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MKV GTi, VW still doesn't get it

I looked over VWVortex's article on the "probable" specs for the MKV GTi, which include a 2.0 litre, single turbocharged inline 4 cylinder, making 200 horsepower. Apprently, VW doesn't give a shit about cars like the WRX and Neon SRT-4. The facts that either car can be had in the low to mid 20K range (where the GTi lays), both make over 200 horsepower, both break 6.0 seconds from 0-60, and one of the two comes standard with AWD, are obviously non-existant in the VW world where it's OK for their cars to perform under-par by comparison. I love my GTi, I desire an R32, but at $30k plus, it's on a different playing field, along with the WRX STi, and Lancer EVO. And it looks like my next 2-door performance car will probably wear a Japanese nameplate. I don't want to have to spend $30k or more on the future MKV version of the R32 just to keep pace with Japanese and American competitors that cost $5k less. Especially when the American car is based on on the god-forsaken Neon platform.

Reply to
Steve Grauman
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Unfortunately, VW hasn't made a GTI like that in years. I miss my '84 Rabbit GTI (driving it, anyway, the construction was not exactly inspiring) -- an efficient, balanced vehicle with upgrades in the right spots, but not so nice that I minded hauling stuff to the dump in it. Quick for its time, too.

But VW is moving upmarket. I remember reading in Car magazine (British) a couple of years ago that VW was realigning its family of brands. Skoda was going to take over the traditional VW values -- inexpensive, relatively simple, efficient; VW was going to move closer to "luxury," and SEAT and Audi were going to be the performance-minded correspondents of those brands. Then there are Lamborghini and Bentley and the like, but they're OT here.

Apparently VW feels that providing a top-class, comfortable interior and a higher level of safety than either Subaru or Dodge even _think_ about is appropriate to this brand. Too bad Audi doesn't sell anything in the U.S. (anywhere? Is the A3 still made?) that remotely resembles a GTI.

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sd

I wonder if that means that VW might eventually plug the gap by offering a Skoda in that inexpensive/efficient class.

However that would probably be a big branding issue in the US. Last time an automaker that we never heard of from Eastern Europe tried to sell an inexpensive car here (Yugo) it flopped. Not that Skodas are Yugos because the VW engineering puts them a far cry from them, but try convincing the American consumer of that.

made?) that remotely resembles a GTI.

The A3 is still in production and was just redesigned on the Golf V platform. I have heard that the US will get the 5-door version, so for those of us that like the idea of a 5-door GTI this might be it (at last!).

Reply to
Matt B.

Heh. A few years ago I was watching the British (TV) Advertising Awards. One was for Skoda (shortly after VW took them over). It showed a white-collar worker walking through a fairly empty parking ramp, with a shiny new hatchback far in the background. He's met approximately halfway by a constable, who, in a grave voice, says he's sorry and informs the guy that his new hatchback has been vandalized: "Someone stuck Skoda badges all over your nice new hatchback."

 :-)

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