Cars are rated one (forget it) to four ('bout as good as it gets) James Deans

 Specifications

• Style: two-door hatchback
• Engine: 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder
• Transmission: five-speed manual
• Drivetrain: front-wheel drive
• Horsepower: 180 hp @ 5,500 rpm
• Torque: 174 ft-lbs. @ 1,950 rpm
• EPA mileage: 24 city/31 highway
• Weight: 2,932 lb.
• Base price: $18,910
• Price as tested: $21,450

Honestly, it's easier to explain vehicle faults than to explain praiseworthy features. Seems to me that it's always easier to explain a complaint than a compliment. Eg. Cold weather makes me shiver. I hate it. Warm weather feels good on my skin. Why? Ahhhhhh..

And therein must follow a technical discussion of skin, nerve endings, human temperature regulation mechanisms, blah, blah, blah.

But when I discovered how good -- how really good -- this VW GTI is, I decided to try something difficult. I decided to try to explain in words and photos why the VW is heads above any average vehicle or even competitor. This car deserves no less than my best effort at information and education.

Explanations of excellence are not always the case, or even usually the case, with many auto reviewers, I'm sad to say. Vehicle reviews can become like that temperature example. Think for a moment how many vehicle reviews you've encountered that could be summarized this way:

How's it handle? Good 'nuff.

Is it fast? Pretty fast.

How's the comfort? Not bad.

Ergonomics? So-so.

OK, stop laughing. That's the way many reviews break down.

Course, at the other extreme is the know-it-all who must explain in 10 paragraphs why an independent rear suspension is superior to a blah, blah, blah... Those reviews could be summarized this way:

How's it handle? 0.85 g.

Is it fast? 0-to-60 in 7.5 seconds.

How's the comfort? 88 cubic feet passenger volume.

Good looking car? 0.31 coefficient of drag with a hatchback configuration.

Now all that means something only if you speak the language used for measurements. Most people don't, so techno-babble reviews leave you reading the same paragraph three times as your eyes glaze over.

I'll try to avoid both traps this time. I'll show and tell why the VW is a terrific hatchback and then you can take the compliments and see how your intended choice fares. Let's begin with...

While the new GTI has not been crash tested by either the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or the National Highway Transportation Agency, other recent VW vehicles have earned exceptional scores in crash tests.

VW has taken safety to heart and all its vehicles show that fact to be true. There is no reason to think the GTI wouldn't likewise score near or at the top of its category.

VW does not skimp on safety features in this car starting under $20,000. It has safety features, in fact, not found in some $40,000 cars.

But let's start with the basics:

Cars today are required to have dual front air bags. If some screaming auto advertiser brags about dual front air bags, tune 'em out. That's not a feature deserving praise. That's meeting minimum requirements. So those are a given. Now, side air bags are another story.

Side air bags are not required and are a bit more diffcult to engineer. They are physically located much closer to occupants and thus must fire faster and softer than front air bags. The bag mechanisms are not interchangable. Side air bags need their own.

The GTI has side air bags. All VWs do. Does your intended vehicle? Does your under $20,000 intended vehicle include them as standard features. VW does.

But wait, there's more.

Side air bags are designed to protect the pelvis and rib cage areas from fatal injuiry in a side impact. Nearly all vehicles today have side impact door beams -- strong bars -- in the doors, to help prevent vehicle deformation and object intrusion. The GTI has them, of course. But that's not enough. When your vehicle is struck from the side, your own body will lurch violently toward the impact. If you're met with door metal, it won't be pretty for rescuers.

The side air bag offers your body a cushion between you and the twisting, breaking metal inches from your heart and lungs. But what about your head?

Side air bags do not inflate high enough to offer protection for your head, your brain, the essence of YOU.

For that kind of protection, you need side air curtains. These deploy downward on both sides of a car, forming a pillow for your head to slam into.

