Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50: Our fastest FWD road test yet

Most almighty series-production GTI successful 5 decades brings peculiar axle hardware and a clearer way focus It comes astir arsenic a astonishment that the Golf GTI is 50 years old. So fashionable – truthful damned omnipresent – has this versatile car been connected the blistery hatch country that the passing of clip goes unnoticed. The Golf GTI turning 50 is astir similar turning 50 yourself: faintly incomprehensible.But present we are, and to observe the milestone Volkswagen has seen acceptable to unleash a peculiar edition. Not that we didn’t spot this coming. Big birthdays for the world’s favourite blistery hatch person been celebrated successful five-year increments much oregon little since the Mk3 GTI 20th Anniversary, which was marked retired by split-rim BBS alloys, questionable spot trim and, frankly, not a batch successful the mode of the mechanical enhancements.The day attraction escalated somewhat successful consequent years. These cars person astatine assorted points gained peculiar suspension tuning, bigger turbochargers, overboost functions, titanium exhaust plumbing and non-trivial aerodynamic enhancements, each of which has led to this week’s roadworthy trial subject, the GTI Edition 50. This car’s assertion to fame is alternatively much impactful than immoderate azygous modification implicit the modular GTI, due to the fact that VW claims it is the quickest front-drive accumulation car ever to thigh the Nürburgring Nordschleife, with a clip of 7min 44.5sec.That the Edition 50 steals the crown from the FL5-generation Honda Civic Type R by astir three-tenths of a 2nd is mostly irrelevant. What matters is that VW sees this car arsenic being portion of the aforesaid speech arsenic its Japanese opponent, and has gone to the occupation of mounting a challenging caller benchmark to marque the point. But portion distant the numbers and is the Edition 50 truly arsenic dynamically susceptible arsenic the Honda? We’ll find retired shortly. If it is, you tin stake that erstwhile the lineage has been electrified oregon possibly disappeared entirely, these cars volition beryllium among the astir sought-after GTIs of them all.