Golf GTI have usually been The Supercars That Rule for we real(ish)-world folk.
Give me a mint Mk2 and I will do anything (anything) for you. I cherish/Tweet Mk1 sightings, would love a Mk6 and often browse Autotrader for cheap Mk5s.
OK, the Mk4 wasn’t ace, but still desirable because of its interior/steering wheel/wheels. I’m that obsessed, I even see the merit in the Mk3 (neon metallic green, please).
But I’m also a bit of an eco nut. An mpg obsessive. (Incidentally, I blame my Mk2 for this: it was my first car to have a trip computer.)
Although the Mk6 does 38.7mpg, and emits 170g/km CO2, that’s still too high for an everyday preacher like me. What to do?
Well, Volkswagen has a solution. Create a new sub-brand, infuse it with GTI-style marketing distinction, make it desirable and wantable in its own right – and continually develop and hone it as you go along.
Golf Bluemotion. The Golf GTI for greenies
Bluemotion is exactly that. Indeed, it is the longest running eco sub-brand (since joined by SEAT Ecomotive, Ford Econetic, Vauxhall ecoFlex… you get the idea). Like GTI, VW invented it as an engineering-led challenge-fest.
How eco, you imagine the tecchies musing, can we make a standard production hatchback? Without hybrids, new-gen engines or special techniquery demands?
The Polo Bluemotion was the first, soon followed by the ‘Mk1′ Golf Bluemotion (Mk5). Now, we’re on the ‘Mk2′ Golf Bluemotion, based on the Mk6 (with me?). It is this car I’m running as a long-termer.
It is this car that gets admiring glances thanks to its lowered suspension, its body styling aero tweaks, its characteristic Bluemotion blue paint.
Those in the know notice the badge on the grille, situated in the same position as many a GTI moniker. They’ll admire the wheels, but also be able to reel off the stats: 99g/km CO2, 74.3mpg. Up (and down!) from the 62.8mpg and 119g/km of the Mk1Mk5, you know. And it uses the EA111 1.6 TDI instead of the EA111 1.9 TDI. And it’s still mated to the 02J gearbox. And… etc…
All of this is GTI-style: the same things that attract there also apply here. That’s the beauty, see. A GTI uses efficiency to hone what’s there and create more speed. The Bluemotion does the same, but to yield more mpg.
It’s just that the route to both – lowered suspension, bespoke body and a new ‘That Badge’ – presses the same buttons for car fans who like their supercars hot hatch sized.
In the future, then, will the Bluemotion become The Supercar That Rules? There’s a thought. See, partly, it already does…
I have but one worry. Will this mean the Bluemotion badge is to be nicked off my Golf, as it was on the GTI?
+ Has hp had its day?
+ Nice dials, mate
+ BMW, you cheeky chaps, you
