Wörthrsee is mecca for Volkswagen enthusiasts. Every year, VW fans flock to Lake Wörthersee to share their love and appreciation for the brand. Volkswagen lets its hair down a bit here and offers up some delightful concept vehicles. A number of these cars are designed and built by VW trainees, and this year is no exception. This year the youngsters brought a reworked Golf wagon and a heavily upgraded GTI.
A team from the Zwickau plant started with a fairly standard Golf Estate. Under the hood is a 1.5-liter TGI Evo 4-cylinder engine, otherwise known as the EA211 Evo. This mill runs on natural gas and develops 130 horsepower. Running solely on CNG, the car has a reported range of 305 miles. You can press that mileage farther with a standard fuel tank that adds 118 miles of range. The Golf Estate TGI Gmotion makes proper use of its power through a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox and it sends the power out to all four wheels.
The design team used a trio of Bentley colors on the exterior, in addition to the car's standard deep black pearl paint. Inside, the trim pieces boast a chrome painted finished while the sport seats feature red stitching, a sewn in honeycomb pattern, and Gmotion logos.
To help set this further apart from other Golf wagons, the Zwickau team bolted on a coilover suspension setup that drops the car 1.5 inches. The undertray had to be reworked to accommodate the all-wheel-drive setup, as did the exhaust.
Volkswagen Golf GTI Next Level
Looking quite a bit sportier than the wagon, the Wolfsburg crew brought its Golf GTI Next Level. The familiar 2.0-liter turbo-4 is under the hood, but now it's producing an eye-opening 405 horsepower. A subtle body kit works well to let the aggressive livery shine. Additionally, the forged aluminum wheels help round out the aggressive stance, while lending a handcrafted touch to the car. That's because those wheels, along with the rear diffuser and side foils, are all painted by hand.
Both cars will be at the Wörthersee Tour event, which kicks off Wednesday. Each will be shared with the many VW fans in attendance, and both cars offer an opportunity for a VW trainee to experience a wonderful moment in the spotlight. It's their hard work and dedication to a project that can put a smile on the face of many show goers.
Now if we can just convince Volkswagen brass to build a 405-horsepower GTI, then we can smile along with them.
