VW's 35th anniversary GTI. Image: Volkswagen AG
We Americans get cheated out of a lot of cool cars on this side of the pond. We don’t get the Ford Focus RS, we’re still waiting on the Fiat Abarth 500 and Audi has said, “nein,” to importing the RS3. If you want some good news for a change, Car and Driver is reporting that we will get the special edition GTI that VW showed off at this week’s Wörthersee Festival.
Dubbed the GTI Edition 35, the car was built to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the GTI’s launch in Europe. That number’s not relevant for the United States, since we didn’t see the GTI on these shores until 1983, and VW isn’t going to build a separate “28th anniversary” model just for us. What is relevant is the car’s specs, which include a 235 PS (for Pferdestärke, or German horsepower) variant of the 2.0-liter turbo four. That translates into nearly 232 horsepower, which is 32 more than the current GTI, and the motor also puts out 221 ft lb of torque. Buyers can opt for a six speed manual gearbox or VW’s superb DSG dual-clutch manual automatic.
The rest of the GTI Edition 35 package is mostly trim items, like new wheels, tinted glass, LED running lights and “35” badging on the seats and door sills. Since VW still hasn’t officially confirmed we’re getting the car, there’s no way to estimate how many Edition 35 cars will be imported. In Europe, pricing for the limited edition GTI starts at around $5,000 more than a base GTI; if we use the same formula for the U.S., that would put the price of the Edition 35 at around $29,000, or on par with their loaded “Autobahn” GTI.
Also, don’t forget that you can get discounted new car pricing with a free quote through qualified local dealer partners.
Source: Car and Driver, via Autoblog
