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Marton Pettendy9 Apr 2014
NEWS

Volkswagen Golf GTI Performance from $48,490

Hotter Golf GTI arrives with a $4000 price premium to bridge gap to upcoming Golf R

Volkswagen has today launched the new Golf GTI Performance in Australia, priced at $48,490 plus on-road costs.

That makes the new automatic-only hot hatch $4000 more expensive than the Golf GTI DSG upon which it’s based and just $1500 less than the previous Golf R, the replacement for which will be released later this week.

It’s also $500 more than the price originally announced at last October's launch of the latest seventh-generation Golf GTI, which itself increases in price from $41,490 to $41,990 in base manual form (plus $2500 for the DSG), due to “inflation and exchange rates”, says Volkswagen.

Bridging the gap between the Golf GTI and the upcoming Golf R, the five-door GTI Performance gives the German brand a broader range of hot Golfs than ever before, and follows the launch of the Mk7 Golf hatch and wagon.

Volkswagen Group Australia said only one transmission variant of the Golf GTI Performance was available to Australia, so it chose the six-speed dual-clutch automatic version since 80 per cent of GTIs (and 90 per cent of all Golfs) sold here are DSG models.

Nevertheless, together with the standard GTI, the Performance model is expected to account for up to 20 per cent of all Golf sales. Although that’s down from the 25 per cent GTI take-up in the previous Mk6 Golf line-up, it still makes Australia one of the world’s top-selling markets for Golf GTI models per capita.

For the extra $4000, in addition to the GTI’s standard specification, the Performance model brings a more powerful version of Volkswagen’s third-generation EA888 2.0-litre turbocharged direct-injection (TSI) four-cylinder petrol engine.

Offering 7kW more than the standard GTI, the Performance model produces 169kW between 4700 and 6200rpm, and the same 350Nm of torque developed over a 200rpm wider rev range (1500-4600rpm).

Volkswagen says that lowers its 0-100km/h acceleration figure to 6.4 seconds and increases top speed by 10km/h to 248km/h, without any change to its combined fuel consumption of just 6.6L/100km.

Channelling the extra performance to the ground is the first application of Volkswagen’s new mechanical front differential lock.

Working in conjunction with the standard GTI’s EDL (electronic diff lock) and XDL (Extended electronic diff lock, which brakes the inside wheel to improve traction), it employs a multi-plate wet clutch to direct more torque to the outside wheel during hard cornering.

Volkswagen says the result is less traction control intervention, better cornering stability, improved traction out of turns, less understeer and enhanced safety.

It also claims it makes more agile and predictable the car’s steering, which retains the standard GTI’s variable-ratio, variable-assistance electric steering system, which returns a tight two turns lock to lock.

The GTI Performance rides on bigger new 19-inch ‘Santiago’ alloy wheels with either Pirelli or Dunlop tyres, which measure the same 225mm wide as the rubber on the standard GTI's 18-inch 'Austin' wheels.

It also gains bi-xeonon headlights, dark-tinted LED tail-lights, rear/rear-side privacy glass and ‘Clark’ Alcantara/cloth upholstery. Vienna leather trim can be had for a further $3150.

Brakes are upgraded too, via larger front and rear brake discs and larger (but still single-piston) front brake callipers -- painted red and bearing GTI logos. The ventilated front rotors grow from 312 to 340mm, while the solid rear discs are 10mm larger at 310mm.

Like the GTI, the Performance comes with a two-stage electronic stability control system, which first disables the traction control and then increases the intervention threshold, but cannot be fully deactivated.

Standard safety features are also as per the regular Golf GTI, including traction/stability control, seven airbags, a reversing camera, driver fatigue detection, multi-collision (post-crash) braking, daytime running lights and a five-star Euro NCAP crash rating.

For an additional $1300, the GTI Performance can be optioned with a driver assistance package, comprising adaptive (radar-operated) cruise control, front assist with city emergency (automatic low-speed) braking, pre-collision safety and an automatic self-parking system.

Standard features carried over from the Golf GTI include a colour touch-screen displaying satellite-navigation and a reversing camera.

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