Last month we showed you exclusive design illustrations of VW's newest concept car headed for SEMA 2006, the R GTI. We had scant details at the time, but pleaded with the design team to gain access to the actual car. Through a combination of good luck and strategic bribery, we managed to pull off the impossible and get access ahead of everybody - even before VW had taken its own promotional photos.
We needed this head start because our publishing deadlines mean you won't see this until a few weeks after the car has been unveiled at SEMA, and yet we photographed it almost a month prior to that.
One of the reasons the car was finished so early was in order to compete in VW's SEMA Challenge - a track day and beauty show in which this R GTI will go head to head with a handful of tuner cars selected by VWoA to represent the brand at the SEMA show. Along with several of our sister publications, we've been invited to judge the cars based on performance and quality of modifications. You can read all about the Challenge next month and see how the R GTI stacked up against the tuners.
In the meantime, allow us to give you the inside story on this remarkable, satanic GTI. We sat down with VWoA Chief Designer Derek Jenkins as well as Abeng Halim, (responsible for the exterior and wheels) and Yuval Appelboum (designer of the interior and mirrors).
The story begins shortly after SEMA '05 where VW of America made its official debut at North America's largest aftermarket show. It brought three R GT concept cars - Jetta, Passat and Touareg - all boasting tasteful styling, twin-turbo 3.2 motors and 4WD (et 12/06, 1/06, 3/06, 7/06, 9/06).
After its triumphant debut, VW planned for another assault at SEMA '06. The design team had moved to its new Santa Monica, CA location and looked at the GTI as the next logical project. By March '06 the team had come up with a proposal to build two cars - a GTI and a Rabbit. The latter is a modern interpretation of Neuspeed's original Thunder Bunny. Based on the Mk5 Rabbit, it's a fun, affordable driving machine and we'll have more details in a future issue.
The R GTI would be VW's main weapon at SEMA '06 and would be the responsibility of the California design studio. Its stealth approach would be an evolution from last year, sporting similarly subdued paint and hexagonal ghost graphics, along with the four individual seats in the cabin.
"This was a calculated approach," Derek informed us. "This is no random styling exercise. In fact, we're creating a family of SEMA cars, where the latest has evolved from the previous. It's something no other manufacturer has considered; I'd like to look back in four years to see a lineage from the first car to the latest."
It was decided the SEMA '06 show car would build on the success of the '05 cars, but they wanted to take a slightly different approach. Whereas last year's cars offered no-compromise performance with twin-turbo 3.2 VR6 powerplants, DSG transmissions and 4WD, the '06 car would use off the shelf parts and be more accessible to the average enthusiast. "We wanted to retain the car's basic architecture," Derek told us, "so that meant FWD and the four cylinder engine. But we still wanted to maximize its performance and handling.
"Having decided to retain FWD, we knew grip would be a problem since our tuning partner, APR, was giving it plenty of power with its big turbo on the 2.0T. So we looked for a solution to the problem without applying another widebody conversion like the '05 Jetta R GT. We wanted this car to be subtler, more integrated.
"With its widebody the Jetta R GT had 265-section tires all round. We knew it was possible to fit the same 265s on the rear of the stock GTI, so we looked for a way to get the same on the front. And I think the solution we found works really well."
So what is the solution? Well, you might not realize it immediately but the front fenders have been flared 22mm on either side. It was then possible to fit 19x9s with 265/30s under each corner of the car. But the only way you'd detect this is how we did - check out the tire size on the sidewall, laugh in disbelief and try to figure out how they did it. The giveaway is the carbon fiber R logo on the front fenders, which helps you understand the R GTI has wider carbon fenders, painted to look factory.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves, Abeng explained how he spent almost three weeks in March designing 50 front end treatments and about 30 for the rear. "It was a challenge to produce an edgy design while retaining the existing lights and hood shape to maintain the GTI's DNA. We also wanted to evolve the R GT concept from SEMA '05 while incorporating VW's new look," Abeng said.
Derek expanded on this: "The current GTI has equal size openings in the upper and lower grilles, but the new cars coming from VW will have a larger lower section - a bigger mouth. The R GTI hints at new cars like the Scirocco and the GTI facelift in a few years. So the R GTI will make far more sense to people when they see the new product. After all, we're the OE and this design isn't random at all."
Abeng reiterated his thought process: "The Jetta R GT had twin-turbos and its two side-mount intercoolers called for two ducts in the front bumper, while the VR6 needed exhaust outlets on either side of the rear bumper. For the R GTI we have one large mouth for the front-mount intercooler and central exhaust tailpipes that emphasize the difference between these cars."
"Lightweight elements were very important to this car, " Derek told us. "The Jetta R GT was probably heavier after we'd finished, so once we'd improved the R GTI's traction, given it a new front end and evolved the SEMA themes, the next message we wanted to put across was weight saving. So there's lots of carbon fiber on the car, and plenty of matte finishes to give the impression of weight saving. The front and rear spoilers have floating lower elements that give the impression of light weight.
"It's all vacuum-bagged carbon with a satin finish to distinguish it from the metal panels. There's no filler in this car whatsoever; the hood, trunk, bumpers, fenders and sills are either exposed or painted carbon fiber. And then we saved additional weight with our race seats, brakes and wheels, which helped to achieve our goal.