Volkswagen’s bread and butter, the sixth-generation Golf only hit the streets in 2009 and just two years later, already details are leaking out on what to expect in the MK8 Golf when it debuts in 2016. More specifically, engine and mechanical details are leaking from Wolfsburg. Autocar is reporting that the next gen Volkswagen GTI will get a 20-hp boost over the current GTI.
For those doing the math, a 20-hp boost in the 2016 Volkswagen GTI would bring the GTI’s power ratings up from the current 200-hp, to 220-hp. Autocar is reporting that the power boost will come from minor changes in the current 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4. The most dramatic change to the engine will be the addition of a new valve lift system that was developed in conjunction with Audi. The next GTI and Golf R should also get new electronically controlled, mechanical locking differential so the future VW hot hatches can continue to put power down on the road.
In other engine news, Volkswagen’s Europe-only 1.4-liter ‘Twincharger’ I-4 will lose an appendage. The Twincharger, a compound-boost setup featuring both a supercharger and turbocharger, will lose the supercharger and soldier on with its single turbocharger. Autocar expects the new 1.4-liter turbo I-4 to produce around 150-hp. That engine will likely stay in Europe. As we reported in the August issue of Motor Trend, we’re also expecting Volkswagen to add a small sub-liter displacement diesel-electric plug-in hybrid into the 2016 Golf in Europe. We’re expecting the 0.8-liter diesel-electric hybrid powerplant to put out a combined 85-hp, which would work just fine in Europe, but wouldn’t do well in North America.
On the other side of the Atlantic, we’re expecting the MK8 2016 Golf to get some new engines as well. As we reported in the August issue of Motor Trend, we’re expecting the 2016 Golf to lose its aging 2.5-liter I-5. In its place, we’re expecting the future Golf to get a more refined direct-injected 1.8-liter I-4.
Autocar is also expecting the Golf Cabriolet R that was unveiled at Worthesee to see production. Don’t expect the Golf Cabriolet R to make its way to North America though; Volkswagen has a nasty habit of withholding some of its better offerings from the North American marketplace. Yes, Volkswagen we’re still bitter we don’t have the gorgeous Scirocco.
The 260-hp all-wheel drive convertible Golf R is apparently favored for production over the GTI Cabriolet because profit margins with a range-topping R Cabriolet would be higher than with a comparable GTI. Autocar expects the Golf Cabriolet R to debut before 2014, when the engine that it shares with the standard Golf R no longer meets European Union emissions standards. Reportedly VW won’t re-engineer the current Golf R engine to meet the new standards, and will instead use an up-rated version of the same turbocharged 2.0-liter from the current GTI in the next Golf R.
For more details on what to expect on the 2016 Volkswagen Golf, check out the Future Performance feature in the August issue of Motor Trend on your iPad today. Or if you’re one of the handful of people left that don’t own an iPad, you could do it the old fashioned way and buy the August issue of the print mag from your local newsstand, on-sale now.
