There’s something amazing about seeing an old hatchback beating some of the industry’s quickest performance vehicles down an airstrip. This VW Golf Mk2 is one of them.
The hot hatch, filmed at a recent drag racing event, has been made to look particularly purposeful thanks to the fitment of numerous carbon fiber exterior body panels. However, it is what is happening under the skin which makes this Golf particularly impressive.
Packed under the carbon hood is a tiny 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine pumping out an extraordinary 730 hp. Amazingly, all of that power is sent exclusively through the front wheels and the owner had enough confidence to line the car up against an Audi RS7, a modified Audi RS3, and an Audi R8 V10 Spyder.
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Unsurprisingly, the modified Golf struggles off the line compared to its all-wheel-drive counterparts. However, once it can start putting its power to the ground without spinning the front wheels into oblivion, it was able to claw back and out-accelerate all three creations from Ingolstadt, hitting a top speed of 273.34 km/h (169.84 mph) in the process.
It is not just old VW Golfs which are popular among those who like modifying and tuning their cars. More modern Golf models, in particular, the GTI and R variants, are adored by many tuning companies as their engines are able to handle huge amounts of huge with the right modifications. In the case of the Golf R, huge amounts of power combined with a potent all-wheel drive system and a DSG transmission can result in some insane performance.