Volkswagen Golf GTI 40 Years 2016 review | first drive video

Описание: Tim Robson road tests and reviews the VW Golf GTI 40 Years with specs, fuel cosnumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

Read Tim's full review here: http://carsgui.de/2aePpKN

See more at the CarsGuide.com.au Golf hub: http://carsgui.de/291MSrn

Find other hot hatches here: http://carsgui.de/293UYB9

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If you're in the market for a sporty hatchback, there's one model that will pop up again and again.

Volkswagen's Golf GTI hot hatch has ruled the roost locally for the better part of ten years – and in 2016 you're certainly spoiled for choice.

There's the regulation GTI... there's the GTI Performance... as well as the top spec Golf R.

But three is definitely not a crowd in VW's mind. Meet the Golf's 40th birthday present to itself, the GTI 40 Years.

Another one? Really? Isn't that a bit of overkill? Well, yes and no.

The 40 Years edition - which is called the ClubSport in other markets - has been built to – naturally – mark the 40th anniversary of the Mk1 GTI, which turned the affordable performance world on its head when it launched in 1976.

It sits second from the top in the local GTI range both in price and power, and will be limited to a run of just 500 cars.

100 of those cars will be manuals, too.

It's a pretty serious bit of kit, too, with the ability to make more power than even the Golf R – for ten seconds at a time at least!

It has the same two-litre turbocharged engine as the GTI and GTI Performance, but the wick has been wound up... a little harder.

How much harder? The 40 Years is good for 195kW out the box, and it'll overboost to 215kW for ten seconds at a time at full throttle in Sport mode.

It's kind of like a push-to-pass button –only the button is under your right foot.

That overboost figure, by the way, actually makes the 40 Years the most powerful production Golf GTI yet made.

You can tell the 40 Years apart from a normal GTI, thanks to a new bodykit.

Those 19-inch rims are new, too, and were chosen by Aussie GTI enthusiansts in an online competition

Inside, it gets a unique honeycomb interior fabric, while electronic safety aids like radar cruise and emergency city braking are fitted as standard.

It's the same car in the suspension and steering department as the GTI Performance, which is no bad thing.

The car is easily capable of dealing with the extra power, even though it's going through just the front tyres.

VW's tricky limited slip helps a lot here, keeping the car's front end in check even under full power. The bigger brakes too, have been pinched from the top spec Golf R.

It's got a handy 26 kilowatts over the similarly equipped GTI Performance, and it feels it, too, especially in the mid-range.

Where the Golf GTI feels fast but unflustered, the extra muscle of the 40 Years gives the car a real edge to its character.

And it feels good to be bad!

Moneywise, it sits only a few thousand dollars below the better-equipped, all-wheel-drive Golf R – but only 500 40 Years are coming to Australia.

It's worth noting, too, that the 46 and a half grand GTI Performance can't be ordered with a manual transmission – and a six-speed 40 Years is less than two thousand dollars dearer.

We'd bet that the 40 Years is going to take a few sales away from the Performance, at least initially.

But given its price, its performance, and its relative rarity, the 40 Years is likely to come and go pretty quickly.

For the moment, though, it's absolutely the GTI to go for.

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