What is GTI?
Volkswagen's performance badge, short for Grand Touring Injection, and the name most associated with the hot hatch.
GTI stands for Grand Touring Injection (Gran Turismo Injection in some tellings), and it is the badge Volkswagen puts on the performance version of a hatchback. It has been attached to the Golf since 1976, and the Golf GTI is the car most people mean when they say the word.
The original Mk1 Golf GTI is widely credited with defining the hot hatch: take an ordinary small hatchback, fit the bigger fuel-injected engine, stiffen and lower the suspension, add better brakes and seats, and leave the practicality alone. It was fast enough to matter, cheap enough to buy, and you could still fit the shopping in the back. Nearly every hot hatch since has followed that recipe.
The badge is not exclusive to Volkswagen. Peugeot used GTI on the 205 GTI, one of the few cars ever considered a serious rival to the Golf, and on later models like the 208. Suzuki, Toyota, and others have used it too. Within Volkswagen it sits alongside GLI (the same treatment applied to the Jetta sedan), GTD (the diesel version), and the more powerful all-wheel-drive R models.
