Your Next Volkswagen GTI Could Be A Lot Cheaper

Interesting.

VW is on a roller coaster it seems with going down market then up market with the quality of their cars.

Do like the movement of the US life cycle to coincide with the European

https://carbuzz.com/news/your-next-volkswagen-gti-could-be-a-lot-cheaper

They better not mess with the overall feel of the car. Better not cheapen things up in order to lower the price but keep the same margins. If I wanted a damn Hyundai for $3-4K less, I would have bought a damn Hyundai. Let's not lower the bar to the competitors level.

Once again the core VW enthusiast is being alienated. The Passat's they made in the US, designed for the US market drove like Camry's and all the German character was removed in the name of volume sales and all American appeal. Save that for the SUV market. Please, please Don't mess with the GTI, it's an awesome car as is.

Lowering the price isn't going to make droves of people buy. Brand image is much more important, just look at Audi and how it's climbed and they didn't have to "lower" the price. They just upped the perception. Very few Audi's appeal to me personally, because I know VW is just a tick behind and a lot less out of pocket.

So THIS marketing push is to line up VW with what Honda/Toyota have done. VW becomes the downmarket brand--and if you want what VW used to represent, you'll need to visit your Audi dealer.

Toyota's done this for a long while now. Camry and Corolla aren't nearly what they were 20 years ago; they've pushed people who want that level of quality and feature set up to the Lexus line.

I guess when the old VW "we're going to take over the world and sell 8 million cars in the US alone, all at prices 25% higher than our competition!" plan failed, this is what their next effort looks like (post-dieselgate).

My next car may indeed be an Acura, if they bring the Civic Type R over and make it something an adult would buy and drive.

This doesn't sound good. The way I read it is that a "cheaper" GTI would be just that, cheaper, not just less expensive. The article is weird, too, in that VW doesn't charge "premium" prices for the GTI as it is. The price for the GTI is a freakin' bargain when you consider all of the stuff you get.

Talk of making the GTI cheaper makes me think of more hard plastics, a more Audi-like options structure so they can roll out a stripper model at a flashy, low price, and a lot of low-end parts bin use from their subcompact, downmarket basic models that we don't see over here.

I definitely agree that Toyota has been driving people to Lexus, like Nissan has to Infiniti. Honda's have actually been less affected by this I think, given stuff like the rather good new Accord. Up where I live, there are no Lexus dealers, no Infiniti dealers, and like one Acura dealer anyhow. All the good stuff from any of those marques is really expensive, too, as their "affordable" models are lackluster as all get out.

They've been doing that with the Jetta for years now. They tried it with the MK5 "Rabbit". Hope it doesn't happen to the GTI.

They need to make the product better. Not cheaper. They need to keep improving. The Golf R should be pumped to 365hp and give the R motor to the GTI. They would be kings for doing that.

I worry about the direction.
The GTI is my first VW and at an older age I appreciate the upscale interior. I had the prior Jetta as a loaner once and found it a sad car even if it was a rental. The 2.5L engine could get one killed trying to enter a busy street. Monday I was able to look at the new Tiguan and Atlas.

The Tiguan was a little bit of a let down. Looks good and plenty of room but drivers door was hard as a rock. My Wife’s Tucson has hard plastic but the texture feel held it a lot. The Atlas is a big nice vehicle. At a top of the line price for $50,000 you get a lot of Car. My sales person said the Atlas is the #1 seller and not just the entry level. She said everyone wants the top of the line SUV.
I do not like black wheels but they had a sport model for the younger guys.
The Tiguan is also a lot of Car at $31,000. To bad the interior is not more like the GTI.

If the next GTI is more like the Tiguan, guess I will need to test other cars. Maybe by then a new generation Audi TT RS will have reached a good used price.














Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I also wonder about the T-Roc.
I think a nice car option.
But if low on power and cheaper interior might not do well.
Seems like they are focusing on look a little much.
But maybe we are a looks society.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

some of these newer camrys look pretty done up from the factory... blacked out roof, 19's, quad exhaust... i dont get it

They ruined the Jetta by making it cheaper materials and less standard content. Even the GTI has gone downhill in the last 12-20 years, so I'm not surprised.

You know what the boring man in the world would do?