Talk about horsepower. You only have to stroke the gas pedal of the Volkswagen Golf GT and you're off through the gate like Medic Power. Most 1.4-litre cars need some whip for such pace along the Tai Tam Road, but the GT is eager on the outside and so responsive in the final stretch to the Shek O turn that I'm beginning to wonder whether this griffin's better value than its GTi stablemate at Hong Kong speeds.
GTi fans might disagree, yet they may also be the first to admit that the Golf GT is a further symptom of climate change in car design. Rising fuel prices, concerns about global warming, and increasing taxes on fuel consumption and emissions in key markets have forced marques to make cleaner and faster engines.
Porsche, for instance, has just added 50 horsepower to its new 3.6-litre GT2, yet improved its fuel efficiency by 15 per cent, to 12.5 litres per 100km. Marques such as Renault have also learned how to downsize this more fuel-efficient spark into smaller engines. BMW and PSA Peugeot collaborated to design a scaled-down 1.6-litre turbo Peugeot 207 GT that can sprint to 100km/h in 8.3 seconds and sip but 8.9 litres of petrol over 100km for a spew of just 166 grams of CO2 per kilometre.
Now VW has shrunk its petrol engines too, by corralling 170 horses into its block, courtesy of a TSI fuel-injection system that squirts and burns fuel so efficiently that some writers say it could compete with the diesels that dominate in Europe. The GT engine's secret is the combination of a supercharger for low revs and a turbocharger that kicks in at about 3,500rpm. It works well on the south side. A new charge pressure dial on the dashboard tells you how much turbo oomph you've got, but that seems to be a gimmick in Hong Kong's push and go. Anoraks might listen hard for the whine of the supercharger giving way to the whoosh of the turbo, but the transition's smooth and I don't feel any lag from the latter. Some western critics say the car hesitates at low revs in traffic, but the GT's as good as gold in Hong Kong's crawl.
Put your foot down further and the GT flies. Its little block wasn't named the 2006 International Engine of the Year for nothing, and VW's sprint claim of 100km/h in 7.7 seconds seem about right - a second faster to 100km/h than its 150hp, two-litre predecessor - thanks to a DSG gearbox. It changes gear faster than most people can and makes you seem a better driver, but its sure-fire smoothness could rob you of the pleasure of shifting to the sound of the VW's precocious little engine. Even so, the GT is a hottie for HK$249,000, with a top speed of 219km/h, a spew of 175gpk and a moderate thirst, at 9.6 litres per 100km in town.
When carsguide.news.com.au took a GT on a 500km run from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, the GT ran at a combined 8.4l/100km. But if the GT's rather too fast for the law on the Shek O Road, it's also worryingly quick for GTi fans.