Fahrenheit GTi: VW GTi Driven

Painting iconic colors onto an economy car essentially spells trouble since you’d be expecting on-road performance to match. Imagine seeing Championship White on a Civic 1.5 LX—you’d immediately be laughing your socks off seeing it putter to 100 km/h in 20 seconds. It’s even a bigger problem when the culprit of the right color/wrong car combination is the manufacturer itself. Take for instance this dreamy Volkswagen GTI Fahrenheit.

There’s nothing much to hate about this famous and locally unavailable hot hatchback: the turbo-charged 2.0-liter engine is zingy and enthusiastic and the interior is high-quality European stuff. Basically, the GTI is, at the very least, a likeable car, especially since it’s a cohesively designed and executed product. But what happens when Volkswagen decides to go The Fast and the Furious? The result is less than remarkable. Like the folks over at AMG or BMW’s M, Volkswagen should have showed restraint and made a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” type GTI Fahrenheit. Instead, it veered towards the “wild” factory-tuned car which is a tribute to bad taste (sorry, Porsche GT3 RS, you’re included here).

What makes the VW GTI such a good car and the VW GTI Fahrenheit such a dodgy one? For starters, the Fahrenheit is only available with a retina-burning Lava Orange paintjob, which VW proudly states is shared only with Lamborghini. And that’s the Fahrenheit’s first mistake: if you want to make a truly sporty car, don’t give it an attention grabbing paintjob, otherwise you’d be spending half the time evading the police. Thankfully, the GTI Fahrenheit is limited to 1,200 examples only—number 871 of which appears here. Besides the color, the result of the exterior is actually well-made and pleasing. The three-door layout is downright sporty and the 18-inch “Charleston” alloys are spot on. The GTI’s trademark red-surround mesh grille, large rear spoiler and twin exhaust tip all tick the correct boxes when it comes to sporty design.

A hop inside the Fahrenheit’s cabin reveals that there’s no escaping the garish Lamborghini color. The regular aluminum trim has been replaced by a bright orange plastic that mimics the exterior scheme; and it’s everywhere: the door consoles, steering wheel, hand brake lever—if you don’t like orange, you better steer clear of this one. Oddly enough though, the seats don’t contain any orange thread. On a limited edition model, VW should have gone the distance and given the GTI Fahrenheit either orange stitching on the black leather or perhaps a two-tone black/orange scheme. Apparently, VW has an excuse for this: since the Fahrenheit is a North American-only model, any changes to the seat including a new stitching design would mean that the car had to go through different certifications again—something VW wasn’t willing to do in this case.

Being a bit unfamiliar with a Volkswagen’s cabin, the first impression you’d get with the GTI is every bit as you’d expect from a German economy car: well-made, solidly constructed and sobering. With the exception of the aforementioned orange trim splashed around the cabin, sitting inside the GTI’s cabin feels like stepping into a black hole. Well, at least it comes with a standard moon roof if you want a bit of sunlight in. In addition, the GTI’s cabin is a sturdily built black hole—something you’ve come to expect from the Audi A3’s sibling. The three-spoke steering wheel is meaty and thick, providing a comfortable level of grip. There are steering wheel-mounted buttons too, but fiddling them takes more time because of its minute size. Equally challenging to use is the GTI’s audio system with all those various miniscule knobs all with singular functions. For example, instead of going through a menu system to adjust Bass or Treble, you have to look for the knob that specifically governs that control. VW’s system is good if you’re just at home wanting to get the perfect mix on your entertainment system; but it’s a pain when you’re creeping along Araneta Avenue.

The second mistake with the Volkswagen GTI Fahrenheit is its lack of heat under the hood. Though 200 horsepower and 280 Nm of torque are nothing to laugh at, being a limited edition model with a Lamborghini paint job, you’d come to expect a hell-raising performance. No such luck here. That said, the GTI is still extremely quick for an economy car. Think Subaru Impreza WRX, and you’re not far off. The exhaust note is deep and burbly, sporty even at idle. The steering and chassis are responsive, but they’re largely uncommunicative—surprising since this car is the latest iteration of the original European hot hatch. Despite the numb chassis though, it’s actually very compliant through Banawe, exhibiting little jarring and shake despite the low-profile tires.

Despite the lack of new horses under the hood, VW did give the GTI Fahrenheit one ace up its sleeve: the DSG twin-clutch gearbox. This easily more than makes up for its lack of horses, especially compared with the Impreza WRX. This robotized transmission is capable of shifting up and down faster than any human on a regular stick shift. This results in quicker acceleration times and quicker downshifts for the perfect overtaking maneuver. As an added bonus on the GTI Fahrenheit, paddle shifters are located on the steering wheel

All in all, the Volkswagen GTI Fahrenheit has the ingredients of a great car. The excellent drivetrain, classic exterior and solidly built interior are truly remarkable given the Fahrenheit’s asking price of US$ 27,665.00 (~ P 1,383,250.00). The fact that it comes fully loaded with stuff like the moon roof and full leather seating adds even more value. However, the fact that it’s only available with the orange paint job is really a turn off. In the end, it’s best to steer towards a regular GTI, pick your choice of color, tick the DSG gearbox option and slap a set of those dreamy 18-inch wheels. Now that’s one fun car!