“228… 229… 230… 231… 232!”
The numbers moved slowly but they kept coming. I couldn’t tell though because my eyes were focused on the road ahead. It was marked with the occasional imposing truck, dented Skoda Octavia, or unwavering bridge support. My driving partner had his eye on our speedometer, however, because I had my foot flat down on the throttle pedal of the all-new 2014 Volkswagen GTD. Those numbers he was calling out were the kilometers per hour as we were exploring the speed limits of this little oil burner. The team at Volkswagen had told us earlier that the car had a max speed of 143 miles per hour, or 231 kilometers per hour.
We just hit 144 miles per hour… time to ease off that throttle a bit.
Volkswagen brought me here to show off its Not-For-US-Consumption GTD, and I drove it from Berlin to Wolfsburg. In that time, I drove it over twisting canyon roads, blasted across the Autobahn, and rambled through beautiful German villages. This car needs to come Stateside, and it needs to do so quickly. It’s everything an enthusiast could want in a daily-driver; it drives like a GTI, has a fantastic interior, and should get around 40 miles per gallon on the highway. It’s not here yet… but don’t fret because it should be here soon.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haDOt3cczTo[/youtube]
[Disclaimer: Volkswagen put me on a 747 and flew me to Germany. I ate a Pork knuckle from what may have been the largest pig to roam the Earth and had beer at a traditional brauhaus. It was my first time in Europe, and it was wunderbar.]
Lead image courtesy of Volkswagen. Speedo image courtesy of Jared Gall from Car and Driver (who stalled the GTD… watch the video all the way to the end, sorry Jared)
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