Volkswagen Golf GTI Review (2019)
There鈥檙e few cars with a richer or more hallowed history than the Volkswagen Golf GTI. The original hot hatch - despite what the French may tell you - transformed an ordinary hatchback into a sports car driven by everyone from Formula 1 stars to discerning housewives. Now nearly four decades later the seventh generation Golf GTI has arrived, amidst some serious speculation and expectation from enthusiastic drivers. And the good news is, it鈥檚 an absolute cracker - good job too considering the strength of rivals such as the Ford Focus ST, SEAT Leon Cupra and Renault Megane RenaultSport. If that鈥檚 not exciting enough you can add a Performance Pack, which increases power to 227bhp and drops a tenth from that 0-62mph time. Both offer 350Nm of pulling power, which is 70Nm more than the last car鈥檚 peak figures. Visually the GTI Clubsport鈥檚 differentiated by a revised front bumper with larger side gills, special 18-inch forged alloy wheels and a black stripe low down along the sides. Not only does the new Volkswagen Golf GTI offer more power and torque than before, but it also boosts efficiency too. The headline figures are a combined economy of 47.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 139g/km when fitted with the six-speed manual gearbox.
The car is extremely well planted at speed and on directional changes as well. There was a bump with smack mid-corner and the Preve took it well. It was un-flustered and kept its line, ignoring that bump. A few weeks ago I drove the newly launched 2012 Hyundai Elantra 1.8 through the same route and that car felt more like a family sedan than this car. There is actually some body roll but all within acceptable limits. This is one car where the suspension soaks in the bumps yet allows the car to be predictable yet handle well. One minor issue I found out is that if you do get overly excited the CVT seems to revert back to 'auto' mode in mid-corner if it thinks you are using too low a gear. It could be the ECU or the Brake Assist with Traction Control cutting the power. It could be quite irritating if you wanted full control, but I don't think most of the Preve buyers would face such an incident.
Unless they all drive like I do. Or drive like they stole it. The Proton Preve drives like a sports sedan. The chassis could easily handle another 30bhp. It is like Clark Kent instead of Superman. Or it is Clark Kent with some superpowers but without the Superman suit. And this little fact has made me realise that the Proton Preve is actually too mild mannered in terms of its styling to be something that people would actually want to buy. It is slightly dull and a less mature design compared to the likes of the Kia Forte. The overall shape, while modern isn't as nice to look at as the Forte. It shows that Proton would need to be more assertive in their designs. In fact, I have to complain on why Proton did not use the light clusters from the Tuah prototype it displayed a year or so ago. I am not buying this car simply because I have outgrown the market segment Proton is targeting. But if I were looking for a 4 door sedan in the RM60,000 to RM80,000, the Preve would be very high on my list of fun to drive cars. But what I actually want from Proton is this - a swoopy 2 door 1.6liter turbocharged mid-engined coupe that looks like Eva Longoria or Olivia Wilde, coupled with the Preve's ride and handling and a price tag of around RM90,000. Now Proton, IS that too much to ask?
The 2013 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What is the base engine size of the 2013 Volkswagen GTI? The 2013 Volkswagen GTI has a 2.0 L base engine size. What size engine does the 2010 Volkswagen GTI have? The 2010 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What size engine does the 2006 Volkswagen GTI have? The 2006 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What size engine does the 2007 Volkswagen GTI have? The 2007 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What size engine does the 2012 Volkswagen GTI have? The 2012 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What size engine does the 2008 Volkswagen GTI have? The 2008 Volkswagen GTI has an inline 4 engine. What is the base engine size of the 2007 Volkswagen GTI? The 2007 Volkswagen GTI has a 2.0 L base engine size. What is the base engine size of the 2008 Volkswagen GTI?
