‘Unremovable’ filter preventing local launch of Golf 8.5 GTI and R

Ahead of the official South African launch of the facelift Golf 8.5 this week, Volkswagen provided a hint of why the local market will have to wait until 2027 for the arrival of the reworked GTI and R.

No 8.5 GTI or R

Announced as returning to South Africa last year after declining sales of the standard model resulted in the Golf 8 GTI and R being the sole derivatives offered, the Golf 8.5 officially made its debut at Volkswagen’s annual product Indaba in February powered by the stalwart 1.4 TSI engine.

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Offered in two trim levels; Life and R Line each with their own “+” denominators, the unit, also found in the new Tiguan, produces 110kW/250Nm and is paired to an eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox rather than the ubiquitous seven-speed DSG.

Priced from R580 900 to R668 100, the mono powerunit will be the sole option for the 8.5’s tenure in South Africa as a result of the newer European mills, including the 2.0 TSI of the GTI and R, being equipped with a specific filter that makes them unable to run on the country’s poor quality of unleaded.

Delay explained

Starting with the Golf 8.5, all engines are fitted with a new particle filter designed to reduce combustion engine emissions in Europe, but in a design different from that of the Golf 8.

Not able to be removed for South Africa, the delayed introduction of both variants will prevail until 2027, when the so-called Clean Fuels 2 Act comes into power.

A set of regulations meant to have been introduced in 2012 supporting a transition to cleaner fuels, the hoped-for approval would allow not only the introduction of the GTI and R, but also the mild-hybrid eTSI and plug-in hybrid eHybrid units

In addition, it would allow Volkswagen to sell the powerful Polo GTI locally. While produced exclusively in South Africa at the Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape, the local market GTI develops 147 kW versus the 152 kW produced by models destined for the Old Continent.

According to a Volkswagen presentation slide on the sides of the Indaba, the resulting issues of emissions prevails as the biggest hurdle preventing its sportiest models from being sold locally as the older 1.4 TSI had been designed without the filter and is therefore capable of running on the lower quality fuel.

As a further result of Wolfsburg’s investment into electric vehicles and slimming down of combustion engines, the current 2.0 TSI EA888 Evo 4 unit, used in the 8.5 GTI and R, cannot be used without the particle filter until the Clean Fuels 2 regulations became mandatory, reportedly, on 1 July 2027.

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