Volkswagen Golf W12-650, when the small compact became a supercar

Brands rarely stray far from established rules and pre-set plans. The aim is to stay in the market and manage to attract the attention of buyers, while offering cars that suit their real needs of use. But from time to time they want to play with all of us and surprise us with some concept model that is quite striking. Or completely crazy, if they dare to break every mould.

Let me take you back to 2007, when Volkswagen was still far from the Dieselgate affair and wanted to show that it could do very spectacular things with powerful engines that lent themselves to great things. The German manufacturer’s idea was to fit a 6.0-litre W12 engine from a Bentley Continental GT, mounted longitudinally in the middle of the compact. This allowed the Golf to achieve a power output of 650 CV and a peak torque of 745 Nm, which was impressive for a car with the characteristics of a Golf.

But to reach that power, it could not rely on the chassis of a standard Golf, so work was done to keep that power and energy under control. Bear in mind that this engine propelled the prototype from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds, a figure that had not even been dreamed of for a car like this. Reaching 325 km/h is also not something a Volkswagen Golf, not even the most powerful and daring versions, could achieve.

Aesthetically, a large air intake dominated the front, and the floor of the car sat closer to the asphalt. It was also slightly reduced in size and ran on 295 mm tyres at the rear axle and 235 mm at the front. The massive power of this supercar-grade engine was transferred to the rear, which gave the driving experience a distinctive character. In short, a car that broke the mould, that was much more than a Golf GTI, but which only served to demonstrate that Volkswagen engineering was capable of wonders when given free rein.

Today, the brand’s intentions are more focused on electric cars and it seems to have forgotten these spectacularly curious cars in favour of electrifying new models and offering other features to drivers. This model will likely be sleeping in some company warehouse, waiting, perhaps, to be brought out at an exhibition to show that small cars also have character.

Technical specifications of this car

HatchbackVolkswagen Golf28 versions · from 24,450 €