Here's What Happens When You Race A Golf GTI Against A Chevy Bolt

In a race that pits internal combustion against the power of electricity, VW's hot hatch takes on Chevrolet's dinky EV
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We won’t spoil the outcome of these races, but two of the three are really, really close. The races demonstrate the performance potential of electric vehicles and their instant torque - as a sort of lower key equivalent of all those Tesla vs supercar videos that have been flooding YouTube over the last few years, this effort shows that even an EV at the less exciting end of the market can give a petrol-powered performance car what-for.

On paper, they’re strikingly similar: the pre-facelift Mk7 GTI is good for 217bhp and 258lb ft of torque, while the Bolt puts out 197bhp and 266lb ft. All of this tees up a fascinating real-world race.

Place your bets, then hit play…

Comments

Hoon the Galaxy

Quite a shocking result…

06/27/2017 - 14:19 |
11 | 3

This pun is so pun-ny

06/27/2017 - 14:33 |
2 | 1
Anonymous

JenstheGTIfreak (pizza) sorry bruh.
Electric Cars are taking over the world.
SEND HALP.

06/27/2017 - 14:24 |
3 | 0
Roadster / Tail Red

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Sending help

Unfortunately, help.exe ran into an unexpected error. Help could not be send

06/27/2017 - 14:54 |
3 | 0
JenstheGTIfreak (pizza)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Noo, GTI is more fun though definetly

06/27/2017 - 16:04 |
5 | 0
DJ N

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yeah, this “electric evolution” is moving forward a whole lot faster than I expected. Why can’t we get all “normal” people to drive EV and all the petrolheads get the gasoline?! That would be perfect…I suppose

06/27/2017 - 21:15 |
1 | 0
Tomislav Celić

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

#EVMASTERRACE

06/27/2017 - 22:35 |
1 | 2
Roadster / Tail Red

Matt Robinson You made a typo in the title. Pretty sure it should say Bolt instead of Volt

06/27/2017 - 14:24 |
28 | 1

I think that says something about how much we actually care about the car

06/27/2017 - 14:48 |
24 | 0
Anonymous

Considering the Chevy jumped the first start, lost the second, is hideous, costs slightly more and in any other ‘race’ (involving corners) would show its weight and slight power deficit, it didn’t really ‘give the GTi what for’.

Impressive torque, and electric cars are slowly getting there, but still, I’d take the GTI

06/27/2017 - 14:55 |
25 | 1
FUGL_S60 (Tesla Lover 800)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It’s not that the Chevy jumped, the Chevy accelerates instantly like all electric cars and most hybrids while the GTI got turbo lag.

06/27/2017 - 14:58 |
8 | 1
FUGL_S60 (Tesla Lover 800)

Okay, I wanna race. Can either car handle my 5-Pot? I don’t think so. I don’t think either car can handle the guy watching them! =D
look at the mid/top right corner

06/27/2017 - 15:00 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Perhaps. Bolt is better than any other electric car in its class, but doesn’t it make more sense to put it against automatic (DSG) GTI? The manual GTI itself should be at least 1 second faster, given the driver knows how to shift properly.

06/27/2017 - 15:04 |
0 | 0
Poke

I think the GTI would have the better top end however I must say that the Bolt is bloody rapid off the line!

06/27/2017 - 15:16 |
0 | 0
SuperJimbo

The Golf with the performance pack would smoke that thing thanks to its fantastic LSD!

06/27/2017 - 15:19 |
0 | 0
SirJamjaxIsGoingAgain-PeaceOutChaps

The Bolt. Has. More. Power. Than. My. Dad’s. E-Klasse.

WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS BLOODY PLANET

06/27/2017 - 16:35 |
0 | 0

why does ur dad have a e-class when u are a bmw guy

06/28/2017 - 13:18 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I just know that all comments will be about why the GTI is a better choice. Let me check…..

Yeap! I win!

06/27/2017 - 18:03 |
0 | 0

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