New car news

14 April 2008 - 11:00

Rubber bullet

The VW Golf GTI Pirelli is back. Back like legwarmers. But better.

In a move that makes Top Gear implausibly happy, Volkswagen is reintroducing the GTI Pirelli just 25 years after the original.

Essentially a special edition of the already-limited-run Edition 30 (no, we're not complaining), the Pirelli gets an uprated version of the GTI's two-litre TFSI engine putting out 227bhp through a six-speed manual or VW's sorted DSG gearbox.

That'll see the Pirelli to 62mph in 6.8 seconds and on to 152mph - yep, exactly the same as the Edition 30.

Sadly, you won't see the classic P-pattern alloy wheels on the new Pirelli - instead, a new set of 18-inch five-spokes. Nice as they are, it's a trick missed, we fear.

You do, however, get P-Zero tyres, half-leather seats with tyre-tread imprint (faux tyre-tread imprint, we assume), and a nice Pirelli badge on the bootlid, all for the not-really-very-1980s price of £22,555.

OK, it's a bit of a classic-name cash-in, but we're still looking forward to the GTI Pirelli's arrival this June. We've got love for it, because it was born in the Eighties, the Eighties...