Ahead of the Worthersee, the big Volkswagen car show in the Austrian Alps, Volkswagen is teasing its upcoming hyper hatch -- the GTI TCR. Based on the GTI that races in the TCR series, this GTI TCR sticks with its 2.0-liter turbocharged I4, but output jumps to 286 hp. That’s only six down ponies from the top-dog Golf R, but without the help of an all-wheel-drive system to put the power down.
Power travels to the front tires by way of a standard seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that feeds a locking front differential. There's also a special speed limiter that will let you hit a 164 mph top speed if you happen to have enough road.
All we have to go on are teasers right now, but we bet this GTI will borrow some styling cues from its race car inspiration. VW wasn’t clear about how many TCRs it plans on making, how much they'll cost or who will even be able to get the ultimate GTI, but we imagine those details will come out closer to its reveal on May 9 at Worthersee.
VW did say that it plans on launching the GTI TCR at the end of 2018. It’ll be interesting to see how this GTI compares to the similarly powered Honda Civic Type R. Regardless, we bet it will be a handful in the best ways.
