2007 Volkswagen GTI Review

Specifications

The Original Hot Hatch Is Back

The original GTI: its the car that laid the foundation for the hot hatchback segment, and it arrived on the block around the same time that Men at Work were taking us “Down Under”, Eddie Grant had us boppin to “Electric Avenue” and what is now and seems like it will forever be the biggest band in the world (Beatles and Stones aside), U2, was just about to release “The Unforgettable Fire” which would put them over the top in the U.S. market. Yes, skinny ties, zoot suits and suspenders were on their way out and preppy pastel-coloured Alligator golf shifts by IZOD Lacoste and uncomfortable trendy deck shoes were all the rage, but it was the GTI that has stood the test of time.

I would like to write about how I fondly remember owning one with gold snowflake 13-inch wheels under rolled fenders, and how it could mow down most performance cars in its day, but I cant, because Im a child of the 90s. Nevertheless, not being there didnt stop me from admiring the vehicles from the decade earlier. I loved learning about things like Audis quattro system and the early M-Powered BMWs, but hot hatchbacks, primarily the GTI intrigued me. It didnt have a prancing horse on the badge (a prancing rabbit would have to do), it wasnt particularly showy and it didnt cost a bundle. What got me even more confused is it just wasnt very powerful. Yet, it was immensely popular, for reasons that I couldnt understand in my prepubescent mind.

The interesting thing about the GTI is that unlike most of the cars on the road today, it was an innovation born out of necessity. The car was created during a time when gasoline was ultra-expensive, at least for the time, and generally speaking, money was tight; people simply couldnt afford to have two cars as they do now - what would have been a regular practical family car (or, possibly, a big SUV, like a K5 Jimmy) and a sports car. People needed one car to do it all, and the GTI was the first vehicle to provide thrill-a-minute handling while still being thrifty to run, own and insure. And unlike most cars to emerge from Wolfsburg, the GTI was engineered by a bunch of zany wrench-heads as an after-work project, so it had little original influence from the finance department; meaning the first batch was about as pure as performance cars get.

It is widely regarded that the first GTI was the best of the bunch; the so-called Holy Grail of compact cars, but the one that really does it for me is the second generation - perhaps because its the GTI that I remember most fondly. It was usefully bigger, but it retained much of the nippy, nimbleness of the original car, not to mention that it looked great up until its demise in 1992. The third generation car was fat and stupid, and because the fourth generation GTI was an affront to the name, Im not really going to bother talking about the car.   

At that time, Volkswagen was concerned with moving the brand up-market, rather than focusing on the spirit of the GTI. Its not that the third and fourth generation GTIs arent good cars either, because they really are. The third generation GTI (eventually) bore the unique 15-degree narrow-angle VR6 engine that made it suitably brisk and refined, and the fourth generation had an interior that could serve a one-two knockout punch to the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. But such attributes have little to no face value when it comes down to the true nature of the GTI; the Mk.III and IV cars failed to retain any sort of sparkle. A hot hatch without sparkle is merely a room temperature hatch, and there are very few things that are appealing at room temperature.

But thankfully Volkswagens modus operandi has changed; theyre no longer trying to be Germanys Next Top Model, building eight-cylinder Passats and six-figure luxury sedans, not to mention terrain-conquering SUVs. Volkswagen is now hitting back with clever yet very realistic vehicles, the same kinds of cars that they used to build. Well soon see it in upcoming niche models, the first of which is the latest GTI.

Volkswagen says that the Mk.V car returns to the GTIs real roots, but after the past two generations its going to be hard to convince people. Right off the bat, the outlook is overcast: this latest GTI is based off the fifth-generation Golf, which is longer, wider and taller than the ones currently roaming the planet. Eighty percent more torsionally rigid it may be, but its also substantially heavier than the previous generation. Thats not a good thing, either, as weight is the natural enemy to anything thats supposed to go fast and be able to change direction quickly. But dont be too quick to discount it as a GTI imposter: this is the real deal.

