Small Car. Big Power

For those of you in the know, your next car is here! For those of you who don’t know – pay very close attention because this is unlike any other hatchback you’ve ever come across…

- Dhruv Behl

My first experience with a GTI of any sort dates back to fifteen years ago – specifically, daybreak on the tight and twisty roads of the Malibu coast. The wide expanse of the Pacific in front of me was in the process of changing from a brooding black to a glittering golden as the first rays of the sun were bouncing off the waves. I was up at dawn to stretch the legs of a 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo – a formidable machine. As I apexed corners and powered out of narrow bends I happened to come up behind a white Mk1 Golf GTI. But it seems that the driver of this little Volkswagen didn’t much care for the pop-up headlights of the front-engined Porsche in his rear-view mirror, for he set off like a rabbit in search for a mate – Rabbit, by the way, was the name of the Golf in the US at the time. ‘Foolish little Volkswagen,’ I thought, ‘I’m in a Porsche,’ I thought. Well, as I tried to follow, I was all arms and elbows as I attempted to navigate this tricky coastal road in my hunt for the little Rabbit. But as I tried harder-and-harder, the white Volkswagen soon became nothing more than a speck in the distance. A few more corners, and he was gone! It was as simple as that. With my tail between my legs, I found the nearest point to turn around and headed home. Ever since then the GTI badge has evoked a sense of reverence and embarrassment in equal measure.