Volkswagen to celebrate Golf GTI’s 40th birthday

Volkswagen will bring a number of Golf vehicles for one major birthday celebration at the 35th GTI Meet at Lake Worthersee this weekend.

First up, Volkswagen will bring an upgraded version of the Golf GTI which has smashed the production front-wheel-drive Nurburgring lap record. The Golf GTI Clubsport S has beaten the record set by the Honda Civic Type R last year with a time of 7 minutes 49.21 seconds.

With this, Volkswagen claims that the upgraded hot hatch is the most powerful version of the Golf GTI to date. It is powered by a 2.0L TSI 4-cylinder turbo engine that delivers 326 hp.

Aside from the said accolade, Volkswagen will be showing two customized vehicles developed by its apprentices from Wolfsburg and Zwickau plants.

The team from Wolfsburg will showcase the Golf GTI Heartbeat, based on the Golf GTI Performance according to Volkswagen. The apprentice-built Golf GTI Heartbeat is capable of producing 395 hp however the automaker remains secretive on what lies under the hood. On the other hand, the team from Zwickau will display the 345 hp Golf R Variant Performance 35.

The Golf GTI TCR race car and all 7 generations of the Golf model are coming to celebrate the hot hatch’s 40th birthday.

Locally, Volkswagen Ph has launched the new variants of the Golf - the Highline and the Comfortline - last month.    

For more information about Volkswagen and its vehicles, visit the AutoDeal Car Guide.