VW Golf GTI EDITION 50 is the FASTEST production Volkswagen ever [Video]

The VW Golf GTI EDITION 50 will celebrate 50 years of the Golf GTI, and a pre-production model is the fastest VW model to have ever lapped the Nürburgring.

Next year, 2026, marks 50 years since the original Volkswagen Golf GTI launched, arguably claiming the title of the world’s first Hot Hatch so, as you’d probably expect, VW is delivering a celebration model – the VW Golf GTI EDITION 50.

It’s actually a whole year before the 50-year anniversary, but VW is ahead of the game and will be fully revealing the Golf GTI EDITION 50 at the Nurburgring next week (20 June), but ahead of that debut, they’ve been out setting a record for the celebration edition at the Nurburgring.

The record set is a bit niche – the fastest production VW – but the Edition 50 managed to crack it by posting a time of 7min 46.13sec, which was quicker than the AWD Golf R but slower than the FWD record-holding Honda Civic Type R by around 1.5 seconds.

VW isn’t saying how much power the Edition 50 has, but it seems likely it’ll match the Golf R 20 Years’ 328bhp, and appears to have been fitted with an optional Performance Pack and semi-slick Bridgestone rubber.

Benny Leuchter, who drove the GTI, said:

The new Golf GTI EDITION 50 is a statement with which Volkswagen expresses the pure GTI idea – the combination of superior drive power and highly precise chassis with front-wheel drive – more effectively than ever before. In technical terms, the car was the same as the version that will be sold in the future.

Volkswagen Golf GTI EDITION 50 Nurburgring Record Video