Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the GTI badges on a mark 4, when one has GTI wrote in silver and the other has a red I instead of silver.
Normally the easy way to check if it is a Diesel when not running (or overtaking and can't hear it) is to have a quick look at the exhaust pipe - they are hidden and curved down on VW diesels.... easy to check when looking at the badge.
The GTI means it is turbo. However, not all turbos have a GTI, some are just badged GTI, much like the 2.0 and 1.8 NA 16v engines.
It has nothing to do with being a diesel, unless badged TDI (etc), or on an anniversary Golf which were labled GTI. Also the 2.0 and 1.8 NA 16v engines were never available with a GTI badge.
Obviously people can just change the badges at thier own accord aswell.
Normally the easy way to check if it is a Diesel when not running (or overtaking and can't hear it) is to have a quick look at the exhaust pipe - they are hidden and curved down on VW diesels.... easy to check when looking at the badge.
as seraph has said, this question comes up many times and there is no answer except its completely random, whatever the dealer decided to stick on, I've got a turbo with silver gti, other people have 2.0 with gti
They're put on randomly by users and dealers but I think the accepted convention is that the red "I" is mean't to represent the more powerful version. eg. 2.0L GTI likely to have all silver badge, the 1.8T is likely to have a red "I" (or not, depending on how the dealer was feeling on that day!)
Anyway, it's all academic becasue people put them on randomly anyway!
Mine came out of the garage as GTI, and remember the press cars being like that at the time.
One other way i've been told to tell the difference between a turbo'd GTI (petrol or diesel) and a 2.0 GTI, is that the turbo'd ones have 3 headrests in the back and the others didn't
As they've all said,completely dependent on what the badges the dealer has at that time that are sort of right for the car.My Golf 1.8 20 valve N/A (not 16 valve as was mentioned) only has "1.8" on the tailgate and no GTi badges anywhere,yet I see the same model and year regularly that has only a "GTi" badge on it.
What all this basically means is that: The precise Germans have put certain aspects of their cars under the care of the Brits, who, God love us, just aren't as precise!
I think VW originally had a clear badging policy because earlier cars tended to be very consistently badged, but as mentioned above several times the dealers acquired a tendency to throw on random badges and owners will change them but generally...
GTI should denote a 1.8T or 150bhp tdi which can also be badged as TDI or GTI
Almost every early 1.8T will be badged GTI but you do see them badged as GTI, I've seen imports badged as 1.8T. I have also seen early 1.8 20v gtis badged as 1.8 20v, later 2.0 gtis are almost always badged as GTI or sometimes 2.0
Early tdis i,e 90bhp models tended to be badged TDI and 110bhp models TDI, later spec 100pd models tend to have TDI and almost every 130pd model will be badged TDI, not sure about the 115pd
Annis are all the same GTI silver with the different font.
...although the 115PD TDI was actually a 'GT', which was replaced with the 130PD engine in 2001. So it would of had the body coloured bump strips.
Generally, all TDI 150s were badged (and sold) as GTI's in the UK. Hence the BP Fuel campaign on their fuel pumps 'don't forget it's a diesel' and all that. Zee German's never badged their 150's as GTIs, and they were sold as 'Highlines', hence the all red 'TDI.'
Badges mean nothing though really, as they can be easily changed. I bought my mk4 150 Petrol 1.8T/AUM GTi from the dealer with an all silver GTi on the back. The one next to it on the lot (there were two black ones) had a Red I. Both identical...
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