What lively big boy could resist a Golf GTI? Especially when what appears before your eyes is the latest model.
The details are sharper,
and it also reveals more of a sense of technology;
in sunlight it looks full of vitality,
while on cloudy days or after nightfall it feels murderous.
That's right,
the all-new Golf GTI,
just quietly parked there,
is enough to make people study it for quite a while.
These feelings all came from my test drive of the all-new Golf at the Zhejiang International Circuit. But in fact, at this event where the entire FAW-Volkswagen all-new Golf family made a collective appearance, the biggest change was actually the standard Golf model equipped with Volkswagen's 1.5T Evo2 engine. It's just that... we'll talk about the driving and riding experience of the standard model later. After all, what lively big boy can resist the temptation of a Golf GTI? Especially when what appears before your eyes is the latest model.
The exterior changes are not very large—provided you can subjectively ignore the sensory temptation brought by the new-style 18-inch Tomahawk wheels and the high-gloss black rear spoiler. On the all-new Golf GTI, the more detailed changes come from the reshaping of the front and rear bumpers and the upgrade of the lighting system. Oh right, and the larger, more conspicuous red "GTI" badge below the rearview mirrors. Every element here corresponds to sharp lines, and the overall effect is like artificially raising the image sharpness in your eyes for this dynamic hatchback, especially revealing an added beauty of power.
The lighting system upgrade mainly comes from the Matrix light matrix headlights and the Surface LED 2.0 surface light source technology taillights—the former reduces the possible glare impact on oncoming drivers by masking the light pattern; the latter gives the taillights better texture and a technological atmosphere through more three-dimensional layering, and the taillights also have a smooth sequential turn signal effect when turning. Not only that, the new lighting system will also display colorful light language interaction animations in different scenarios.
The all-new 12.9-inch floating central control screen is definitely the focal point of the new car's interior. This touchscreen, which uses the Qualcomm 8155 chip and features high resolution, high contrast, and low blue light, had already been widely used in many Volkswagen products, and this time it has finally been embedded in the Golf series' cabin. Now, I can operate the air conditioning, navigation, and many other in-car equipment through the all-new voice assistant. This Volkswagen series product with a 50-year history has finally begun to look somewhat like an intelligent sedan.
Sitting in the car and looking around, the rest of the all-new Golf GTI cabin is basically the same as before. This means that behind the GTI-exclusive three-spoke steering wheel you'll see a 10.25-inch fully digital instrument cluster, and further ahead is a large-size head-up display system. The full set of seats is still wrapped in the classic plaid fabric, and the central control, lighting, steering wheel, and buttons on the headliner all continue the all-touch design. A "one-for-one trade" that has to be accepted lies in this—the original center armrest of the rear seats has been ruthlessly canceled, replaced by a "front center airbag" quietly hidden between the front seats. If one must balance between cost control and configuration trade-offs, I actually think this trade is still fairly reasonable.
FAW-Volkswagen put the test drive of the all-new Golf GTI on the track. For a time, the front and rear areas of the Zhejiang Circuit, gathered with more than a dozen all-new Golf GTIs, completely became a sea of joy for big boys. With the pit garages as the boundary, every corner was filled with the sound of authentic fuel-powered hot hatches. Yes, that kind of exhaust note that can make people excited—there's the gurgling water-boiling sound at idle, the vibrato when running fast on the straights, and the crackling pop-pop sound coming out when lifting off and downshifting before corners.
I have to admit that now any random electric car can instantly beat a Golf GTI the moment the traffic light turns from red to green, but presumably those electric car drivers would also admit that when it comes to the fun of a mechanical product, traditional fuel hot hatches like the Golf GTI still occupy an unshakable position.
Volkswagen's third-generation EA888 2.0T engine undoubtedly provides this both comfortable and refined high-end hatchback with abundant power and always responsive throttle feedback. Although the new car has almost no changes in power and chassis—the engine provides a maximum power of 162kW and a peak torque of 350Nm, and the transmission system is a 7-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox—even on the track, the all-new Golf GTI does not reveal the slightest difficulty. The steering effort is just right, the feedback is positive and willing to communicate, and you can gain strong confidence from it when cornering. In Sport mode, the gearbox is very willing to work with you to squeeze out all the engine's power. In fact, the gearbox's actions on the track are not as hurried and crude as most people imagine, but its upshifts and downshifts on the track are already light and direct enough, and this is achieved on the basis of fully guaranteeing daily driving comfort. As for the brake system, its immediate braking effect is still no problem for withstanding four or five laps of hard running on the track.
