Volkswagen just revealed the new 2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, and it gets more power and some nice new styling to match the new MK8 generation of the car. Here’s a full look at the new sheetmetal and fascias, as well as a quick look at some specs.
First, the important thing to note is that this car is coming to the U.S., in case you weren’t certain, with Autoweek reporting:
The eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf GTI is officially coming Stateside as a 2021 model. But first it’ll get introduced at the Geneva Motor Show next month. We were in “wait-and-see” mode since October when we first saw the new hatch. We still don’t know if the standard Golfs are coming this way, but the GTI is a good start.
Output for the European spec car is 242 horsepower (245 PS) and 273 lb-ft of torque from a 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct injected inline-four “EA888 evo4" motor, which is attached to a six-speed “MQ350" manual or a “DQ381" seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic. All of that should sound familiar, as the output figures are the same as the Golf GTI “Performance” variant available in Europe.
The non-“Performance” Euro spec GTI currently makes about the same 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque that the current U.S.-spec GTI makes, so this new generation is getting a bit of a power bump in Europe.
A VW representative told Jalopnik that the U.S. model will also see a horsepower increase; whether it’s to the Euro MK8 car’s 242 horsepower value specifically, we don’t know yet.
Also familiar are plaid seats, which still look incredible in the new model:
As a comparison, here’s the interior from a U.S. spec 2019 VW GTI Rabbit Edition. I think the new car’s dash—thanks partly to its huge new 10.25-inch cluster and 10-inch infotainment screen—looks more modern, but I like the stronger lines in the old plaid seats. And I think I might prefer the old car’s round steering wheel center:
The new model also gets five fog lights on each side that are integrated into the lower intake. I think that’s neat:
We should also talk about those wheels. Here’s a closer look at the 18s (17s are standard, 18s and 19s are option):
They look quite similar to one of the current GTI wheels (shown below), though the silver part of each spoke where it meets the barrel/rim of the wheel looks a little narrower now (the spokes on the old wheels shown below appear to almost have feet that run along the barrel). Plus, the center disc part of the new wheel—thanks in part to the way the black paint is oriented—definitely gives the spokes more of a “twisted” feel. I think it looks decent.
More power is good. The styling looks moderately different than the outgoing car—nothing too dramatic. The suspension layout—a strut-type up front and multilink out back—is the same. The engine size and type are largely the same, the transmissions seem unchanged, overall size and geometry appear mostly the same—it doesn’t look like VW has ruined a good thing, here.
We can all enjoy a sigh of relief.
More Photos:
