Volkswagen Golf GTI Cabriolet opens up for the summer
Following last year’s concept at the Wörthersee GTI Treffen, it was inevitable that Volkswagen would chop the top of the Golf GTI and create the Golf GTI Cabriolet, the full details of which have now officially been released. Making its debut at the Geneva motor show next week, the latest addition to the GTI family is the most powerful open-top Golf that Volkswagen has ever produced. Practicality, long a GTI trump card, stays, and the addition of an electrically-powered folding fabric roof opens up the sporty Golf’s four occupants to the open-air experience.
Visually, the Golf GTI Cabriolet looks the same as the tin top, with honeycomb grilles, red grille trim, a smattering of ‘GTI’ badges, side sill extensions, smoked LED tail lights, double exhaust pipes, and those distinctive 17-inch ‘Monza’ alloy wheels. The black, fully-insulated and powered fabric roof can be retracted in 9.5 seconds up to speeds of 18mph, and underneath lies the standard Golf GTI cabin. That means tartan ‘Jacara’ cloth upholstery, GTI multifunction steering wheel, stainless steel pedal caps and gloss black inlays on the door caps and dashboard.
The GTI Cabriolet shares its engine with its revered hatchback sibling, too. The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine produces 208bhp, gets the car to 62mph in 7.3 seconds (0.4 seconds down on the metal-roofed car), while top speed is 147mph. Ratios can be changed via a six-speed manual gearbox or seven-speed DSG. Maximum torque is 206lb ft (280Nm), available from 1700-5300rpm, while the standard Golf GTI’s XDS transverse differential and EDS electronic differential lock help transfer the power to the road through the front wheels.
Safety is as the standard Golf Cabriolet. The open-top Golf GTI comes with automatically deploying rollover protection, front and side head/thorax airbags and a driver’s knee airbag as standard, all of which helps it to achieve a five-star (96 per cent) rating for adult occupancy in Euro NCAP crash tests. UK buyers will have to wait until the second half of 2012 for the Golf GTI Cabriolet, when prices and final specification details will be announced, but with a basic three-door Golf GTI costing £25,320, expect the GTI Cabriolet to start upwards of £27,000.
