How good is the 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI? While testing Wolfsburg’s latest pocket rocket on California’s notorious, twisty Route 1, I was picking fights with Ferraris.
Parked at a scenic Pacific overlook somewhere north of the Golden Gate Bridge, I heard a symphony of 12 cylinders blow by, waking me from my ocean reverie. Now here’s a test, I thought. Moments — and a bent speed limit — later I had caught up with the blood-red 1968 Ferrari 330 GT in a traffic clot on Route 1’s two-lane artery. California drivers instinctively know what to do when their mirrors suddenly fill with the prancing horse logo: Get out of the way.
Traffic scattered to the shoulder, and we were off. The skilled Ferrari driver clearly knew the terrain and we danced from corner to corner — shredding short straightaways, straightening out ess turns, dive-bombing hairpins — the front wheel-drive GTI effortlessly keeping pace with the rear-wheel drive Italian legend. After a few miles of this, my dance partner signaled to pull over.
“I wanted to find out how a VW could keep up with a Ferrari,” he said, smiling broadly.
2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI
2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI
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