The new VW Golf GTi hatchback is more powerful and speedy than ever.
Volkswagen has named its most out-there Golf hatchback the GTi W12-650 - after the 12-cylinder bi-turbo engine wedged behind the front seats and the 650bhp (465kW) it delivers to the rear wheels.
The car, based on a 160mm-wider version of the standard three-door GTi bodyshell, is a bespoke
design study built by VW to mark the annual GTi festival in Worthersee, Austria.
The event, the biggest of its kind in Europe, began in 1982 and is a salute to everything Golf GTi, now in its fifth generation and celebrating its 30th anniversary.
VW says the W12-650 is the most powerful and fastest Golf it has produced, sprinting from zero to 100km/h in a claimed 3.7 seconds and on to a potential top speed of 327km/h (202mph). A 70mm lower ride height and under-floor aerodynamic aids, including a diffuser in place of a large rear wing, helps to keep the car pinned to the ground at high speeds, the company claims.
The W12-650 rides on 19-inch wheels styled to mimic the standard alloys on the Golf GTI but wrapped in special 235 front and 295 rear tyres.
At its heart is a compact, mid-mounted 6-litre W12 engine linked to a pair of turbochargers and driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox with manual mode.
The engine is mounted on an aluminium subframe and is cooled by side-mounted vents ahead of the rear wheels and an air scoop on the carbon-fibre roof. It is an evolution of the 48-valve unit fitted to the Phaeton saloon, effectively a pair of all-alloy narrow-angle V6 engines laid alongside each other.
The compact engine design - 513mm long, 715mm high, and 710mm wide - belies its boosted output of 465kW at 6000rpm and 750Nm of torque at 4500rpm.
That's roughly three times more oomph than the standard GTi and its turbocharged 150kW/280Nm 2-litre engine delivers.
The interior of the W12-650 has more attitude, too, with an assortment of new switchgear and gauges located behind the transparent flip-up switch guards.
