MarkVI Golf's ad campaign causing a stir, says Alastair Sloane
Volkswagen describes as "ballsy" the television advertisement for its new go-fast hatchback, the Golf GTi.
The ad first screens tomorrow night and shows the car doing stylised wheelies in what VW says is "clearly a controlled environment". It was made in Germany and spearheads VW's global campaign for the GTi.
But don't be surprised if it attracts some criticism in New Zealand and Australia, if only from those who think that such ads encourage boy racers.
BMW Australia had to withdraw its ad for the new two-door Z4 after a complaint. The same ad screens in New Zealand and shows a Z4 spreading different coloured paints by driving around on a warehouse floor. The Germans describe it as "art".
But the Advertising Standards Board across the ditch upheld a complaint that the ad would encourage "hoons" to "spin and burn their tyres on a public road" and ordered it taken off the air.
Something similar happened in Britain with the ad for the Mitsubishi Lancer, where crooner Dean Martin sings The Birds and the Bees over the top of a father driving the car while explaining the facts of life to his son.
Clearcast, the British advertising standards people, ruled that sexual innuendo throughout the ad could be seen as inappropriate for younger viewers and ordered it to be shown only after 9pm.
A grown-up woman in New Zealand went further. She rang Mitsubishi NZ's head office in Wellington to complain that it was offensive and should be taken off the air.
VW screened the GTi ad at the launch of the five-door flyer on the Pukekohe race track, 48 hours ago. The car still defines the hot hatchback segment, six generations and 33 years after the original MarkI set the standard.
VW has played it safe with the new model. It packs more power and technology but remains a subtle evolution of the outgoing MarkV car, with plenty of trademark design cues.
Up front, the honeycomb grille gets red pinstripes, mimicking the 1976 original, and the edgier nose is reminiscent of the Scirocco.
Wide-set foglights accentuate the car's width, as do twin exhausts sitting either side of the diffuser in the rear. VW set out to make the car's rear-end more appealing.
The ride height has been lowered 22mm at the front and 15mm at the rear, wrapping the wheel arches even more tightly around the standard 17-inch and optional 18-inch alloys.
Inside, the sports seats are trimmed in tartan - another salute to the 1976 original. Apart from the seats, the only other interior feature that confirms the car is indeed a GTi is the flat-bottomed steering wheel with its GTi logo.
Under the bonnet is a reworked version of the turbocharged 2-litre TSI engine in the MarkV GTi.
Modified pistons, uprated oil and fuel pumps, plus a new induction system, increase power by 8kW to 155kW, available between 5300-6200rpm. Peak torque of 280Nm is on tap between 1700-5200rpm.
All this oomph goes to the front wheels via a six-speed DSG (automatic/manual) gearbox and a differential with electronic lock-up to aid traction.
VW's optional Dynamic Chassis Control system, carried over from the Scirocco, offers drivers three different damper settings - Comfort, Normal and Sport.
One of the strengths of the GTi experience over the years has been the ride/handling compromise, where its spirited performance isn't marred by a hard ride or handling gremlins.
A brief run on the track shows the new model stays true to its five descendants.
The new GTi is chock-a-block with safety equipment, including up to nine airbags, and starts in price from $57,490, roughly $7500 up on the previous model.
