The Mk7 VW Golf has been a frustrating casting to collect, as every version we’ve seen has been ruined by ugly side graphics that come at the cost of any front or rear detailing. As a lover of clean cars and Volkswagens alike, this has annoyed me to no end. Luckily, it seems someone at Hot Wheels agrees because they have recently released this clean red version of the Mk7 Golf in an 8 pack, and are following it up with a blue recolor as well as a mostly clean dark blue version in the World Tour premium series.
As glad as I am to finally have a clean, detailed version of this casting, I was also immediately confused by it. When I opened up the packaging to look at those surprisingly nice rear details, I was greeted by an unexpected little badge that said GTI. What is that doing there?
What makes that GTI badge so weird is that the front bumper design on this casting is clearly that of the base Golf. The GTI version has the iconic honeycomb grille and three strakes running into its foglights, but this base Golf has the square grille design and no foglights. Regardless of trim, it’s great to see the newly detailed VW badge and headlights, though the headlight prints are not perfectly aligned on my example.
Hot Wheels has added the GTI’s distinctive blacked-out sunroof panel to the roof of the Golf, which is an interesting addition that we haven’t seen on any previous releases of this casting. Technically, this was an option on high-spec Golfs, though it was certainly much more common on GTIs and Golf Rs. The sunroof’s addition helps make this red release of this casting look far more realistic and complete than any version that came before it.
The back of this casting is where things get particularly confusing. As I mentioned, there is a GTI badge on the rear hatch, which hasn’t been present on previous releases of this casting, even the fully detailed Gulf premium version. Even the base of this casting identifies it as “Volkswagen Golf Mk7”. However, this casting’s base also features something surprising – split dual exhaust tips like the GTI. This surprised me so much that I had to go back and check the previous versions of this casting and sure enough, they had the same exhaust tip design. The base Mk7 Golf had a pair of exhaust tips on the left side, so why does the exhaust design not match the front bumper design? It’s as though this casting is confused about what car it’s supposed to be…even more so now that they’ve added that GTI badge!
None of this is to say I dislike this model – it’s actually my favorite release of the Mk7 Golf so far! I knew I had to track it down when I saw it was coming out, because I’ve always wished for a fully detailed Mk7 Golf/GTI in my collection. Hot hatches have been woefully underrepresented in the Hot Wheels lineup for years, so I’ll take every version I can get! Given how hard this red version was to track down in my area, I suspect I’m not the only one who wants to see more cars like this in the lineup, so keep an eye out for the upcoming light blue recolor of this model. I know I will.
diecastleno.com 
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