The Volkswagen Golf GTI three-door will make its long-awaited return to Australia this August, in special edition form with 180kW of power.
Volkswagen Australia will import 150 units of the three-door during the launch phase of the updated MY17 Golf, Golf GTI and Golf R family.
The limited edition model is called the Golf GTI Performance Edition 1, and its specification is unique to Australia – just like last year’s 500-unit run of Golf 40 Years edition.
The Golf three-door Performance Edition 1 will be available in White Silver or Dark Iron Blue paint and sport long list of luxury equipment.
It also premieres the new Golf GTI Performance version’s running gear, in lieu of the MK7.5 five-door version that will almost certainly arrive a little later on.
“The three-door Golf GTI Performance Edition 1 is the first in a series of limited release GTI Performance variants,” the company claims.
This means the regular 169kW/350Nm ‘EA888’ 2.0-litre turbo engine is upgraded to make 180kW/370Nm in our market’s first three-door GTI in years, matched to a unique seven-speed DSG. Sadly, no manual.
Crucially, it’ll also get the GTI Performance’s locking front differential and superior brakes, which we know from experience helps the FWD’s handling.
“The hot hatch on which all others are implicitly based is the Golf GTI,” Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Michael Bartsch reckons.
“This version is one for the purists.”
Of course, if there were ever a GTI truly made for purists, it’d be a three-door with cloth tartan seats, stripped equipment and a manual gearbox, as we speculated on here.
The good news is, don’t give up. Volkswagen Australia isn’t saying much, but the company has hinted on numerous occasions that other versions will come, and it now has a Scirocco-sized hole in its range.
GTI and R sales comprise about 20 per cent of total Golf volume here, which is very high by global standards.
Pricing for the three-door Golf GTI Performance Edition 1 has not been announced, but given the high level of spec, we’d imagine it’d be somewhere around $50k.
Key additional equipment above the 169kW GTI:
- 180kW/370Nm 2.0 TSI engine with 7 speed DSG
- Front Differential Lock and larger disc brakes
- 19-inch (Brescia) alloy wheels
- Honeycomb micro fleece/leatherette upholstery
- LED tail lights with dynamic indicators
- Active Info Display
- Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
- Lane Assist
- Park Assist
- Dynamic Light Assist
- Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Traffic Alert
- Dark tinted rear and rear side windows
- White Silver Metallic and Dark Iron Blue Metallic paint
Each car comes with a complimentary Merchandise Pack of items from the GTI Collection valued at $340. It consists of a sport bag, umbrella, cup, folding box and beach towel.
Podcast
Listen to the CarAdvice team discuss the 3-door Volkswagen Golf GTI below, and catch more like this at http://ift.tt/23kpPZz.
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