Is The 2021 VW Golf GTI The Hot Hatch To Buy With A 6-speed Manual?
2021 VW Golf GTI – So it all goes back to 1983. If you could believe that the original gti was produced, basically, volkswagen took their golf, which is that hatchback compact car still true to the same form and they added that little extra, something something that makes it extra performance oriented.
Even though years later, we’re at 2021, the seventh generation that’s, what mark seven means the seventh generation that same basic recipe. The special sauce is poured into the gta. Now what i love about it is that volkswagen has figured out a way to bring versatility practicality and sports car like handling into the small compact hatchback, calling it the hot hatch.
And what’s? Wonderful about a 2021 VW Golf GTI is that you could see it from a mile away. You could be on another planet and see a golf gti and know what it is. It’s that shape. That has been more of an evolution rather than a revolution.
Now i know many of us are waiting for that. Mark viii, more horsepower, increased design, increased technology, but is the mark seven? Should you be just pushing it aside? Have you been wanting on a hot hatch? Is this the one to get so i want to answer two questions with this review number one: should you be going out and get a mark, seven get it at a bargain basement price.
Or should you wait for that mark eight, but then, on top of it guess what the great news is. Hashtag save the manuals. We have a six-speed manual transmission in our gti. Should you go that manual route?
What You Have to Get From 2021 VW Golf GTI
Like, i said, the dimensions very, very compact, but wait until we get to the interior there’s, a ton of room when we start at the front of The business i love the headlight design, especially on the mark 7, the signature daytime running lamps have a nice illumination to them all led lighting and then what i thought was super smart.
Exterior
You see that red trim in there that is signature to the 2021 VW Golf GTI . They actually brought the trim from just the grille into the actual headlight housing. When we drop down, you have some flat black. I love the horizontal slots and you do have led lighting in there.
So it’s, not just a fake vent or something like that. You have your led fog, lamps love the way it extends out, but then it curves around into the bottom portion. You have this lower lip extension on each corner. All of this has been discovered to increase aerodynamic efficiency and give us some nice downforce, which is nice, as we come across the center stage, that volkswagen badge the people’s car. This is the people’s, hot hatch.
Look at the way they notch out the hood to go perfectly around the badging there. There’s, that gti badge. I was telling you about it:’s, always going to be bright red just because our gti is a bright red color. The badging in this red trim will stick to any 2021 VW Golf GTI, so that’s. A signature piece of the puzzle when it comes to what makes a gti a gti, but you’re gonna have a little bit of gloss black. All of this is fully functional.
I’m, even dig. I’m. Okay with the chrome i’m digging the chrome. It goes nice with the volkswagen badge. It’s, nothing too crazy and then, as you work, your way down same overall grill design, it’s flat black to take a better beating and it’s, fully functional and look at how they did that nice lower Lip extension now remember: gti is front-wheel drive.
If you need all-wheel drive, there is the golf r which is all-wheel drive, but let’s. Go ahead! Jump up onto this hood. What i love about german styling super clean, just a nice rise on each side goes cleanly into the a-pillar you don’t need anything else. If you want to bulge you’re going to have to look somewhere else, you’re, not getting a bulge on the 2021 VW Golf GTI, but hey, not everybody wants a bulge, but there are other brands out there to get your bulge on now.
When we come around the bend, look at our wheel and tire setup there’s been many different adaptations of wheels for the gti. This is an 18-inch wheel. I love the split spoke design. The nice machined aluminum look at how they took the red. The gti red trim put it around the volkswagen badge there and then remember a couple years ago. They decided to take the brakes off of the golf r, the calipers and bring it to the gti bright red with the 2021 VW Golf GTI badging.
You’re getting larger rotors and a limited slip differential the limited slip differential, especially on a front-wheel drive car, is worth its weight in gold and remember: if you want all-wheel drive, you can have it, but with the front-wheel drive, obviously it’s going to be Lighter but really nice wheel, design, 18-inch wheel if you’re wondering well joe what’s, the overall size of this wheel? You’re, basically looking at, like, i said that 18 inches in diameter, 225 on the width, and then you have a 40 series sidewall.
The great news about an 18 inch wheel tires are going to be cheaper and there’s. A greater variety of tires that you could swap out if you don’t like these bridge stones, so that’s. The good news now into the fender super clean.
You have your signature, 2021 VW Golf GTI badge on the side with the bright red. Just a little bit of chrome, but it pops out nicely you’re, going to get black mirror caps. Turn singles with the built-in led turn signals nice and slim. I dig the way they went flat black around the window frames. The one thing i’m – not digging, is why did they not take the remaining black paint from the bucket of paint that they were using up front and cover this whole roof? So you know what i’m gonna.
Do i’m gonna zonk it and i’m, not half zonking it! I’m, doing a full zonk, even though it’s, just half the roof that isn’t painted. You are going to get a super sized sunroof to let some of the sun’s rays in they did black out the shark fin antenna and the low roof spoiler. But we’ll, get more to that. When we get to the back, you do have color match door handles which are great and the flat black side. Sill extension, all the way to the rear tire flares out has a nice clean, look even the way they do the door for the fuel door here.
It just has a nice overall shape, great proportions, and then, when you get to the talent of the business, i love the way they do their tail lights, really clean design. You have that black low roof spoiler with a gurney flap extension. So you see this extra piece and i’m, going to have lori kind of spin around and show how this is actually on top of the roof spoiler. To give you that extra down force and the great news is it doesn’t create a lot of drag and then, when we get to the tail end of the business super duper clean.
The only thing i wish they would figure out a way is to get rid of this wiper and tuck it up underneath that spoiler, but other than that, your badging is the actual handle to open up the door. So you don’t have to worry about that. You do have the gti badging real, clean, nothing else and then, as we drop all the way down, you’re gonna get just a little bit of a flat black diffuser area. With your exhaust one exhaust pipe on each side round, cut nice bright, shiny, chrome, my only zonk is there’s.
