When you see a car with the ‘GTI’ badge, be it the VW Golf or Peugeot 308, you know that it means business. But with the automotive world gradually (For the most part) moving towards electric, the ‘I’ in ‘GTI’ (which stands for ‘Injection’, for fuel injection) doesn’t make too much sense any more. So how do you name a performance-oriented EV? For Volkswagen, it’s GTX – the X stands for crossing over to electric drive, apparently.
Say hello to the future of the GTI, the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX. But the funny thing is, this is actually not the first time the GTX suffix appeared on a Volkswagen model. Some 30-odd years ago, the German Manufacturer once made a Jetta GTX that was most definitely not electric powered. Anyway, we digress.
The main difference on the GTX variant is the addition of an extra motor on the front axle, which means the ID.4 GTX is all-wheel driven – a first for electric VW models. With the extra paws up front, total system power output is bumped up to 220 kW (295 hp) – though no mention of the new torque figures.
The extra power translates to a 0-100 km/h of 6.2 seconds (down from 8.5s), while the top speed has increased 20 km/h to an electronically-limited 180 km/h. For day-to-day driving, perhaps a more relevant performance figure is the 0-60 km/h acceleration, which VW says the ID.4 GTX can complete in 3.2 seconds.
The new powertrain is paired to the same 77 kWh battery pack from the standard ID.4, which on the GTX, gives it a 480 km range, per WLTP.
Despite the new additional electric motor up front, the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX will still stay in RWD mode for the most part of your regular daily drives to save electric juice. The front motors are only activated when the onboard sensors detect more traction is needed, or when the driver gives the car the full beans. VW says the switch from RWD to AWD is completed in a matter of milliseconds, and it’s so smooth that the driver won’t even notice it.
To mark it out from the normal ID.4, VW gave the GTX a couple of unique exterior features, including the tri-beam daytime-running lights on the faux air inlets up front, reworked bumpers, and fancy 3D tail lights at the rear that supposedly forms an ‘X’ with its light signature.
The interior of the GTX is also suitably (to some people, at least) spiced up, with the top of the dashboard wrapped in leatherette in a colour called “X-Blue”, contrasted by red accents that is synonymous with the previous GTI models.
The new Volkswagen ID.4 GTX will go on sale this summer in Europe, with a starting price tag of EUR50,415 (~RM248k) in Germany before the EUR7,500 subsidy. If you had a choice, would you take the new ID.4 GTX over the Golf GTI – which is still around EUR5,000 cheaper even with the EV subsidy? Let us know in the comments below!
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