VW has announced that it will be bringing its special edition Golf GTI Pirelli to the UK – and with it some of the strangest seats in the business. The original GTI Pirelli was based on a Mark 1 Golf and was launched in May 1983 and featured the classic ‘P’ alloy wheels.
This year the Pirelli edition returns as a Mark V Golf which, like the Edition 30, has output raised from 200 to 230 bhp. The new GTI Pirelli reduces the standard car's 0-62 mph time of 7.2 seconds to 6.8 seconds while the top speed rises from 146 mph to 152 mph.
Instead of the 13” alloys on the original GTI Pirelli, this version gets 18s and if you look very carefully they too incorporate the ‘P’ logo – although I must admit it’s easier to find the dude with the glasses in a Where’s Wally? book. You also get body-coloured front splitter, side skirts and rear bumper, as well as smoked rear lenses and a Pirelli badge.
Inside is where it starts to get a bit weird, with the seats looking like they are made from recycled tyres. They are in fact half-leather and have the Pirelli tread pattern imprinted on them. Yellow stitching contrasts against the black leather of the seats, sports steering wheel and handbrake.
The new Golf GTI Pirelli is available to order now with the first vehicles set to arrive in the country in June. Prices will start at £22,555 on-the-road for the three-door model equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox, rising to £24,385 for the five door model fitted with a six-speed DSG gearbox.
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