Volkswagens share a lot of parts - the GTI branched off the Golf, which itself was third in the Beetle/Jetta/Golf/Audi TT family of cars - and one piece that has become VW's staple is the corporate 1.8-liter turbo 4-cylinder. Rated at 180 horsepower in the GTI's case, my most relevant memory was of this engine attempting to apply Newton's second law to a 3,601-pound Passat 4MOTION, without much success and even less satisfaction.
The engine is much more in character with the GTI. The two-stage feel of turbos is not to everyone's taste, but there's a big difference between adequate-or-fast (GTI) and adequate-or-asthmatic (Passat). If you can live with average grunt just off the line, you will be rewarded with the stellar mileage inherent to puny engines, such as the 30 MPG on my run (like nearly all turbo engines, this one's calibrated for premium fuel). The turbo is ready for your command by 1,900 RPM, and freeway passing power passes for adequate even in 5th. There's nothing that a 667-pound diet, ten extra horsepower, and manual transmission can't fix.
Some have griped that the manual transmission could use a fix. Adjectives like "ropy" and "poor-shifting" have been hurled at this 5-speeder. While it isn't sensuous enough to make you shift for shifting's sake, it's easy to find the next gear, the lever moves around firmly, and the light-enough clutch is easy to read. What can I say? I've had better and I've had worse.
The rest of the chassis has a communicative feel that's missing from key competitors. VW kept steering assist to low levels and set the shocks to medium. 70 MPH shows the tachometer spinning at a fairly relaxed 2,800 RPM. Overall, the package is an agreeable compromise except for our test car's optional low-profile 225/45ZR17 tires. No tire that's less than half as tall as it is wide makes a very effective filter, so bumps crash through the otherwise compliant suspension. On a cruddy freeway like the California/Nevada 15, the stereo fights it out with the droning road noise, scarring all passengers with an aural concussion. The harshness seems out of proportion to the civilized levels of wind and engine noise.
The payoff is the fairly high limit of grip before the GTI pushes its way short of a corner. That doesn't make it much more satisfying, and anyway, the GTI is only composed up to a limit: the point where its torsion-beam rear suspension has the car doing the infamous three-wheel dog-on-fire-hydrant impression that has cursed this chassis from the beginning. Driven under the influence of reason, however, the GTI is just good, clean fun.
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