Volkswagen Gol MSi Tiptronic

[Inkriql]

Few know it, but there was a time in the development stage when the new Volkswagen Polo and Virtus were going to be called Gol and Voyage. The original idea of Project MQB-A0 was that these hatchbacks and sedans of Segment B (boy) be replaced, not coexist, as it finally happened.

However, there was a point in the cost analysis process in which VW had to make a difficult decision: the new Polo and Virtus were more expensive to produce than imagined and their selling price would be uncompetitive. Simply put: it would have been impossible to achieve prices similar to those veterans and amortized Gol and Voyage had. There the decision was made to stretch the life of the two older models and position the newcomers a little higher in price.

The Gol and Voyage, presented in 2008, gained a couple of years of unexpected life, but they will not be eternal. Volkswagen developed the MQB-A00 Platform (cheaper and simpler than the MQB-A0 of the Polo, which in turn is simpler than the MQB-A of Golf) and the final successor is expected to be presented in 2020 or 2021 (read plus).

To endure so far, VW made a final update on the Gol and Voyage. Last July, the MSi Tiptronic Gol that you are seeing here was released.

It is the usual Goal, but with the mechanics of the Polo, Virtus and T-Cross: 1.6 16v (110 hp and 155 Nm), with six-speed automatic transmission (Tiptronic, with torque converter). This version is offered only with Comfortline equipment level and one step is positioned above the other Gol, which continue to offer the old and well-known 1.6 8v (101 hp and 154 Nm). The Tiptronic box, in turn, evicted the unhappy and automated I-Motion from the Gol range.

So how is the Goal with Polo mechanics? The full critique of this true Missing Link will be published next week.