Final throw of the dice for the Mk 7.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI
With the Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI set to be unleashed locally later in the year, the incumbent prince of hot hatches is making one final encore. And with only 300 units of the limited-edition Golf 7.5 GTI TCR going on sale, it is bound to not only be a very sought-after car, but a very fast one too. Apart from the styling cues, the major difference between the TCR and the GTI is the upgrade in power output.
The TCR produces 213 kW of power and 380 Nm of torque to the 169 kW and 350 Nm of the GTI. Similar to the GTI, the power is sent to the front wheels only. We managed to get our hands on No 298 out of 300 and Road Test Editor Mark Jones took it off to Gerotek Testing Facilities to see what all the fuss is about.
The record books show the fastest 0 to 100 km/h time Mark has ever managed to achieve in a factory front-wheel drive hot hatch is 5.78 sec. And that mark belongs to the limited-edition 195 kW GTI Clubsport from 2017. Did the TCR manage to knock the Clubsport off its perch? We will reveal all on Saturday. Watch this space.
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