Volkswagen Golf GTD 2013 Road Test

John Slavin, Reviews Editor
Fri, 07 Jun 2013

Specification

Standard specification includes a sports body kit much like that seen on the GTI, but where the GTI has a red trim on the grille the GTD sports a chrome strip. The rest of the exterior styling is very similar to the GTI, with a honeycomb grille, LED rear lights with smoked lenses, a roof spoiler and chrome tailpipes. Wheel designs are slightly different, with 17-inch alloys as standard and the option of larger 18- or 19-inch designs. 

The cabin sports tartan seat upholstery like the GTI, as well as a 'golf-ball' style gear lever on manual cars. There's also a flat-bottomed steering wheel with multifunction controls. Standard gear includes Climatronic climate control, electric windows, a touchscreen audio interface, SD-card and AUX-in compatibility, electric parking brake with hill-hold and sporty aluminium pedal caps and footrest. 

Standard safety features include Automatic Post-Collision Braking, which automatically applies the brakes after an accident to reduce the chances of a second impact and pre-crash, which tensions seatbelts and closes windows/sunroof if an accident is likely to improve effectiveness of the airbags. 

Optional extras include lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, city emergency braking, park assist, a panoramic sunroof and Car Net, an upgraded infotainment system which can link to Google maps to show satellite based mapping and even street view. 

Wheels and tyres

GTD comes with 17-inch ‘Curbita’ alloy wheels with 225/45 tyres.