2014 Golf GTD Revealed! Could be first diesel Golf/GTI for the U.S.

For fans of sparkless ignition engines in Europe who also enjoy the occasional tug of the odd lateral G here and there, the Volkswagen Golf GTD has been delivering smiles since 1982. In the petrol-slurping wastelands of America, where diesels still (STILL!) manage to remind people of terrible Oldsmobiles from decades before YouTube, the most fun oil-burning Golf variant is well-nigh unknown.

This could change. Volkswagen is dropping some oily, hard-to-burn bread crumbs indicating that the new GTD going on sale in Germany this June might, just maybe, come to our shores. The first clue is that some of our journalist colleagues have driven the previous-generation GTD in recent months. The second is that the U.S. market for Golfs is quite interesting. In the past year, around 35% of Golf buyers here in slushbox land selected a manual transmission. And the TDI is very popular, accounting for just under half of all American Golf sales during that time.

The great part is that the new European GTD looks to be a torque addict's best friend. The thoroughly reworked TDI motor, called the EA288, was introduced last year. In the new German-market GTD, it'll put down 184 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. Healthy numbers for a roughly 3,000-pound car. German buyers are looking at a 6-speed manual or an optional DSG.

With diesels slowly gaining acceptance and market share, hopefully a GTD would help finally kill ancient, irrelevant memories of terrible past diesels. And replace them with memories of smoking strips of burnt rubber. Torque is a wonderful thing.

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gtiw7 said:

believe it or not; in my country diesel is just as "cheap" as petrol and both of which are cheaper than bottled drinking water that is why I don't care about fuel economy AT ALL even if it would do 10 or less mpg>> this won't affect a purchase decision

from a cars enthusiast point of view; aren't we the luckiest people on this planet or what ?

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gtiw7 said:

believe it or not; in my country diesel is just as "cheap" as petrol and both of which are cheaper than bottled drinking water that is why I don't care about fuel economy AT ALL even if it would do 10 or less mpg>> this won't affect a purchase decision

from a cars enthusiast point of view; aren't we the luckiest people on this planet or what ?

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Dybz said:

saudi or uae? lol

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Fred94 said:

Ah Bahrain, I lived there 2 years in Amwaj. Great memories of Wrangler and Pars hotel.
Jeezzz, it was great.

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