Side curtains are available on some very expensive luxury cars, as you're probably aware. The rich get features to save their lives, while the poor get buried.

Say hello to the GTI, less-than-rich buyer. At its under-$20,000 starting price, the GTI has standard side air curtains.

It also has anti-lock brakes as standard equipment. Want to upset me? Make anti-lock brakes an extra-cost option and I'll get upset. ABS is not an option, but an extremely valuable advance in braking technology that should be required in the same way frontal air bags are. Don't buy any vehicle, car or truck, without them.

Oh, there's more here for under $20,000

Would you believe traction control, called Anti-Slip Regulation, and Electronic Differential Lock are standard? They are. Daylight running lights? Yes. Three-point belt restraints at five seating positions. Yep. Head restraints at all three rear seat positions? Absolutely.

So, bottom line here: There are traction and brake features to keep you out of trouble, and state-of-the-art safety devices to protect you in an accident.

Doesn't get any better at this price. This is the car, Mom and Dad, to buy that going-away-to-college kid of yours. It's fun, it's practical and it's safe.

Once, they called them Pocket Rockets.

They were fun, frugal, fast hatchbacks that needed to be a part of every automaker's model lineup. Memorable ones included the Nissan NX2000, Mazda MX3, Toyota Paseo, Honda Civic CRX, and models from VW.

Today, the VW GTI enjoys survival after a decade of extinction for rivals.

VW never gave up on this practical configuration of two side doors and a large rear hatchback. And now it's coming back in vogue. As it should.

Pocket Rockets were, and are, handlers. One of the essential reasons for their popularity was the fun factor in driving one. A driver could fly into a corner, downshift, turn sharply and accelerate briskly away. The Pocket Rockets hugged a curve like a mini-sports car. This survivor still does.

And more and more young people are turning away from overkill V8s to powerful but thrifty four-cylinders. Add a turbocharger and your economy engine just became a racer. That's what VW did for the tiny 1.8-liter four in the GTI.

And while 180 horsepower might not seem like all that much, the under-3,000 pound car weight more than compensates. This is a zoomy little car. Great fun, with very little turbo lag when the accelerator is popped.

Shifting manually is the only way to go in a Pocket Rocket. If you don't shift, move on to a 2.8-liter Jetta or Passat with a splendid automatic transmission. But if you do shift, know that the five-speed in the GTI is a joy to work. Shifts are quick and easy, effortless -- important in heavy traffic. Downshifting is not an exercise in missing the right gear. The manual is well-matched for this engine.

Release the hood from inside a VW and begin to experience better engineering.

Walk around to the front of the car and .. look at the nifty pull tab that has popped out. Now, think how you normally open the hood on other vehicles. You fumble around under the hood, don't you, dirtying your fingers and wondering whether the thing you just touched is a lever or a brace. You wonder if you push left or right or pull up on the thing. Right? What an engineering disaster. It couldn't be any less friendly.

VW has fixed things (as Mercedes did for people with money). The pull tab accepts two fingers and a gentle tug in the only direction possible finally pops the hood. The hood lifts upward thanks to a single hydraulic strut. No chintzy prop rod here.

Look at this engine bay! Note the complete absence of cross braces. Visible cross braces in an engine compartment are prima facie evidence of engineering design failure. They are evidence that the car as designed proved too flexible in handling tests and so extra braces had to be added where they can interfere with engine compartment work, sometimes needing removal before serious work can be done on an engine. You pay the mechanic, thank you very much, for your automaker's lousy design. You see this mistake on some "good" cars.

Not with this VW. Bracing in front of the radiator and above the firewall -- hidden and never in the engine work area -- is the best engineering design.

The marvelous little engine with five valves per cylinder is mounted crossways and areas that become hot or dirty are covered, as they are in all quality German cars. But what is the one thing every owner needs access to? The oil dipstick. And where is it located on many cars? Ha. Find it if you can. Is it way down there, next to the hot exhaust manifold? Is it in the back, or is that the transmission dipstick? Is it up by the fan blades? Will your arm or shirt brush an oily place as you reach for it and pull it out?

