To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Volkswagen has prepped an Edition 25 version of its city-friendly Polo GTI hot hatch.
The GTI badge was first used on the Polo in 1998 with a limited edition of 3000 left-hand drive cars. These vehicles were powered by a 88kW 1.6-litre 16-valve four-cylinder engine, good for a 0-100km/h time of 9.1 seconds.
Today’s Polo GTI is a considerably brisker beast with its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine generating 152kW and 320Nm, and propelling the car to 100km/h in 6.5 seconds.
For the Edition 25, the engine is unchanged. It drives the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automated transmission, and the front axle comes with an electronic differential lock (XDS) as standard.
As with other Polo GTIs, the Edition 25 has a honeycomb pattern for its grille and air intakes, prominent red trim pieces, red brake calipers, and chrome-tipped tailpipes.
The Edition 25 raids the Polo GTI’s available equipment cabinet, and, as such, is fitted with the sports suspension package, which lowers the ride height by 15mm, and glossy black 18-inch “Adelaide” alloy wheels.
It’s also dressed up with a black roof and black wing mirror caps. Lighting comes courtesy of a LED matrix headlight array.
Ascot Grey has been added to the exterior paint choices, joining the standard Polo GTI colours of Pure White, Kings Red Metallic, Reef Blue Metallic, Smoke Grey Metallic and Deep Black Pearl Effect.
On the inside, the Edition 25 is distinguished by standard perforated leather seats in red and black featuring stitched GTI logos.
Exclusive items include “25” decals on the doors, a “25” badge on the third spoke of the leather-clad steering wheel, and sill plates emblazoned with the words “One of 2500”. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an individually numbered plaque anywhere on the car.
Production of the Polo GTI Edition 25 is limited to 2500, and is available for order now across Europe.
It’s not clear if the Edition 25 will make it to Australian showrooms, but if it does it will likely keep the 147kW engine and a six-speed dual-clutch transmission that are fitted to regular Australia-bound Polo GTIs on account of our low quality fuel.
