lights and a more pronounced underbody diffuser distinguish the back end from its predecessor, and a completely redesigned interior features a very racy looking steering wheel, bigger knobs for the air and heat systems, and nifty red stitcing on the seat bolsters and handbrake to remind you you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just driving any old VW, but the latest hot hatch to come down the Autobahn. All this for a base price of just $23,990 for the 2-door and $24,370 for the 4-door, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find the latest GTI is just as hard to resist as the original was back in 1983.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2010 VOLKSWAGEN GTI BY DAVID COLMAN\u00c2\u00a0 If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 27 years old now, you were born the year VW introduced the GTI to the USA.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been 27 years since the original hot hatchback hit these shores.\u00c2\u00a0 Back then, the Rabbit GTI, as it was originally known, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really all that hot: 90 horsepower, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,23,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automobile","category-new-automobile-products-tests","category-sports-car"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43796"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43801,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43796\/revisions\/43801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stokednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}