2014 Volkswagen Golf GTD is our favorite oil-burning GTI

Tue, 05 Mar 2013

The 2014 Volkswagen Golf GTD has officially bowed at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Engineers managed to squeeze an additional 14 horsepower and 22 pound-feet of torque out of the familiar 2.0-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, nudging total output to 184 hp and 280 lb-ft for 2014. The figures are good enough to earn the GTD the honor of being the most powerful diesel Golf in Volkswagen history. A start/stop system helps improve efficiency over the previous generation with the new model consuming 56 miles per gallon on the EU cycle. That's up from the 2013 model's 46 mpg. A six-speed manual transmission is standard equipment, though a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox is also available.

The GTD also offers buyers a few aesthetic tweaks to help separate the hatch from its less potent siblings. Those include a more aggressive front fascia, special badges and 17-inch alloy wheels. Expect to find the GTD in one of three exterior colors, including Tornado Red, Black and Pure White. Check out the quick press release below for more details.

4.2 litres and 109 g/km CO2

– world premiere of the Golf GTD

The GTD has been the long-distance express in the Golf range for 31 years – in a fascinating way, it combines driving fun with perfect sense, sports car performance with supermini consumption. Based on the seventh Golf generation, Volkswagen now puts the GTD in the limelight, a car whose design again follows that of the Golf GTI closely. Both the GTD and the GTI will have their debut at the Geneva Motor Show in a world premiere!

With a torque that has been raised by 30 to 380 Nm and a performance boosted by 10 kW / 14 PS to 135 kW / 184 PS, the new Golf GTD has become the most powerful production Golf turbodiesel of all time. The TDI with 6-speed gearbox and coupled to a Stop/Start system consumes only 4.2 l/100 km (CO2 emissions: 109 g/km). This means a reduction by 0.9 litres or 25 g/km CO2 in comparison to the previous model. Optionally, Volkswagen offers the GTD with a 6-speed dual-clutch gearbox (DSG) – again, a fuel consumption of 4.5 l/100 km (CO2: 119 g/km) marks the diesel as a highly efficient car. Favoured by a performance weight of 7.6 kg/PS (including driver), the Golf GTD sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds; at 230 km/h, it has reached top speed.

By Zach Bowman