Anthony Fongaro
by Anthony Fongaro – Photos via Volkswagen- 07/19/2021
As we know, Americans do not like hatchbacks. For some reason, Americans still associate hatchbacks as the cheaper alternative to the sedan. For this reason, automakers have had to transform their performance hatchbacks into performance sedans. Take Volkswagen. They had to transform the Jetta into a sedan version of their GTI. Thus the GLI was born. Since the go light is based on the Jetta, there were a few times when the Jetta itself felt cheaper compared to the Golf. This time around, things seem to be a little different.
When it comes to the GLI, Volkswagen took the same subtle design changes it made from the Golf to the GTI. Volkswagen designs their sporty cars to still be a bit discrete, and that’s the same with the GLI. At the front, you’ll see a revised front end with a red stripe bisecting the grille and a small GLI badge. My favorite part of the entire exterior is the two red surrounds for the front vents. The exterior is $395 Pure Gray which is as gray as gray can get. Included with this was the $595 Black Package which includes sharp 18-inch black wheels, roof, spoiler, and mirrors. Around the back has a GLI badge along with a very fake diffuser.
Hop inside, and you’ll find Titan black leather with heated and ventilated front seats. Volkswagen’s now standard steering wheel has those haptic feedback capacitive buttons for media and adaptive cruise control. In front of the driver is a digital driver’s display that’s multifunctional and can display a plethora of information. Since the GLI is based on the older Jetta, the GLI doesn’t suffer from what the new GTI suffers from, which is everything in the infotainment system. Physical buttons and knobs for the climate control are a breath of circulated air to see. VW’s infotainment system works well and is fast enough, but I would use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto with one of the two USB-C slots.
Still looking inside, there was some interesting and very cool red and black trim. Don’t worry, you won’t forget that this is a GLI. There is badging throughout the car, and I especially liked the seats. They were very comfortable and had some nice red piping. The rear seats were also heated and there’s ample room. The overall design is/was what Volkswagen makes/made. I say that because, although this isn’t the current design language for Volkswagen, it looks much better than the current vehicles such as the GTI. A few buttons alongside the automatic shifter include an automatic parking brake, drive select modes, the ability to turn off the stop/start system, and stability control.
Under the hood is a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four producing 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft. This is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. With front-wheel drive, the GLI gets from 0-60 MPH in about six seconds. There’s always plenty of power and the seven-speed transmission is plenty quick. You don’t feel the shifts unless you’re driving slow. Still, just put the drive select mode into Comfort and you’ll be fine driving on the roads of Chicago. Speaking of the driving modes, the GLI comes with DCC or dynamic chassis control. This brings what would just be Normal, Sport, and Individual into a Comfort and Eco mode. I was either in Comfort or Sport, depending on where I was driving.
Put the DCC into Sport, put the transmission into its manual mode, and the GLI starts to act like a sedan version of the GTI. It goes through the corners without a lot of understeers and feels playful. On the highway, just downshift once or twice and you’re on the powerband. Even driving like a hooligan, I received 24 MPG, with multiple times getting more than 28 MPG. In any situation, the GLI was a delight to drive. Small things such as the physical buttons and knobs for the climate control make driving easier. There may be haptic buttons on the steering wheel, but it isn’t hard to get used to them.
There’s only one trim for the GLI and that’s the fully-loaded Autobahn trim. This starts at $32,000 and includes leather seating, heated and ventilated seats, a panoramic roof, and the entire VW safety suite. Even at $34,000, this is a great deal. The GLI combines understated German looks with a quality interior and a powerful engine. Unlike other sporty vehicles (I’m looking at you, Hyundai Kona N), the GLI doesn’t sacrifice ride quality for fun. It’s a sporty sedan that doesn’t need to scream that it’s the performance model, instead making little differences to add up to the GLI. If you’re like many people that don’t like hatchbacks, look at the GLI. It’s basically the sedan version of the much-beloved GTI.
