Volkswagen’s Mk5 Golf GTI is a bloody good car. I know this not only because the motoring world has barely stopped praising the car since its 2004 launch, but also because I have one in my garage. However, the GTI’s latest accolade, 2008 Drive Car of the Year (Best Performance Car Under $60,000), has to be the most irrelevant the car has ever won. Why? Go down to your local Volkswagen dealer and try to order a new GTI and see how far you get.
Sure, you can get a new Pirelli model, but with an extra 22kW, factory body kit and garish seats, that’s not the same car the Drive judges awarded. You could get lucky and find a dealer with a GTI in stock, but the factory has stopped making them, so ordering one to your specification is impossible.
The good news is the outgoing GTI can still hold it’s head high. Good for the dealer stock still remaining, and during the current financial doom and gloom, demand for the GTI in the used car market may hold firm. That said, while we’re waiting for the Mk6 Golf GTI, I just wish Drive was singing the praises of a new Volkswagen model…
…the Scirocco, for example.