Research GTI Prices & Specs
The 2016 Volkswagen Golf GTI now comes standard with a rearview camera. One engine is available in the 2016 GTI: a 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 rated at 210 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. When equipped with the Performance package, the engine is rated at 220 hp. A six-speed manual or twin-clutch automatic transmission is offered in the GTI. Fuel economy is excellent for a hot hatch at 25/34 mpg city/highway with the manual and 25/33 mpg with the automatic. Behind the split-folding rear seats, there鈥檚 22.8 cubic feet of cargo space that can be expanded to 52.7 cubic feet. Standard safety features include dual front, front-side, and side curtain airbags. The Driver Assistance package adds more safety aids including adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, forward emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear parking sensors. In the base S trim, standard features include plaid-patterned cloth upholstery, heated front seats, an infotainment system with a 5.8-inch touchscreen, a drive mode selector, LED fog lights, Bluetooth connectivity, 18-inch alloy wheels, a rearview camera, and ambient lighting.
Moving up to the SE trim adds a panoramic sunroof, automatic headlights, a Fender premium audio system, rain-sensing wipers, and leather upholstery. The range-topping Autobahn trim adds navigation, a 12-way power driver鈥檚 seat, and dual-zone climate control, in addition to the standard features included in the S and SE trims. The Performance Packages ups horsepower by 10 and comes with the VAQ differential and larger brakes. Opting for the Lighting package adds adaptive HID headlights with LED accents. Considered the benchmark hot hatch, the Golf GTI remains an exceptional machine, offering an impeccable balance of performance, handling, and refinement in a practical package. In a comparison test that also included the Subaru WRX, Mini Cooper S, and Honda Civic Si, the GTI won because it felt at home on and off the track. We noted that the car鈥檚 ride and steering was deemed the best of the four while its level of refinement and build quality surpasses that of its competition. We also noted in a 2015 First Test review that due to the sporty nature of the GTI, its ride is a little rougher than the conventional Golf while the cabin is a tiny bit noisier. Build quality, on the other hand, is a strong point because it鈥檚 even better than the previous generation GTI, which already had a solid cabin filled with high-grade materials.
And in part it shows GM鈥檚 interest in autonomous and electric vehicles, areas where the company will continue to invest. But mostly, it鈥檚 a response to Americans鈥?burgeoning love for pick-ups and SUVs. Cruze deliveries in the most recent quarter were down more than 25 percent compared with the same quarter last year, while deliveries of the Chevy Malibu had fallen by more than 45 percent. By comparison, the hulking Suburban and Tahoe saw their deliveries go up more than 10 percent and 20 percent respectively. But it鈥檚 an industrywide trend: Ford announced this spring it was all but giving up on cars. Since 2014, the sales trajectories of cars and trucks have rapidly diverged. Lightweight trucks and SUVs now outsell cars by a two-to-one margin. This shift has had a number of consequences. The proliferation of higher, heavier vehicles (which many drivers believe make them safer, in part because they want to see over the big cars around them) has been correlated with a rising pedestrian death toll. Collisions with the higher bumpers of SUVs tend to be fatal at two to three times the rate of cars.
It is also probably responsible for the country鈥檚 stalled fuel efficiency gains. Among 2016 models, according to the EPA, trucks emitted 25 percent more CO2 on average than cars. Things might have been different. Ten years ago, Wired proclaimed the death of the SUV, done in by the recession and high gas prices. Auto companies were repositioning toward cars, and the Camry, Corolla, Civic, and Accord were outselling the Ford F-150. GM stopped making Hummers in 2010. But as gas prices fell and the economy recovered, Congress never took the opportunity to finally raise the gas tax. Gas got very, very cheap; infrastructure went unfunded; Americans found renewed appeal in bigger and bigger vehicles. It鈥檚 not all bad news: For now, automakers remain bound by ambitious Obama-era fuel efficiency goals. Trucks and SUVs have gotten a lot cleaner. The fastest-growing segment of the market is for 鈥減etite SUVs鈥?like the Honda HR-V or Nissan Rogue Sport, whose fuel economy tends to be closer to that of cars than to their cousins the Yukon and the Suburban. Still, it didn鈥檛 have to turn out this way. The average American auto lasts for nearly 12 years, which means that consumer choices now are locking us into a relatively gas-dependent paradigm for years to come. Low gas prices sent more Americans into SUVs; SUV drivers will be that much more averse to properly taxing fuel consumption to account for its environmental harms. Every day a higher gas tax looks like a better idea, and a more elusive one.
