RE: VW Golf GTI Cabriolet revealed
Wednesday 29th February 2012
As boasts go, producing 'the most powerful production Golf Cabriolet' ever is right up there with making the 'world's spiciest chicken korma' - possibly a little pointless.
Chop the roof off a GTI and you get...Still, it's what VW has done, turning the Golf Cabriolet into the golf Cabriolet GTI. This means the classic red-line honeycomb grille, a chunky air dam and vertical fog lights find their way onto the Golf Cab, as do the GTI hatch's 'Monza' alloys (17-inch as standard and 18-inch optional).
This being a cabriolet, there is of course another stat for the pub-banter fiends to consider - that electrically operated fabric roof can be folded away in 9.5 seconds, while travelling at speeds of up to 18mph.
VW Golf GTI Cabriolet revealed
Not especially mean and roofless Golf GTI announced for Geneva show debut
Chop the roof off a GTI and you get...
Under the bonnet you'll also find the same 210hp, 206lb ft 2.0-litre turbocharged EA888 engine found in the Cabriolet GTI's hatchback brother, enough to push the car to 62mph from rest in 7.3 seconds (0.4 seconds slower than the hatch).
That sprint figure is identical whether you choose the six-speed manual or six-speed DSG gearbox, while top speed is 147mph in the manual and 146mph in the DSG version.
All of which is very lovely, but is it us or is this the most inappropriate use of the fabled GTI badge since VW plonked it onto the back of the wheezing 115hp 2.0-litre eight-valve Mk4?
Discussion
lewisf182 said:
Also I dont really think its an inappropriate use of the GTi badge, wasn't there a mk1/2 golf GTi cab?
There was indeed a Mk1 Golf GTi cabrio. The Mk3 and Mk3.5 cabrios both used the lower spec GTi's 2.0 8v engine but were never badged as GTis.It's a shame they're are insistent on using those Moza alloys. I for one can't see the appeal. They look garish to say the least.
Car itself is quite nice but it's a shame they've dropped the arch spats that featured on the concept version. Too retro maybe?
Triumph Man said:
Haaaang on... I always thought the Eos was supposed to be a Golf convertible following from the Mk3 and Mk3-with-a-new-nose convertibles. So are they replacing the Eos, or going all BL and having some infighting. Not that they do that now. At all.
I thought the same thing when I 1st read there was a Golf cabrio on the way. What's the point of the Eos? Perhaps they will quietly drop it from the range, not wanting to admit it was a sales failure. (An assumption based on no research whatsoever.) Edited by SpudLink on Wednesday 29th February 14:03
SpudLink said:
Triumph Man said:
Haaaang on... I always thought the Eos was supposed to be a Golf convertible following from the Mk3 and Mk3-with-a-new-nose convertibles. So are they replacing the Eos, or going all BL and having some infighting. Not that they do that now. At all.
I thought the same thing when I 1st read there was a Golf cabrio on the way. What's the point of the Eos? Perhaps they will quietly drop it from the range, not wanting to admit it was a sales failure. (An assumption based on no research whatsoever.) Edited by SpudLink on Wednesday 29th February 14:03
VW have lost the very last slice of soul they had remaining for me as soon as I saw the last picture. What a joke of a car. As a modern business their practices and engineering are admirable for profit and stability, but anyone who can actually follow them with their heart not their head has a screw loose.
I actually quite like that. With the roof up it looks a little goofy, as all hatchback derived cabrios tend to, but with the roof down that's a real looker - which most hatchback derived cabrios absolutely are not. I even think those alloys suit this better than they do the regular hatch.
Harris328i said:
VW have lost the very last slice of soul they had remaining for me as soon as I saw the last picture. What a joke of a car. As a modern business their practices and engineering are admirable for profit and stability, but anyone who can actually follow them with their heart not their head has a screw loose.
I thought the idea of following something with your heart was that you could follow anything you wanted, no matter how ridiculous, and your head would try and dissuade it?
Never quite sure about convertibles which are actually based on non-convertibles.... I think this goes back to borrowing a 1998 Megane Convertible for a day once - I never driven anything quite so shaky.
Have to admit it looks really nice top down, but top up, all bonnet and no boot - it just looks like a silver-cross pram - man that is not a good look. It's the opposite of the Peugeot 307 convertible which is all boot and no bonnet !
Have to admit it looks really nice top down, but top up, all bonnet and no boot - it just looks like a silver-cross pram - man that is not a good look. It's the opposite of the Peugeot 307 convertible which is all boot and no bonnet !
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