Within any plan for Volkswagen's global survival, we suspect there's a page or two devoted to bringing the new Polo GTI — soon to make its international debut at the Tokyo motor show — to the US. If there isn't, shame on the Wolfsburg boys for chronic myopia. With Toyota, Nissan and Honda all set to lower the floor on their product lines with new economy cars for the US, a sports-minded Polo could both revive VW's slack brand image among young buyers and stop the Scion tC juggernaut in its tracks. The GTI's got VW's turbocharged 1.8-liter four, producing 150hp. Zero-to-sixty takes a respectable 8.2 seconds, and a top-speed figure of 134 mph would be eye-grabbing on a $15,000 car's spec sheet (of course, we're just guessing at the price). Plus, don't forget the cosmetics touches, including seats set in VW GTI Plaid. It'll be like 1984 all over again.
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