The VW GTI has officially entered middle age. To celebrate its birthday, VW is launching a special 40th anniversary limited edition of the hatchback called – you guessed it – Volkswagen Golf GTI 40th Anniversary Edition, which was announced on Tuesday.
You’ll be able to distinguish the special edition from the regular, garden-oriented GTI by a few distinctive design cues. The main and most obvious difference will be the outer color. While the special edition will come in four colors, two are unique to the 40th anniversary edition: Urano Gray and a classic GTI color, Tornado Red. The other two colors are Opal White Pearl and Pomelo Yellow Metallic.
In addition to the special colors, the 40th Anniversary Edition features other design tweaks such as a door sill with a distinctive “40” badging in a honeycomb-like design, plus an illuminated mesh panel with a red stripe on the top. there; 40th Anniversary’s signature black painted roof, black mirror caps. It rides on unique 19-inch gloss black wheels with red stripes, wrapped in summer performance tires borrowed from the non-US version. Golf GTI Clubsport 45.
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Inside there’s a “40” badge on the steering wheel, honeycomb interior accents, classic plaid cloth seats, and a golf ball-inspired knob for the shifter on manual models.
Those hoping for more power with this special edition are out of luck. The 40th-anniversary edition is powered by the same 2.0-turbocharged I4 with 241 and 273 lb-ft of torque as other GTIs. As in the standard GTI, you can pair that with either a six-speed manual or a seven-speed DSG transmission with VWs Tiptronic shifting.
While a lot of special edition cars break the bank, this one doesn’t seem to do that. Pricing for the 2023 VW Golf GTI 40th Anniversary Edition starts at $34,150 for the manual; the DSG will set you back $34,950 including a $1,095 destination fee.
If you want one, you’re going to have to act quickly though. VW is only making 1,500 of the 40th-anniversary edition divided up between manual and DSG models. It goes on sale later this year.
