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| Road Test: Volkswagen Golf GTI (2005-) |
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| Hot Hatchbacks |
by: John Simister |
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Volkswagen Golf GTI Gallery
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| IMAGE RATING: |
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Volkswagen owns a rich seam of GTI iconography and has decided to capitalise on it once again. The new Golf GTI has the right visual tricks to reinterpret the GTI idea for the mid-noughties - big wheels, round headlights in chromed bezels, lots of mesh-protected air intakes - yet keeps hints of its past in the shape of a red outline for the front grille and that slightly tartan seat trim. The idea of a mainly-black cabin feels as sporty as it ever did in the way it lets the mind focus on the dynamics and the road ahead without diversion into superficial visual luxury, although you can have a light-coloured lower cabin and headlining if you can't take the hardcore GTI visual oppression of black. Aluminium-look instrument surrounds and metal pedals add an air of engineered mechanisms, and the whole car is a fine blend of Golfness and GTIness - two sets of values melded into one, just as in the Mk1 and Mk2. Oddly, though, the pan-European marketing campaign is aimed very much at men, at four different stages of their lives, even though the Golf GTI has always had a strong female following especially in the UK. Maybe it doesn't matter and the campaign will transcend the genders, but it's an odd tack for the marketing department to take.
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Introduction It was curious, what happened to the Golf GTI. Versions one and two... |
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