- Originally created for Gran Turismo, the GTI Roadster was later brought to life.
- It has 503 horsepower from a twin-turbo V6 engine.
- Although a GTI, it has all-wheel drive like the Golf R.
Volkswagen is blowing 50 candles on the GTI’s birthday cake and revisiting some of the most amazing cars to carry the Grand Tourer Injection banner. Although smaller models such as Polo Super Mini and Dinky Lupo or above! The hot hatch has received treatment, three famous letters mainly associated with golf. As a side note, Wolfsburg also sold a Scirocco GTI for a while and even built a Passat GTI prototype.
After praising the bonkers W12 one-off earlier this week, a lesser-known GTI is being thrust back into the spotlight. Originally envisioned in 2014 as a virtual concept for Gran Turismo 6, the Golf GTI Roadster is back. You may remember the roofless two-seater finished in red or white, but for 2026, VW has painted it green. It will likely adopt the Golf GTI Edition 50’s exclusive dark moss green metallic finish.
While VW has generally played it safe with the Golf GTI’s design since its launch in 1976, that obviously wasn’t the case here. Based on the Mk7 but stripped of its roof and rear seats, the roadster received completely new bodywork, with reworked C-pillars as roll bars and doors that curved upwards like a supercar.
Photo by: Volkswagen
Honestly, there’s hardly any Golf DNA left in the design. From the hood vent to the large rear wing, the concept offers something more radical than the GTI, regardless of breed. With no intention of putting the car into production, VW dreamed big without worrying about regulatory compliance. The Roadster looked far more exotic than the 2009 Blue Sport, a mid-engined car that was sadly left on the cutting room floor.
The GTI never retained the front-engine layout and seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic, but that’s where the similarities with the road-going performance hatchback ended. While all GTIs are front-wheel drive, the roadster adopts an AWD setup similar to the flagship Golf R. The unique W12 concept mentioned earlier also broke with tradition by featuring a rear-wheel drive configuration.
Photo by: Volkswagen
Under the hood’s louvers sat a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine producing 503 hp and 413 lb-ft (560 Nm) of torque, which travels to 20-inch center-lock wheels. The Golf GTI Roadster can reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 192 mph (309 km/h). Thanks to the 4Motion setup, it was also a tenth of a second quicker to 62 mph than the W12 RWD monster, although the Bentley-powered Golf had a higher top speed: 201.8 mph (325 km/h).
You’d think cutting the roof off would save weight, but with AWD and a big V6, the concept wasn’t particularly light. It weighed 3,133 pounds (1,421 kg), making it slightly heavier than the three-door Golf GTI Mk7, the last generation to ditch the rear door. Larger brakes on both axles as well as matte 235/35 ZR20 front and 275/30 ZR20 rear tires also contribute to the higher curb weight.
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Source: Volkswagen
Motor1’s Tech: Let’s face it. VW is unlikely to ever make such an exotic Golf, but we hope for more such concepts. It’s interesting to see how an everyday compact hatchback can be transformed into something far more interesting, even if it’s just a one-off. While the GTI Roadster envisioned a future that never materialized, at least the regular hot hatch is still around.
When the concept broke cover 12 years ago, VW called it “the most spectacular GTI ever”. Fast forward to 2026, and that statement still holds, and it’s hard to imagine how Wolfsburg can top it. We’d be happy to see the Golf GTI get its manual gearbox back, but that’s a story for another day.
