Volkswagen confirms Golf GTD

A DIESEL-POWERED hatch with a distinctly sporting flavour will arrive in Australia later this year when Volkswagen releases the Golf GTD.

Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Ms Anke Koeckler confirmed the GTD’s arrival in Australia at last week’s Golf Wagon launch.

“I can tell you today that we will launch that car in the second half of this year,” she said.

Ms Koeckler added that the GTD would be a distinctively ‘sporty’ model with styling cues taken from the Golf GTI.

The GTD will be sold as a five door, with the option of either DSG or manual transmission.

Ms Koeckler said the arrival of the GTD should not threaten Volkswagen’s volume seller and Golf flagship model, the Golf GTI, and it would not command a premium over the GTI five-door.

“The GTI is still the flagship,” she said.

The GTD will replace the short-lived Golf V GT Sport TDI sold here from mid-2007.

On sale since last year in Europe, the GTD is powered by a version of the old GT Sport TDI’s 2.0-litre twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel engine, delivering an identical 125kW of power at 4200rpm and 350Nm of torque from 1750 to 2500rpm.

As with the GTI, the GTD directs drive to the front wheels via either a six-speed manual or six-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox.

In six-speed manual guise, the 220km/h GTD’s 0-100km/h sprint-time takes 8.1 seconds. It can average 5.3L/100km, and CO2 emissions are said to be 139g/km. The six-speed DSG’s figures are a little higher for each category.

Unlike the old GT Sport TDI, the Mk6 Golf GTD boasts the same chassis tuning as the GTI – meaning that it sits 15mm closer to the ground, and includes the standard 17-inch alloy wheels/225-section tyre specification.

Visually, it is almost identical to the GTI, sharing the same headlights, bumper and grille, with only the chrome – instead of red paint – decorating the horizontal strips on the grille.