It’s quite exciting when a new Golf gets launched. They’re always such popular and tuneable models, we can see a glorious future of modified Golfs stretching out before us with the boxfresh new hatchback – and, great news, VW has now announced the specs of the sporty triplet variants.
VW spawns sporty Golf triplets
First out of the blocks is the new Mk8 GTI. Behind those awesome cellular foglights hides a 2.0-litre turbo motor making 242bhp and 273lb.ft – essentially a refinement of the Mk7 GTI formula. But it’s with the GTE and GTD versions that things get a bit more techy. The GTD is a clear step forward from the woes of Dieselgate, with Volkswagen claiming that it’s one of the cleanest derv motors in the world. It serves up 197bhp, and can only be specced with DSG transmission. The GTE is the real oddball: it boasts the same 242bhp as the GTI, along with more torque at 295lb.ft – but interestingly, 148bhp of that power comes from a 1.4-litre petrol engine, with the rest buzzing from an electric motor with a huge 13kWh battery. So the GTx models may all look broadly similar when viewed side-by-side, but they’re a world apart under their respective bonnets. We can’t wait to see what the tuning community makes of the Mk8.