Is there a better way?

Yes. And VW asked that question and answered it. Look at the photo here. You'll have no trouble finding the oil dipstick. It's even painted in a glow-in-the-dark fashion that makes it stand out no matter the lighting. It's upfront, easy to access, and you'll brush nothing to check your engine's oil level.

Now look up. There you will find the best sound and heat insulation I've seen in any car, at any price. And you find more heat insulating material on the front of the firewall. Heat does not enter a GTI, and highway noise at cruising speed is minimized. The GTI is quite aerodyanmic, so wind noise is lessened, and the tires mounted on 16-inch wheels were not overly noisy (note that you can buy noise-cancelling tires and shut 'em up completely).

Some problems are so common to two-door, four- or five-passenger vehicles that we might think them unsolveable.

Such as:

How do we allow passenger access to the rear seat without creating huge front doors that open into the next county? How do we handle the problem of where to locate base anchors for belt restraints used by fhe front seat occupants? Can we provide enough footroom for rear passengers while providing sufficient seat front-rear travel to accomodate large occupants up front?

Almost no one solves these problems.

There is usually some ineffectual, inadequate compromise where multiple parties suffer.

Not with the VW GTI.

Oh boy, could other automakers learn from this car.

Let's begin the study outside. There, we're greeted with the best exterior door handle design, the bar design that allows would-be rescuers the best chance of actually opening a door and reaching those trapped inside after an accident. VW knows better than to use nail-breaking, spider-hiding, ring-scratching-paint flip lids. Absolutely no force can be applied to open a stuck door when these pathetic lift lids are the route to entry. With the bar design, a hand can tightly grip the handle and a foot can be braced against the car body to exert maximum force in opening a stuck door.

OK, open the door and you're presented with a no-nonsense interior that is nonetheless attractive and in a proper light color to minimize overheating of the interior while the car is parked in sunlight. And note that, like those on Audis, the VW doors can open almost 90 degrees, allowing easy entry/exit for anyone of any size. Lift a lever on the side of a front seat and the entire seat lifts up and folds forward. You are presented with perhaps the largest area for entrance to the rear seat seen in a coupe or hatchback. You can walk into a GTI, not crawl. This combination has solved the problem of too-big coupe doors (which, of course, create their own new problem when parked close to another vehicle in a mall parking lot).

And this entry space -- on a compact two-door -- is larger and easier to use than the rear-seat entry space on a four-door Range Rover or a Cadillac Escalade.

Now, look again at the photo. Where are the belt restraints for the front seat occupants? Well, they're not in the way, as they are in 99 percent of other coupes. They're not on some elevated swivel that presents a maze for entry or exit. Look again. They're anchored on a small, horizontal chrome bar just behind the door, on the floor (arrow in photo here)! The belt slides rearward when released, slides forward when in use!

Since rear passengers always load first and exit last, the belt restraints are never in the way.

Even putting infant seats in the rear was not a backbreaking chore, as it almost always is with coupes.

Now why didn't this solution occur to other coupe makers?

I have no idea, but I hope they feel free to copy.

In this view, note the shape of the door opening. The door is designed so it will not strike you in the head or crotch as you open it. Say what? Well, sure. Just look at a rear door on a Dodge Intrepid to see a crotch-banger shape. And look at any front door with an exagerated rearward top slant to see one that will someday smash you or yours in the forehead or mouth.

In this photo, observe that the center console, which nicely doubles as a right arm rest for the driver, is pulled up, out of the way for city shifting duties. In the first picture in this section, it is lowered in place. And it ratchets into a perfect position for any size driver. Again, every automaker should use adjustable armrests. Not one or two adjustments, either. Fully adjustable. As with this GTI.

The seats use a ratcheting height adjustment and can be configured in multiple ways. They are on the firm side, for maximum comfort on long trips, and have good lateral support for spirited driving. There's even an adjustable lumbar support.

