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Rumours has been circulating for a while that Volkswagen was looking at taking the top off its favourite hot hatch, the Golf GTI. It seems the folks at Volkswagen have finally given the project the green light.
Yes, the Golf GTI Cabriolet is coming to a showroom near you! But before that, it will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. It will come with all the goodness of the Golf GTI while adding the pleasures of open-air motoring for four, courtesy of an electrically-powered fabric roof which can be folded away in just 9.5 seconds. What’s more, it is operable at speeds up to 30km/h.
The GTI Cabriolet will sport the already familiar design cues from its humble brother – honeycomb grille with signature red edging and the GTI badge and vertical front fog lights. At the rear, it is differentiated from the lesser Golf Cabriolet by a pair of chrome tailpipes separated by a centre diffuser. Smoked LED tail lights complete the look.
Like the Golf GTI, it will ride on 17-inch Denver alloy wheels wrapped in 225/45 tyres. The much sexier 18-inch Detroit wheels with machine-polished surface and contrasting black inner surfaces continue to be an option.
Under the bonnet, the Golf GTI’s 2.0-litre turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder engine transfers power to the front wheels via a standard 6-speed manual gearbox or VW’s 6-speed DSG dual clutch transmission. Due to extra bracing to compensate for the lack of a roof, the Golf GTI Cabriolet is 180kg heavier, thus is a shade slower to the 100km/h (62mph) mark, taking 7.3 seconds, versus 6.9 seconds for the hatch. Top speed is still a respectable 237 km/h (147mph).
Switching to topless motoring also means sacrificing one rear seat compared to the hatch. Under the insulated roof are four individual seats covered in the classic tartan Jacky cloth upholstery. Leather is an optional extra. Elsewhere, the roof lining and pillars trims are finishes in black for a sporty look.
Similar to all Golf Cabriolet models, the GTI Cabriolet is equipped with an automatically deployed rollover protection system from behind the rear headrests. Front and side head/thorax airbags and a driver’s knee airbag are also standard.
