Volkswagen will give North American consumers their first real life look at the muscular Golf R 400 Concept at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Normally, we wouldn’t be so interested in a reheated presentation of a study that was displayed at the Beijing Auto Show and the Wörthersee meeting earlier this year, but the latest reports say that VW has green-lighted a production version to be revealed at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show next September.
This will be the most radical production version of the Golf to date and the hottest of hot hatches, featuring a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four with the “technical genes” of VW’s WRC racing engine churning out 400PS (394hp) or 102hp more than the Golf R.
It has a 4MOTION all-wheel drive system coupled to a six-speed manual that propel the wide body Golf 400 from zero to 62 mph (100km/h) in 3.9 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 173 mph (278km/h).
The motorsports-inspired edition weighs 1,420 kilograms (3,130 pounds) and has a body widened by 0.8 inches on each side to house the 19-inch wheels that are further outboard due to their larger wheel offset.
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