Volkswagen GTI is four-door only for 2018

[Suarez™]

The sporty hatchback loses its two-door body

Volkswagen plans to kill the cool, less-expensive two-door version of its GTI. Announced at the same time as the Subaru-fighting Golf Alltrack, VW says it doesn’t think the GTI two-door makes enough sense to see it live through the short-term future.

To some, it might come as a surprise that VW still makes the two-door GTI, as it isn’t exactly commonplace on the street or at VW dealers. Ordering a two-door VW GTI involved, well, doing just that -- ordering one. The less-useful GTI was rare enough on dealer lots that you probably had to talk to a salesperson and get one built.

It makes sense that the four-door GTI takes the reins, as it follows the utilitarian hot hatch trend. More so, it closely follows the product planning for the top-Golf -- the Golf R. Unlike the Golf R, we doubt the GTI will ever ditch its manual gearbox.

While we’re sad to see VW GTI lose its two-door body, we can’t say we’re surprised. Sure, the two-door hot hatch shaved about $600 off the GTI's price tag, and added a bit of cool, but it sacrificed a lot of rear-seat convenience.