Volkswagen Golf GTI

The 100th edition, or 25 years of Car News. I am delighted to take this opportunity to report back from my age-related “banishment“ to review this period with you.
By Jürgen Stammeier

In our, in my opinion, interesting professional world of Public Transport, I am sure there are many long-serving colleagues who remember how it all started off. Audi A6, Porsche Boxter and Golf GTI were the first models we looked at. 

Let‘s stay with the GTI, which, on its premiere in 1974, represented a new category of vehicle, the sporty compact car, the hot hatch par excellence. It is a prime example of technical development. In the right direction? In terms of performance, no doubt. It started with 110 hp from 1600 cm³, a naturally aspirated engine of the old school. Today, it‘s still a 4-cylinder, but with 2.0 l displacement and the obligatory turbocharging. The result is up to 320 hp, depending on the model. It‘s a different story with the weight. It’s a familiar situation, when we look in the mirror in the morning, we do not look like we did 25 years ago. Most of us have put on a few pounds. Though, thank God not as many as our example, which has doubled from 840 kg to about 1600 kg. While we are getting more sluggish with every pound, the decisive power-to-weight ratio from a dynamic point of view, i.e. the kilos each horsepower has to carry, has halved in the GTI from about 10 kg/hp to 5 kg/hp. Given the current fuel prices, the interesting consumption in the WLTP standard consumption is 7.6 l Super plus per 100 km; in reality, you will probably need one litre more. The old model: around 9.5 l, i.e. approx. 1.0 to 1.5 litres more with a third of the power. Bingo! That‘s what I call progress, not only from a green angle, but also for the wallet.

And what about the driving itself? That’s easy: in the old model, the driver was still in charge. No annoying beeping, no driver-assistance systems to take you into the realms of “assisted driving“. Whereas the 175/70 x 13 tyres with a wide limit range on the old GTI demonstrated their limitations early on, the current Golf VIII GTI-R is shod with 235/35 x 19 rubber. Larger contact area means different deceleration values. A braking distance of 35.2 m from 100 km/h compares to 44.5 m for the oldie. A comfort zone if things get tight when braking at the top speed of 250 km/h.

It is also interesting to compare the dimensions: the new car is almost a metre longer (L +97 cm, W +18 cm, H +11 cm). This is no doubt due to the constantly growing human species, and to rising demands for comfort. That costs money. It started at DM 13,850 and is currently just under €50,000. The price policy, meantime optimised, easily exceeds € 60,000. High bucks for high performance, which can be called up at any time and remains steady. Just to compare: Porsche Taycan GTS 517 hp peak power, but a meagre 193 hp continuous power, sells for well over € 130,000. So if you want a car that is practical to drive and has a good range, and that doesn‘t just apply to the GTI, you should get it now, because who knows what ideas our politicians will come up with.

Farewell and Stay safe.