Is This The Beginning Of The End?
Well, that鈥檚 it. No manual transmission for the powered-up Volkswagen Golf GTI range announced this week. Worse, this obituary follows news that the new Polo GTI will also be a DSG-only proposition. Is this the end, then, of the GTI鈥檚 enthusiast appeal? It鈥檚 perhaps an overreaction, then, to suggest we鈥檙e now one step closer to the 鈥楬 pattern鈥?becoming a strange glyph for future archaeologists to wonder at - but it does seem inevitable. After all, the number of people ordering manual-equipped Golf GTIs is now fewer than 10 per cent, according to Volkswagen Australia. The world doesn鈥檛 stop for single digits. In talking to us this morning, Paul Pottinger, communications manager for Volkswagen Australia, was adamant there is no longer a decent case to be made for a manual transmission in this latest iteration of the legendary, genuinely iconic Golf GTI. 鈥?Pottinger told our news team. Hell, even returning buyers tend to shift from manual to DSG, he claims. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quicker, it鈥檚 more efficient, and on the move we as humans just can鈥檛 change gears as quickly as that - whatever tactile enjoyment鈥?we might derive from it,鈥?Pottinger reckons.
At the other end of the performance market, buyers make the same call. Last year, former Porsche Australia communications boss Paul Ellis said even those who walk into the showroom wanting a manual end up leaving with the PDK auto. Because they know that鈥檚 the faster car, the more fuel-efficient car and probably the better car for resale,鈥?he said. Still, Porsche is at least committed to offering the choice. 鈥淎s long there is one customer that wants a manual, we will build it,鈥?Ellis promised. And that鈥檚 really what it comes down to for the enthusiast: choice. Indeed, my colleague Mike Costello rightly argues that part of our role at CarAdvice is to advocate for just that, regardless of the business decisions each brand must make. 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 here to support an OEM鈥檚 economic rationales - that鈥檚 their province and their concern. And that of their stakeholders,鈥?Costello says. 鈥淥ur job as auto media is to proactively advocate for the widest amount of consumer choice.
Volkswagen is reducing this, and its public relations team in Australia has worked to justify it. 鈥淏ut mine is to state what I see as CarAdvice鈥檚 role in all this: to agitate for maximum consumer choice. Where does that leave the remainder? One figures there can only be two groups left: those very understandably aggrieved in being the last of a dying breed, and those that are merely griping from the sidelines. The former will be forgotten as the world marches on - just like those who, more than a century ago, lamented the mass adoption of these stinky new-fangled automobiles - and the latter cannot logically figure in product planning. I spoke to Pottinger again later. 鈥淚t escapes some members of the specialist media fraternity (and even in 2018, a fraternity it almost exclusively remains) that we import cars in response to customer demand - not what they say customers should drive,鈥?he said. Do you mean, we鈥檙e not the perfect representation of the average buyer? Ouch. But鈥?fair call.
If it were only up to me, you鈥檇 all be driving black manual wagons with a turbocharged engine. The current 169kW Golf GTI is still around for a little while, and the Golf R still does a manual option, too. Or, you could just get over it. If you鈥檙e out to be the quickest, the automatic is usually the best option these days, and all this machismo around manuals being the real enthusiast鈥檚 choice is a bit of a wank, anyway. And remember, every four-cylinder hot hatch owner has had to hear the same type of bullshit from a V8 fan at some point, despite turbo fours often being the match of our most beloved muscle cars. Or, if Volkswagen has broken your heart with today鈥檚 announcement, listen to Costello and exercise your freedom of choice by heading elsewhere. There鈥檚 the incoming Megane RS, and Hyundai could do with some i30 N sales during this short but painful manual-only phase of its life. On the bright side, other options in a similar vein, such as the Toyota 86 and regular Subaru WRX, can still be had in both manual and automatic forms. In both cars, the manual to auto sales split is a healthy 60:40. Here鈥檚 hoping that ratio doesn鈥檛 swap. So. Buy any of those and maybe, just maybe, Volkswagen will make sure the Mk8 Golf GTI has a manual. Then we wouldn鈥檛 be staring at the apocalypse, after all.
This value in the new Golf GTI is exactly the same as that of the previous Golf R, which was powered by an engine from another TSI generation. Equipped in this way, the Golf GTI makes its appearance with impressive flexibility values: in fourth gear, the Volkswagen Golf GTI accelerates from 80 to 120 km/h in 5.0 seconds; in fifth gear it takes 6.0 seconds. Other data that must not be overlooked in a GTI: the new one accelerates to 100 km/h in 6.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of 246 km/h. 聲Stage 2 - Performance GTI: Those choosing a Golf GTI with the performance pack ignite the second stage. As mentioned, the car's power is increased by 10 PS here, while its maximum torque is identical. The 230 PS of power enables a top speed of 250 km/h and just 6.5 seconds for the sprint to 100 km/h.
