Deutsche Auto Parts, an official VW parts supplier, decided to see if it was possible to retrofit the Golf GTI with a rear-wheel drive system using only original VW parts. The result is seriously impressive!
Why bother? While you can redirect most of the torque to the rear end driving a Golf R or R32, both were still clearly meant to be FWD/AWD vehicles, rather than drift cars. It is a pity there is no purebred RWD Golf on the lineup, because its fan base sure seems big enough to warrant at least one version.
In the 20-minute long video, the team delves into detail on how the car was constructed and from what components. Among other things, the engine received a push to 500 hp (373 kW), and the rear differential was sourced from an R32. In the end, transmission proved to be the only weak point of the build – simply because VW had no suitable components for a high-powered rear-wheel-drive vehicle.
The test sees the Golf doing some impressive donuts before breaking down mere 20 seconds in – as expected, the transmission was the first to give way. Once repaired, it proceeded to amaze the spectators for a few solid minutes without any further issues.