This fake vent area, which i don’t know why they had to do that. Why not just leave it smooth? It looks great the way it’s kind of like a step diffuser, but it would have been nice to just have that nice and smooth and, like i said you, don’t, have a bulky handle like you find on some other Hatchbacks, it’s all right in the badging, but why don’t we pop the hood and see what’s powering our 2021 VW Golf GTI.
Interior
I love the german simplistic styling, so you’re, going to have this nice textured material up top, but a little bit of silver. It’s, not faux carbon fiber, which i’m happy to report. But it looks better than just like gloss black.
The armrest has some beautiful red contrast, stitching that’s, part of the gti package, of course, being a 2021 VW Golf GTI and then the door pocket there is felt line. So you’re, going to have a nice large area to put a bottle of mountain dew and you might be able to get a six inch cold cut.
Combo hold the pickles because you’re gonna get mustard all over the place, but the good news is, you won’t scratch your six inches and nobody wants to get their six inches scratched. Now, when you get to the dash soft touch material, like i said i love, this trim hides the fingerprints, the silver this has the fender premium sound system and then infotainment wise.
We’re, getting that eight inch infotainment system screen. Now, what’s nice is, is that it is kind of driver focus a little bit. You have, of course, your sirius xm apple carplay, android auto. We also remember have the dcc controls, so you could go into your different car, setups uh, with the status tire pressure all that.
But what’s even better, is guess what we have different modes. So i hit the mode button. We have normal sport, custom, eco and comfort. So when you go into the different modes, that’s, going to adjust everything from the suspension to the throttle, sensitivity, the steering that’s going to allow you to really take full charge of what you want to do with your golf Gti and then, of course, we even have our navigation.
As well, so you’re, getting all that technology in this gti the way that it’s, trimmed out now, as you work your way down, you do have your dual climate control, Which is great heated seats, no ventilated seats, but i’m okay.
Without the ventilated seats you could go autobahn trim and that will bring those. But i like the dual climate control, the knobs feel a little on the cheap side but, like i said, the readouts and everything look great. You have a little bit of gloss black open up the door. What do we have a nice cubby here? You could easily put two twinkies and you have a usbc charger port right there, which is real nice, and the great news is when you’re, not using it.
It closes up perfectly your start, stop button, and then this remember, when you were a kid and your parents said if their door to their room is closed, knock well, that’s because they were making the magic happen. This is exactly where you’re gonna make the magic happen. It’s, a slick, shifting, six-speed manual transmission. I love the way they use a golf ball design for the shift knob, but look how beautiful it is.
The brushed aluminum. Look nice shift boot with the red stitching on it and then what i’ll do. Is i’ll put it in reverse and the way that you do, that is you push down and over and then there’s? Our backup, camera and guess what the backup camera is hidden underneath the volkswagen badge you don’t have trajectory, but the great news is: it almost takes up all eight inches of the area which is great and then you take it out, and then There’s, your park, distance control, which is another nice feature, and we’ll x that out real easily around the shifter. 2021 VW Golf GTI
You do have a couple dead buttons, but nothing too crazy. You have your 12 volt. You have a good old-fashioned. E-Brake with some gloss black, you could actually slide the armrest, which is wonderful.
You do have your two cup holders here is your older style and there’s, a hair on me, uh, older style, key fob. The great news is you have that push button start, but just in case you do have the key. The switchblade key there’s, your buttons on the back easy to get to.
Of course, you got the red horn that makes a loud noise armrest semi-soft, lift that up, maybe a baseball. If you’re driving around with your pete rose, sign baseball that your dad gave you you might be able to keep it in there and there’s, some felt lining, but other than that, not a ton of room seats, though i Love the leather, the black, the red stitching, makes it pop nice bolstering and the way they did. 2021 VW Golf GTI
The design is really simple, but it looks great manual seat controls for the passenger. I have electric assist on the driver’s side, but i love the bolstering. I’m six feet tall, even with the sunroof, which i have the shade open plenty of head room in here plenty of room overall.
But why don’t you come over to the business end, because guess what i got a flat bottom steering wheel with your name on it all right guys. Here we are on the business side of things. You do have a nice aluminum sill plate with some red trim. My favorite part is right. There you get the three pedals, especially the happy pedal that clutch pedal there. All nice aluminum finish and a super size dead, pedal dead. Pedals, remember are important if you haven’t been listening.
One more time we’re gonna. Do this one from a roll second gear right around 3000 rpm on throttle. Here we go oh those brakes here we go yeah nice. I’m. Telling you this car is a ton of fun. Definitely does not disappoint everything inside the cabin is well sorted and getting to everything is very easy. 2021 VW Golf GTI
Specification
We got the hook popped. You do have one massive hydraulic hood strut underneath that hood tasteful engine cover. I, like the volkswagen badge you’re. Looking at that two-liter inline-four turbocharged engine, you’re looking at 228 horsepower 258 pound-feet of torque hours has a six-speed manual.
You can get that dsg, which is a dct automatic transmission. If you know how to dance on your twinkle toes zero to 60 is going to go by at around 5.8 seconds quarter mile 14.1 seconds at 101 miles an hour. Top speed is governed to 130 miles. An hour, the great news is, you’re, still going to get good mpgs 25 in the city 33, on the highway and, like i said you have that limited slip differential which is going to help get the power to the ground.
How much the 2021 VW Golf GTI Price?
You know i got a couple kids, but i still want to go. Have fun in the twisty bits i don’t need all-wheel drive, but this one seems like a lot of fun, especially with the manual transmission. How much is this one, so the way that 2021 VW Golf GTI is option is right around $34.000.