GT5 Transcripts/Volkswagen Golf IV GTI '01

When the fourth-generation Golf rolled off the assembly lines in 1998, it was evident that Volkswagen decided to take its popular compact car in a new direction. Not only was the new car much larger in body size, it stood head and shoulders above its competition in terms of quality, eliciting some in the automotive media to describe it as being "equal to a premium car".
Two engines were available for the GTI version of the Golf IV. In its home market in Germany, the GTI received a normally-aspirated 1.8-liter DOHC inline-4 that produced 123 HP, while the Japanese market received a turbocharged version of this motor that pumped out 148 BHP/5,700 rpm. Notable was the engine's broad and flat torque curve that saw peak torque of 154.7 lb-ft produced from a low 1,750 rpm up to 4,650.
But perhaps an even bigger change in the GTI's character was its switch from an adolescent's hatchback to a more refined machine that gave it the feel of a GT car.
The car exhibited excellent stability as high speed along with its agility to squirt through traffic. This was a distinct change from previous generations of the GTI. Perhaps this is why Volkswagen later introduced an even more potent performance-oriented version of the Golf GTI called the R32.
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