SPIED: This Will Be The New Volkswagen Golf Mk8
These fresh spy shots of the VW Golf Mk.8 show the design of the new model virtually without any camouflage. Making the true shape of the headlights visible, which no longer, feature a simple rectangular shape like almost every VW today. Instead, the unit shrinks around the high beams and has a pinch towards the back. It's pretty bold, for a Volkswagen and appears too small to ever allow for a basic halogen bulb. Like its sister cars, the Golf 8 seems to have an unnaturally long nose and slightly shorter rear overhangs. There's no reason for this at present but VW is apparently leaving room for autonomous driving tech to be added in the future. In profile, things are quite like how they used to be. The windows are the same shape, only the rear shows narrower taillights and a slight slope in the roof that wasn't there before. Built on a revised version of the MQB platform, the new Golf will be powered by a combination of familiar and new engines. The 1.0 TSI and 1.5 TSI should form the bulk of its sales, though from what we understand, the 2.0 TDI will still be around. VW put a lot of work into developing a mild-hybrid assistance system to lower emissions further. Rumours talked about a new base TDI, a 1.5-litre unit built using the TSI's architecture. The displacement has not been confirmed but falls in line with changes made by both Peugeot and Ford.
Well it feels like a properly angry, tuned performance car. It snorts and bellows and acceleration is quite relentless until about 200kmh (with more to come). And all of this from a 1.4liter engine. This is pretty amazing. The last time I felt this good (for a car in the 6 second to 100kmh category is a tuned Proton Wira 1.8 with a turbocharged engine. This car behaves like a tuned car, in terms of performance and also its handling. And it can handle. Going up and down the usual roads where I usually do my road tests I found that the chassis works well within its limits and it does not get unsettled over ruts and bumps. As stated earlier, high speed stability isn't an issue and on a road with hairpins, switchbacks and tight turns the Polo GTI performs as well as it should on its narrow chassis. Yes, the only drawback about this car is that it feels slightly on the narrow side which isn't its fault as the Polo is supposed to be a supermini sized car and is sized as such.
So when you are pushing it you would find that it would eventually feel like you're standing on its tyres instead and you'd sometimes wish you had a wider car like the full monty Golf GTI. Note that the Polo GTI is something that comes from Volkswagen and this means that you will find that the handling is also nose-led like other VW group products out there. Malaysian drivers these days who have never driven anything rear wheel drive over the past twenty years. The brakes are a little weak though. It has good initial feel but I think that ultimate retardation could be improved. The disc area seams large enough and I believe this could be down to what I think are single pot floating calipers at the front (instead of twin pot monoblocks ala Brembos or the equivalent) and at the rear. But the Polo GTI is still a lot of fun.
I managed to keep the traction control flickering whilst belting through the windy road. Tyres chirping, induction roar rumbling and the car working well through it all. The thing about the Polo GTI is that 180ps may be just enough to keep the driver happy and working for it up and down a windy road. It isn't overpowered like some 300hp Evos out there and this actually helps an enthusiast work for the performance instead of just managing or balancing an overpowered car through the bends. In the Polo GTI, the driver still needs to egg out all of its 180ps and 250Nm torque to make rapid progress. You still have to think on where to place the car through the bends, where to add power, where to down shift and where to upshift. It is a blast. Especially since that DSG is superfast in its shifts. Somehow the package works if you want a decently fast car (not seriously fast, with that you need at least something with over 250hp these days) that would reward its driver and is forgiving too.
