2015 Volkswagen GTI First Drive

Edmunds.com

2015 Volkswagen GTI First Drive

Driving the Mk VII 2015 Volkswagen GTI, the seventh generation of the GTI and arguably the best ever.

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agentorange

Is the US getting 3 or 5-door versions, or maybe both. No 3-door would be a major fail.

rwatson

What will be a major fail is the Mexican built car. Right now, the Golf is the only VW I'd buy, as the Germans wouldn't put up with the build quality NA gets from the Mexico plant.

Right now, the Golf has better materials than the NA Jetta. Why? German built for the Euro market.

We have this thing for buying the lowest price with the most Chinese "infotainment" toys. Therefore, we get garbage quality.

fordson1

The U.S. version will be available in the 3-door also, for those who need that configuration to kid themselves that it's a "real sports car" instead of merely a fabulous performance hatchback.

quadricycle

^Nothing wrong with liking a certain style, and no need to try to read into the psychology of choosing one over the other either. Out of curiosity, does the three door version save any weight over the five door? If so, anyone know how much?

engineer_mba

The new GTI looks like an impressive performance car for middle class enthusiasts, though the value is hard to judge without final pricing for the U.S. Zero torque steer combined with the limited slip differential and bigger brakes of the performance package will make this car a standout in the hot hatch segment.

I am more of a sports coupe/sports car enthusiast. As a result, it is hard for me to get excited when I know that there is probably a sleeker, sexier, sportier VW Scirocco waiting in the wings somewhere. Nice car none the less.

fordson1

The weight difference is like 35 to 50 lbs.

cjasis

Looks to be another winner.

Minor grip with the article... all of those pictures of the exterior (many of which are repetitive) and not a single picture of the backseat or the hatch area? Many of us are interested in these vehicles for their practicality as much as their fun to drive nature guys. We'd like to see how big the back seat looks (ie how car seats will fit) and how usable the hatch area is.

jeffinoh

One car, 3 colors, 68 pics. I think I'm set for life on images of this car. Multiple pics of the plastic engine cap even! It is sleek tho.

jederino

The interior packaging has always been stellar in the Golf, and with 4-doors, you hardly need more practicality than this. The performance pack is a huge upgrade, it seems.

frank908

Can't wait to see how quickly owners will go through brake-pads and tires with that artificial limited-slip diff. I'm sure it works well, but it utilizes the brakes in order to do so there has to be some expense one will pay for it.
Am I the only one not terribly excited about this car because it no longer sounds like the bargain that it's supposed to be known for and the article talks-up the fact that it bigger and wider and was styled to show off its wideness. Why would I want that in a "sports" car????
VW needs to bring the Polo to N/A so that it fills that gap once again.

rickibobbi

test

rickibobbi

seems like a well sorted car, just not sure, per the usual of reliability.

stovt001_

Sounds great. Sign me up for a 4 door with the performance pack and no other options. Maybe a DSG if my commute changes to something more stop-and-go.

stovt001_

I think the 3 door looks great and would rather get that, but since I have a kid in a rear-facing baby seat, if I'm going to get a hatch that offers rear doors then I'd be crazy to not go for that. It doesn't loose too much style.

coolb944

@frank908

Probably won't be any more, or probably even as much, as on the current GTI, since the new car will actually have a wet-clutch coupling limited slip diff with the Performance Pack. I don't think the brakes in the new car will be engaged unless

darthbimmer

Very sharp looking exterior. It's modern and fresh while retaining the distinctive design "language" VW has established through previous generations of the Golf/GTI. (Too bad VW failed this with the last two iterations of the Jetta.) Kudos also for the dash. It looks clean, clear, and driving focused. Performance specs sound great. Look forward to evaluating hands-on.

lvgti

Interesting....none of the gear heads on this site have noticed the missing handbrake. Check out the Road & Track article.

samster231

I really want to like this car as it is a slick package, as it has been for the last 2 generations.

I echo the concerns, however, re: long term reliability, particularly with this new Mexican plant.

It's getting harder to be a Honda fanboy and if this GTI were just reliable it would be such an compelling option.

brownchicken

GTI, made in mexico now? when that makes my choice so much easier--- WRX all the way.

emajor

What is with all the grousing about hecho en Mexico? The Mk V Jetta was built in Mexico and has been one of the most reliable VWs, and the materials and build quality are just as tight as the German-built Golf.

tbone85

Can't say that the German built VWs have been exactly trouble free either. Only time will tell one way or the other. Mexican built Fusions have been fairly reliable.

arekkosinski

Rwatson... so only Golf's or GTI's are built in Germany?
I have a 2013 jetta and yes it's noticeable that it's not build by Germans...

joe424

And now we get the European-cars are automatically better built cars arguments. But here's my experience: 2001 Mexican-built VW Jetta...no real problems for 7 years. 2008 German-built VW GTI had a bad mechatronic unit (look it up...it ain't pretty) for about a year before VW finally acknowledge a problem and agreed to fix it. Took about 4 weeks for the part to be made and shipped from Wolfsburg, and I was stuck driving a Dodge Caliber. Don't get me wrong, I love my GTI (now that it's working), but I'm not going to write off a Mexican-assembled car just because "Germany" looks cooler as a place of origin on the sticker.