I’ve always wondered where my GTI stands among the competition. YouTube automotive journalist Doug DeMuro recently rated the 2018 Volkswagen Golf R six out of 10 points in the most of the categories he judges, from styling and acceleration to practicality and comfort. His final score for VW’s ultimate hot hatchback was 63/100, a near perfect 60% that I believe sums up the car quite nicely. It’s the picture perfect better-than-average car, good everything without being outstandingly so at anything.
But if the Golf R is an easy 6/10, does that really make my 2013 GTI a 5 at best? If the $40k R is the worst of the best 50% of cars, is the $25-27k GTI the best of the worst? That ruling seems unfair but perhaps just to me; the FWD GTI is one of the fastest cars I’ve driven, short only of my uncle’s Audi S4 and, before that, his 335xi. I suppose that’s not saying much. At 200 horsepower from the factory, the Mk6 (6th generation) GTI is about as quick off the line as the average entry-level luxury car. Meanwhile, the Subaru WRX, one of the GTI’s main competitors, makes 70 more horsepower from the factory and sends that power to all four wheels for nearly the same price. The luxury brands of the world fill their lineups with sports and luxury cars that make twice the GTI’s power and do it more gracefully at that, featuring supple soft-touch interiors and badges that quadruple the meager clout of the VW logo.
So, maybe the GTI is the best normal car you can buy; the gatekeeper between the slow and the plain, and the luxurious and the fast. I’ve heard it called “almost a luxury car,” and with its “tossable” 3000-pound platform, turbo-charged four-cylinder, and well-bolstered seats, the little hatchback really can be as almost as fun as a sports car on the right bendy road or long straightaway. Almost.
A quick tune pushes it over the line. Every time I meet another GTI owner, I have to restrain myself from asking incredulously, “why haven’t you stage-oned it?” It took me almost a year to accept fate myself. In June, I took the car to the shop and had a new program (called a “stage-one tune,” mine designed by APR) flashed onto the ECU. Stage one woke up the engine — particularly the turbocharger — and moved the car’s figures to 260+ horsepower and nearly 300 pound-feet of torque over the original 200 and 220, respectively.
Now, the car pulls hard out of corners and spins tires well into 2nd gear. Now, I can leave BRZ and WRX drivers in the dust at traffic lights in Annandale — from a roll, at least. 260 horsepower is great, but it’s that 300 torque figure that really throws you back in your seat (literally) so much harder than before. I believe the stage-one tune gives the GTI a coveted spot at the party with truly great and special cars out there — even if it is just standing awkwardly in the corner.
midnightstatic 