{"id":1781378,"date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1781378"},"modified":"2026-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:00:00","slug":"look-the-641bhp-mid-engined-twelve-cylinder-golf-gti-is-back-and-now-its-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1781378","title":{"rendered":"Look! The 641bhp, mid-engined twelve-cylinder Golf GTI is back, and now it\u2019s RED"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Back in May 2007, Volkswagen delivered a small missive notably devoid of bombast and theatrics that carried news of a car filled with both of those things. \u201cA unique design study.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a three-door Golf GTI married to a \u201cbespoke mid-mounted bi-turbo W12 650PS engine channelling drive to the rear wheels\u201d. And now, that unhinged twelve-cylinder hatch is back. And this time, it’s red.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It really has been nearly 20 years since the wildest \u2013 and fastest \u2013 Golf GTI ever created was unleashed by a company renowned for sensible, family-friendly cars, released from captivity in the year the Golf GTI celebrates 50 years.<\/p>\n

VW hasn\u2019t divulged any new details about the W12 650\u2019s reappearance, other than to join the GTI\u2019s 50th birthday party \u2013 alongside the other notably mad GTI concepts in the galleries below \u2013 but the salient points you\u2019ll likely remember.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Like its 6.0-litre W12 engine lifted out of Volkswagen\u2019s brilliantly over-engineered failure \u2013 the Phaeton<\/a> \u2013 and closely related to the one you\u2019d find in an old Bentley Continental GT. That W12 got two turbos, four valves per cylinder, 641bhp, and 553lb ft.<\/p>\n

Goodbye, 6.0-litre W12: one last ride in Bentley\u2019s 12-cylinder titan<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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All that power was delivered post-haste to the rear wheels and rear wheels alone via an extremely hardworking six-speed Tiptronic auto, to record a 0-62mph time of 3.7s and theoretical top speed of 201.8mph.<\/p>\n

It was lower. Much fatter to deal with that massive engine stuffed in the middle. Packed with underfloor aero to ensure it didn\u2019t take off and avoid the fitment of a rear wing. Filled with cooling scoops and vents and built from carbon fibre. It ran on 19s, too, which in 2026 feels somehow\u2026 quaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe GTI W12-650 is a bespoke design study built by Volkswagen to mark the annual GTI festival in Worthersee, Austria,\u201d said VW, presumably with a straight face, about a car incapable of keeping your face straight.<\/p>\n

As JC found out when he drove it a long, long time ago\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Volkswagen GTI Roadster<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Volkswagen Design Vision GTI<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in May 2007, Volkswagen delivered a small missive notably devoid of bombast and theatrics that carried news of a car filled with both of those things. \u201cA unique design study.\u201d It was a three-door Golf GTI married to a \u201cbespoke mid-mounted bi-turbo W12 650PS engine channelling drive to the rear wheels\u201d. And now, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1781378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1781378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}