A few days ago a Porsche official made the extraordinary public claim that Nissan cheated when setting the GT-R’s amazing lap of 7 minute 29 seconds around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. And now Nissan is fighting back defending its honour. Read the story in full at AUSringers.com.
Or you can watch the lap below and decide for yourself…
Video footage of the next generation 2009 Golf GTI has recently emerged on YouTube. The clip itself is not the most inspiring video ever made, but fans of the iconic GTI will be welcome this footage all the same. For more on the new GTI read this previous AUSmotive article.
With all the talk of the new MkVI Golf GTI, I thought it might be time to remind Volkswagen what the new model has to live up. With thanks, of course, to Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear (Series 5, Episode 6).
See below for a Random wallpaper surprise.
Fourteen photographs of the 2009 Volkswagen Golf GTI—click on each pic to load wallpaper sized 2000x1320px super images.
Details of Volkswagen’s MkVI Golf GTI have been revealed on the autocar.co.uk website.
Like the regular Golf VI range the new GTI has taken an evolutionary approach with a minor reworking of the front grille treatment being the largest immediate difference compared to the previous MkV iteration. The all new body kit is entirely different, with a more appropriate use of color coding all round. “The effect is to visually widen the GTI to make it look much more aggressive and sporty,” said exterior design chief Mark Lichte.
There is a single exhaust tip at each edge on the rear and the interior keeps the flat bottomed steering wheel treatment.
Official details of the MkVI GTI will be released at next week’s Paris Motor Show, but it is believed the base GTI will be powered by the same engine used in the Edition 30 models (approx 160kW). An all wheel drive GTI-R model with around 200kW is also expected to be revealed at some stage in the future, this will replace the hole left by the demise of the VR6 powered R32.
More images can be seen after the jump and stay tuned to AUSmotive for higher resolution pics as they become available.
*update* More pics can be seen at evo.co.uk, of note is the interior image where it looks like the speedometer now only indicates up to 260km/h (MkV GTI was 300km/h) and the dash illumination is more Audi like with white dials and red needles, so it appears the familiar Volkswagen blue-lit dials have been scrapped.
This episode started with a proper old skool hot hatch, the iconic Volkswagen Mk2 Golf GTI. I’ve been fortunate to see a great example of these up close and they really are bloody good cars. Take a well loved Mk2 GTI to a tight mountain pass and it will keep any current hot hatch very honest indeed. Jonny was out to see what sort of improvements he could make at his local tuning shop. After Tiff set a benchmark time, Jonny started the mods. They started with the easy stuff like new suspension and exhaust, but also undertook a complete engine rebuild that was hoped to give a very tidy 50hp increase. The first part of the clip is shown above, check the second part to see how well the mods work at the end of this article.
Read on to see what else was in store for this episode…
Volkswagen Australia, are you watching! Even Tom Ford, all the way over in England, knows the deal—bring the Scirocco to Australia in place of the three door Golf GTI. While GTI production is in limbo prior to the launch of the MkVI model the case for the Scirocco is even stronger. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
So we know how Episode 6 started, read on to see what else the Fifth Gear had in store.
In Iceland for the official Golf VI launch autocar.co.uk has filed a brief review of a 2.0 TDI Golf VI, with DSG transmission. Here’s a few snippets:
Read the autocar.co.uk article in full for more detail.
While official images and details of the new model Golf have been released, the official launch of the Golf VI is yet to come. Volkswagen has chosen the unique Icelandic landscape for the launch venue and some great spy shots of the preparations have been posted on Golf Mk6.com … click here to check them out.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that a modified version of Volkswagen’s Microbus could be on the agenda, with the new Chattanooga facility the likely plant to be used for production. The Microbus was launched as a concept in 2001 (see original 2001 press release below) and was originally scheduled for 2005 production before cost cutting measures saw Volkswagen pull the pin. According to the SMH article, a German Volkswagen official claimed, “We’re looking at ways to produce the Microbus that will make it competitive in North America. At the moment there is no firm decision but, with the exchange rate the way it is, there is no way we could entertain building it in Europe.”
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article in full for more detail.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald via autoblog
As revealed on AUSmotive last month the Golf GTI Pirelli will be coming to Australia.
Volkswagen Australia has all but confirmed the Pirelli’s arrival by launching a new microsite seeking registrations of interest. Indeed, if our sources are to be believed, there are already 300 of these Golfs in a Sydney warehouse waiting for delivery. Volkswagen’s silky smooth 2-litre TFSI engine has been tweaked to give extra performance with the Pirelli models now yielding 169kW/300Nm. All models are fitted with Pirelli P-Zero rubber and come with DSG transmissions—no manual transmissions will be available in the Australian allocation. Volkswagen claims the Golf GTI Pirelli will take you from rest to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds. Colours available will be Sunflower Yellow, Black Magic, Blue Graphite and Reflex Silver. Both 3 door and 5 door models will be available, although the allocation of each is unknown at this stage. Pricing is expected to be around $47,500 for the 3 door and $49,000 for the 5 door.
A screen grab of the Pirelli’s vital figures is shown below, or you can simply check out the microsite for yourself.
LeftLaneNews has just published some computer generated renderings of the 2010 GTI. While not official—we’ll have to wait for the upcoming Paris Motor Show for that—their images certainly do look convincing. Assuming these graphics are on the money, it is pleasing to see GTI specific treatments still exist. The Golf IV GTI was virtually identical to its lesser Golf siblings—a fault that Volkswagen fixed superbly with the Golf V GTI. Not long to go now until an official reveal for the Golf VI GTI, which is reported to have a revised 160kW/300Nm 2-litre turbo, which can be coupled to an optional 7 speed DSG transmission.
See more images now at LeftLaneNews. For more on the Golf VI, check out the AUSmotive Volkwagen category listing.