The dash is dark and does not relfect onto the underside the windshield, as it does in so many cars. And it doesn't extend to infinity, either. You can actually reach objects you place up there.

A driver's line of sight is great. It's easy to ascertain where the front or rear of this GTI is, while driving or parking. It's easy to see an overhead traffic signal. And a 35-foot turning radius makes driving in tight quarters a breeze.

The praise here can and must go on: The steering wheel doesn't just raise and lower. It telescopes, as well. There are vanity mirrors in both sunshades, but lights to illuminate your face are not in shades (thus requiring precise adjustment), but in the roof! A better idea .. again. There's a sunroof, but it doesn't require a button to be held. It is opened and closed with a circular switch. Just twist to the desired position and the roof does the rest.

Everything really needed today is standard on this GTI. That includes essential air conditioning and cruise control. These aren't options, yet some automakers treat them that way, while advertising a low base price.

And there are unexpected features in a car of this price. Remember that the GTI bases under $20,000, well below the average new car cost today. How many cars at this price have one-touch down and up power windows? Use these once and you'll never accept any vehicle without that feature. Power down won't do. Power up is really appreciated as you pull away from a toll booth.

The windows -- and the sunroof -- reverse if a hand or dog's head should be in the way of the closing movement.

Also standard is remote keyless entry. Again, once you become used to this feature, you'll not accept any vehicle, at any price, without it. Run to your car in the rain and see how well you like fumbling with a key to open a door! But you don't have to spend $25,000 or more to get it. The GTI has keyless entry standard.

I'll admit I climbed into the rear seat expecting to find the usual problems: no head room, inadequate foot room. I was wrong. Head room is plentiful, and that can be attributed to the hatchback shape. Swoopy coupes often drop the rear roof right onto passengers' heads. Hatchbacks don't. Coupes have a rear window that can allow the sun to bake rear seat occupants. Hatchbacks don't have this problem either.

But it was foot room that surprised me most. Even with the front seats moved fully rearward, there was sufficient foot room. Far better than in a Jaguar XK8 or Mustang or Camaro or Monte Carlo -- or any two-door I can remember. Not only that, but the rear bench was reasonably comfortable. And it splits 60/40 to open more cargo space.

Lift the hatchback lid and a removable cargo shelf rises with it. The "third door" opens high, so heads won't be bumped. And space is plentiful for a week's worth of groceries. Need more space? Fold forward those rear seats and remove the cargo shelf that shields your valuables from passing eyes.

Look at the low liftover here. This assures easy loading and unloading of luggage on vacations or extended trips. And feel the quality of the material used in this area. No flimsy, chintzy plastic sides. No. This material has the feel of high quality.

Options on the test car, by the way, included the leather seats and 16-inch alloy sport wheels.

Among the toy model cars I've accumulated over the years is a VW hatchback like this one -- with a surfboard on its roof.

Perfect.

This is an ideal vehicle configuration for active young people. Bicycles, skis, surfboards, kayaks .. all can find a flat place on this GTI roof. They seem to fit there. Better than they do atop a swoopy coupe. Everything about this GTI says "I'm young and alive and like to have a good time."

After testing one, I'd add "And I'm damn smart about vehicle purchases, too."

There is no question that my lifestyle would dictate this over a coupe. It's for anyone with more than one friend. And it's more youthful in its appearance than, say, a Mom and Pop station wagon, another practical design returning to fashion. It will run circles around the declining-in-popularity sport utililties. Those will excel only in running up your gasoline credit card bill.

Here's your alternative: a fuel efficient (31 mpg on the highway), safe, great handling Pocket Rocket, with superior engineering and design, a practical bent, and youthful good looks. Major FUN. Under $20K.

If all cars in all categories exceled as this one does, you wouldn't need auto critics. Believe it.

'Nuff said.


Home, James