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The 1.8-litre TSI unit is super peppy and powerful
Performance – Under the hood of the Volkswagen GTI is the familiar 1.8-litre TSI petrol engine that is offered on the Skoda Octavia and Superb currently and was offered on the Audi A3 and A4 earlier. The engine has 189 horses and 250 Nm of twist and is mated to the infamous 7-speed DSG transmission. We have sampled this engine earlier on numerous occasions. The engine is super punchy right from the word go and the light weight of the GTI (compared to its bigger siblings) makes it super responsive. The low end is good and when the turbo kicks in, all hell breaks lose and the car accelerates very swiftly with 0-100 km/hr coming up in 7.2 seconds.
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The engine has way more than enough grunt for a hatchback
The TSI engine is splendid for sedate as well as aggressive driving
The mid-range is very punchy and the GTI revs freely right up to 6500 RPM without the action from the engine coming down. The engine is also very refined and the exhaust also sounds good at higher RPMs. The 7-speed gearbox is smooth and quick shifting. However, one thing I’ve always noticed with the DSG is that it gets a bit confused at low speeds. Also, when you’re going easy on the throttle, it has a tendency to upshift very quickly. S mode holds onto the revs while you also get a manual tiptronic mode along with paddle shifters. The TSI mill can be efficient up to the tune of 12-14 km/l if you drive the car sedately while hard driving makes the efficiency drop to 6-7 km/l.