One thing that the designers in charge of the GTI got 100 percent right is the bodywork; its jam-packed with all of those heritage details, giving a healthy nod to the original without being a blatant rip-off. The changes made are subtle and tasteful; they really do transform a rather ordinary looking machine into something thats not just a Golf. The chrome bib has been replaced with one thats pitch black; the grille, reworked with honeycomb mesh, is ever so delicately outlined in red. The lower bumper with its three deep intakes is aggressive but not showy, and much the same can be said about the rear spoiler or the red-painted brake calipers. What I like most about its design is that it isnt susceptible to fads and trends; it should forever remain timeless and most likely wont ever go out of style. Sort of like those classic white tennis shoes or an un-tucked white dress shirt.

There is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that the GTI has one of the best interiors of any sports compact car, bar none. The Recaro seats are perfect, their aggressive bolstering holds you firmly in place, and the flat-bottomed steering wheels about as good as they come; combining a narrow diameter with a plump rim thats perfectly contoured for driving with hands at 3 and 9. It really puts you in the mood for enthusiastic driving. The shift knob isnt a golf ball (an option), but its funky and chunky, plus the pedals are hunks of rubber-studded aluminum. Yet what makes me want to give VW a standing ovation is the fact that at the heart of the new GTI is a Golf. Everythings screwed tight, with no squeaks and rattles, the plastic is of high quality, and the whole car feels thousands and thousands of dollars more expensive than it actually costs.

The new GTI doesnt make any more horsepower than the outgoing 200-hp 2.8L V6, but that 200-horsepower is now generated from an engine thats seven-tenths the size and has two less cylinders, which saves precious kilos; not to mention even more precious gasoline. Mind you, no other GTI has benefited from as much technology as this; assisted by a low-pressure turbocharger and the same FSI fuel-injection technology that helped Audi sweep Le Mans, the new car actually manages to deliver 207 lb-ft of torque, or twice that of the original car. This is important, considering it weighs about twice as much as the original. Its also much quicker than the classic 84; for the six-speed manual car, 60 mph is eliminated in just under seven seconds, and with the DSG the numbers dip into the high sixes. Keep your foot planted and itll keep accelerating until it hits an electronic barrier of 130 mph.  

Twist the key and you get no special tingle, no special noise, no special feeling. In fact it sounds an awful lot like a diesel when cold, making any first experience seem a bit anticlimactic. Step on the throttle, and for the first second you may even think its a TDI; the single, quick-spooling turbo providing that immediate kick of torque right from idle. A split second later, all the power comes pouring out - this engine means business. At 1,500 rpm the main punch is, for the most part, already there, and at 1,800 rpm all 207 lb-ft of torque are ready for use at your discretion. Unlike a manic VTEC-powered Honda, the car isnt picky about what gear youre in; the surge of torque simply whips you up to speed. Come to think of it, the GTI doesnt so much have a torque curve; its more of a torque “straightaway” if anything.  

Once youre on the move, things start to pick up. The 2.0T engine starts to sound more substantial than in any other application; the faint, gurgling sound that afflicted the Jetta and Passat remedied by a new exhaust system that produces a deeper, throatier and infinitely more pleasing burble that passes through presentable twin tailpipes. If you listen very carefully, you can even catch the turbos whoosh as pressure builds. And when not thrashing it about, the GTI is surprisingly refined. Because the gearboxs six-speeds are well judged, it avoids the insidious trend of overly short ratios; sixth at 62 mph is a tick over 2,300 rpm, and 75 mph is well under 3,000 rpm, ensuring youll never be deafened, or annoyed to insanitys edges by overly high revs while maintaining highway speeds. The tall-stacked gears also contribute to making the GTI cheap to run; if you take it easy it uses about as much fuel as the original.