The stable lower body and compact car body form a pleasant contrast. This means that driving the all-new Golf GTI at full tilt on the track is not an overly thrilling thing. When cornering, its front and rear ends will lean moderately in unison, and grip can appear relatively balanced on each tire. Normally speaking, any vehicle's sensation of acceleration will be weakened on a track by the open environment and the flat road surface that is several times wider, longer, and straighter than in real life. But even so, the subjective feeling the GTI gave me was still quite fast. Perhaps this is exactly where the fun of driving this kind of hot hatch lies—what you get is a family hatchback whose handling and power have been greatly strengthened, and even if you floor the throttle and race on the track, you will also realize that in real life it is actually hard for you to have a stronger need for power and acceleration than you do right now.
If judged by stock-car standards, the only part I think should be improved is the tires—the 225/40 R18 specification is unchanged from before, but the Giti Control P10 tires chosen for the new car this time cannot fully bring out the chassis's capability—they scream prematurely in every corner and keep doing so consistently until I straighten the steering wheel. Goodness, the chassis still has at least 20 to 30 percent of its supporting capability that has not been brought into play. However, this also indirectly reflects the chassis prowess Volkswagen has injected into the Golf GTI—you can more clearly feel how balanced the grip distributed to the four wheels is, relatively speaking, when this front-wheel-drive car corners.
I really like the all-new Golf GTI so much. Of course, the all-new Golf is also very good, and I drove it on urban roads around the circuit. As the standard model, the biggest change for the new car is the switch to the 1.5T Evo2 engine. Looking at the parameters alone, the maximum power of 118kW and peak torque of 250Nm only represent an improvement in the power section compared with the previous 1.4T (an increase of 8kW). From the actual driving feel, the new car's handling performance is also the same as before—light, cheerful, comfortable to drive, and with a taut chassis. I do not yet have the new car's fuel consumption figures, but judging from other Volkswagen models already equipped with the 1.5T Evo2 engine, this engine will also improve the fuel economy of the all-new Golf's "300TSI" model.
The interior and exterior design changes of the all-new standard Golf model follow the same approach as the GTI series—the interior gets a large screen, and the exterior details are slightly revised. The difference is that, in addition to the improvements in connected car and infotainment functions brought by the central control large screen, the standard model can now offer a richer set of configurations. Front center airbag, rear side airbags, front seat ventilation, AR navigation, driver's power seat, dashcam, and so on all appear on the standard model's configuration list. Two new exterior paint colors, Lime Green and Moon Porcelain Beige, have been added in Morandi tones, and if you choose Moon Porcelain Beige, you can further opt for a matching black/beige interior. The all-new Golf also offers an R-Line model—its front and rear bumper design draws heavily on the GTI, and its chassis tuning is also somewhat more sporty than the standard version (though of course, it still does not reach GTI standards), and it still uses Star Blue as its exclusive color (the GTI's exclusive color is Ethernet Red).
In terms of intelligent driving systems, the all-new Golf has upgraded its assisted safety functions. This mainly refers to the new fully automatic parking system (IPA intelligent parking assist system)—now, after you designate a parking space, you don't have to do anything at all; the vehicle will turn left and right, move forward and backward on its own, until parking is completed and the electronic parking brake is automatically applied. Meanwhile, the intelligent driving assistance system, including the Travel Assist one-touch full-speed-range driving assistance system and the Emergency Assist 3.0 emergency assist system, still belongs to the L2+ level.
Easy to drive, easy to use, durable, stylish, trendy, and individual. Even as new energy products continue to spring up like bamboo shoots after rain, the FAW-Volkswagen Golf can still be called the hatchback with the richest heritage in China. In particular, the Golf GTI, which once first brought the concepts of the sporty hatchback and hot hatch into domestically produced products, has already become a pioneer and spiritual icon that elevated the relationship between Chinese people and cars from simple "driving and using" to the level of "car culture." Perhaps the essence of the matter is not that all lively big boys cannot resist a Golf GTI. Rather, it is because the magic of the Golf GTI happens to lie in its ability to turn every man who likes it into a lively big boy. Regardless of age, it has always been so.
