English
Italian
Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR | Test Drive
The TCR transfers its racing DNA into a street legal counterpart, without distorting the origins of the car, but giving it a higher step on which exposing itself.
Words by Andrea Balti / Photos by Jay Tomei
After about eight years of honored career – it was 2012 – it’s time to say goodbye to the seventh generation’s Golf and let the deeply renewed Mark VIII to take the torch and continue on its fortunate journey, driving millions of people around the world and writing other fundamental pages for the brand. The Mk VII has been the natural evolution of the previous series, refining its design with more squared lines, more edges and a sober and at the same time functional interior, in perfect German style. Here you find exactly what you’re supposed to find and the same also applies to the sports versions, those that tickle driving enthusiasts, but that behind the wheel of a Golf – whether it is a GTI or the more powerful R that also has traction on all four wheels – they do not leave the family, their luggage and the practicality of a hatchback at home, something that has always been the benchmark with which everyone else had to deal.
And if in the so far 1976, without the slightest idea of what it would have caused, the first Golf GTI opened the doors to that segment that we now know as hot-hatches, this is the opportunity to retire the seventh generation with a special series, the most powerful road GTI ever produced, ready to celebrate its life and glory, as much as the successes of the same model racing in the TCR International Series and twice in front of everyone else. On the road, we know it very well, even if it may seem simpler, without fast laps, fights with opponents and surgical settings that chase the thousandth of a second, the matter is instead more complicated. Appropriate aspects such as driving fun and practicality have to join, but the Golf GTI is not new in this field and its swan song is that of a wild 290-horsepower missile. For such a special and significant car we needed a road that lived up to such momentum, that’s why we returned to one of our favorite places, the Gorges de Daluis.
The famous red rocks road is a joke of nature located about an hour from Nice. Suddenly, the rocky walls on the sides cease to have the appearance of any road and start getting tinged in dark red, a sort of maroon color accentuated also by the strong sun that today shines in the sky above our heads. If on one hand we admire the breathtaking panorama swallowed up first by the balconies overlooking the Var and then by the shrunken one-way tunnels, our Golf GTI TCR is certainly not one of those cars that needs to be asked twice when it is time to take advantage of the free road of a late midsummer morning. Touching an overall power that has nothing to envy to the most powerful Golf R, its 290 horses are in this case still distributed on the front axle only, which makes use of the fundamental support of a self-locking differential that allows you to better manage the power, delivered along a constant torque curve that reaches its maximum peak at 380 Nm. Turbo lag is almost imperceptible and in spite of what you can expect by stopping at the technical data sheet and the crazy power numbers of this TCR, the driving experience is anything but nervous.
Unlike the GTI Clubsport, for example, the TCR manages to bring together a power (even higher, ed) with a chassis capable of absorbing the roughness of the road and therefore gritting the teeth when you sink heavily on the gas. Thanks to the well-known driving modes to choose from, the TCR can in fact take you for a walk as a perfect family car, or become a weapon that runs along a virtual track, regardless of whether you throw all the power to the front wheels, the same ones that in every driving modes will set precise and lightning fast corner entries, especially through tight bends. In the most agitated moments it is logical to prefer that the 7-speed dual clutch DSG to be positioned in sequential mode, acting from the small plastic paddles behind the steering wheel and thus recalling the best ratio, both for taking advantage of the best number of revs, both for a better weight management.
Stopping the needle at just 1,410 kg and with a more refined frame than all the other performance-focused Golf driven so far, the TCR transfers its racing DNA into a street legal counterpart, without distorting the origins of the car, but giving it a higher step on which exposing itself. It is not a hardcore Golf, it is always suitable for a 360° coexistence and winks to the experienced car guys with small details such as the accentuated front and rear splitters, optional 19” rims and two small TCR decals on the sideskirts, this as long as you don’t want the most striking honeycomb design available on request. The tone of the double tailpipe has however left some doubts, because if idling seems ready to unleash fire and flames, as long as you don’t thrash it to the limiter, it sounds too subdued and does not reflect the incredible dynamic qualities it can boast with such ease.
I am swallowed by another tunnel and a few seconds later I am already out, almost blinded by the brightness difference and the glow that crashes on the hot asphalt below. The Pirelli P Zero always remain glued on the precise point where I had assumed to put them while approaching the bends. The steering wheel is very precise and there is not a moment in which you can criticized the choice to maintain this GTI with front-wheel drive only and in fact, within a few hours I am convinced that this is more fun than the more powerful and expensive R. Whatever the reason, in this moment I decide not to linger in pretentious thinking, what I care about is absorbing as much as possible from this incredible white bullet fired in the heart of the red Gorges. Known with pleasure that the self-locking diff does its excellent job even when the setting of a corner becomes more aggressive than usual, allowing a 0-100 kph in just 5.6 seconds and the possibility of staying in your lane even closing the turning radius. Wonderful.
If only there were a few more decibels I would have found myself in the middle of the perfect symphony and instead the 2-liter turbo is more dedicated to substance than to create drama. A point that is forgiven and that in the following bit that takes us up the Col de Crous and then towards Valberg shows how the TCR is able to increase the pace as soon as the road gains a few centimeters in width. If we were on a track I would also be able to reach a maximum speed of 260 per hour, obtained by removing the electronic limiter. I then decide to slow down and scroll through my head what I have experienced so far, appreciating the seats with dedicated pattern and finished with yet another racing appeal, as well as the comfort offered by a body capable to forget for a moment its thirst for curves and always ready to carry five people and their luggage from one place to another.
The character of the TCR is what makes a Golf GTI once again one of the undisputed queens of its segment. It is a further evolution of the GTI Mk VII.2, indeed it is much more and not only because it settles on powers until a decade ago not at all within the reach of any GTI, but because it shows how it is possible to bring together two distant aspects in one model. What does not change is the sincerity of its feedback and an always predictable behavior that does not undermine an inexperienced driver. That’s why Volkswagen doesn’t have to spend time thinking about how to dress yet another wonder of its list, because after all what amazes and keeps prevailing is under the dress, and in this case to bid farewell to the seventh and welcoming the eighth, they offer us an exciting swan song that can be yours from € 43,700.
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI TCR
Layout – front-engined, front wheel drive
Engine – 4 cylinder 1.984cc – turbo
Transmission – 7-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 290 hp @ 4.500 rpm
380 Nm @ 1.950 rpm
Weight – 1.410 kg
Acceleration – 5,6 sec.
Top Speed – 260 kph
Price – from € 43.700
Related tags to article