Any company can stick a fairly good engine in a car and call it a day, but it takes a lot of talent to deliver perfect cohesion with the steering, especially if the cars front wheels must drive and steer simultaneously. If anywhere, the GTI really needs to shine here in order to make up for a decade and a halfs worth of slag… and boy does it ever! Compared to the Jetta, which is light and woefully short on steering feel, the GTIs steering is weighted much heavier, its electromechanical assist tuned to eliminate the traditional vague feel around the dead center mark. I like how you can really stick it right in the corners, and it responds to input of feet and hands, the car doing its all to hang onto the pavement. It translates well; the GTI has that playful enthusiasm, the “lets get to it” attitude and charm that was completely missing from previous models.

But I think the biggest thing for me about the GTI is the work that VW has done on the suspension. The expensive, new five-link rear suspension keeps the back end firmly glued to earth, so you dont get any of that silly three-wheeling action through the bends, or squirminess under heavy braking. Yet, at the same time it wont shatter your teeth, grind your bones into dust and send you to an osteopath as an Audi A3 on equally large 17-inch wheels would. It has the ability to filter out surface imperfections better than most Benzes, and bears the straight-line stability and body control of BMWs costing twice the price: this is the corollary of a very, very good suspension. Its development, it appears, took place on a surface that wasnt precision-ground glass, which helps a whole lot for the rest of us who live in the real world, far away from the flawlessly smooth autobahn. Its something Audi could really learn from.

You can drive it slow, abide the speed limit, and even sit in traffic all day long. The GTI wont complain, or punish you by cramping your legs, or tiring you, but deep inside, you just know that its itching to run. All it really wants is to be fed copious amounts of open road. And, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the first day this year to break the ten degree Celsius mark, I gave it just that… and the GTI was complete bliss. With windows down, sunroof cracked open and classic Oasis on the stereo, the urban streets of my downtown core became the GTIs playground. Nipping through the gears, feathering the throttle, hearing those 225-width Continental tires chirp with enthusiasm… I can honestly say that I havent had as much fun in a car in a very long time. In theory you could drive any one of its competitors through a set of hairpin corners and up long straights at dizzying speeds, and, surely enough, some of them would be faster, but none as rewarding to drive as the VW.

Because this is a modern-day Golf, the latest iteration of one of the worlds best selling automobiles, it is inevitably more practical than ever. With hatchbacks, any negative criticism is normally directed towards the rear quarters, which are oftentimes neglected, but not so with the GTI. Theres a surprising amount of legroom back there, and due to its tall greenhouse you wont find yourself wanting for extra headroom. Getting in and out is easy, although the forward canting seat from the previous car went the way of the do-do bird. Theres also a reasonable sized trunk that can swallow several suitcases, and a whole lot more if you fold the split rear seatbacks down. For even more practicality, starting this summer you can add on a pair of doors to your GTI, turning it into a perfectly useful family hauler, and North Americas first five-door GTI.

The more time I spent with the GTI, the more I appreciated the route that Volkswagen took when conjuring it up. You see, they could have gone out and made a lightweight stripper GTI like the original, or they could have done something similar to this, keeping the amenities, yet bottling the originals effervescent spirit. Although it has electric everything, a powerful MP3-CD stereo, more airbags than you can shake a stick at (eight, including curtain airbags and rear side airbags as standard), and xenon headlamps, these amenities havent sucked the life out of the car at all, much in the same way that these features dont detract from a 3-Series or MINIs Cooper S. Theres nothing in the rulebooks that says you cant have a well-equipped, well-built machine that isnt an absolutely cracking drive.

Finally, we get to the last point, the price. The GTI is no longer a cheapcar; its pricing puts it right inline with the average price of an American car, but unlike the previous generations, which were also expensive, the new GTI is a bargain. To get a basic one without the fancy double-clutch paddle-shift gearbox, or the big wheels - all of which are unnecessary - will set you back just under thirty grand. But the GTI is worth every dollar, every last penny actually, even against more powerful, quicker, and faster rivals. What you get is a fantastic car, an absolutely fantastic car that picks up right where the last good GTI left off, and like those cars its once again causing a stir.

The King of Hot Hatchbacks has returned. Long live the king.