With the GTS, this concept has been refined, so you can feast your eyes on a roof painted in black, side mirror housings in gloss black, striking 16-inch Rivazza alloy wheels in a grey metallic gloss finish, two-tone GTS side decals and a few other GTS-specific details. It is also offered in five colours; besides the Reflex Silver of our test unit, Pure white, Flash red, Sunset red and Pepper gray are also available.
Like the GT before it, this GTS boasts a slightly lowered ride (by 15 mm). It also gets 16x7J alloy wheels shod with some pretty wide (205/45) Bridgestone rubber. To drive, it has quite a different feel to a standard Vivo. It rolls much less in the corners and grip levels appear to be signficantly higher too. Consequently, it's a car that can corner with a surprising degree of exuberance. There's still not much feel from the steering wheel, but at least it is nicely weighted and pleasingly direct. A slight downside of the impressive dynamic showing is the ride quality. Due to the suspension's sporty setup, the going can get quite bumpy over poor surfaces.
In terms of performance, the news is not as positive. The GTS uses the same well-proven 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine as its Vivo siblings. The unit develops 77 kW and 155 Nm of torque, which is competitive with the smaller-capacity vehicles priced around it. So the performance is there. Unfortunately, you have work the engine quite hard to extract optimal performance, which wouldn't have been such a problem if only this powerplant wasn't so coarse. It's not particularly keen to rev and the sound it emits while doing so is somewhat pained.
The engine is mated with a 5-speed manual transmission that offers that typically Volkswagen "notchy" shift quality, which is loved by fans of the brand, but loathed by others. A potentially bigger problem (over an extended period of time) than the coarse engine could be the gear ratios. Yes, the short ratios give the GTS spirited sprint performance, but when you're not churning the 'box enthusiastically, the resultant engine drone can become tiresome. Cruising at around 120 kph in top gear results in quite a lot of engine noise in the cabin.
Standard features & comfort?
Rear legroom is acceptable for what the car is and proved more than enough to transport young children in comfort. The news is good in front, too. The driver gets a rake- and reach-adjustable steering wheel, as well as a height-adjustable seat. And it is quite surprising (given the age of the design), to note that the Vivo can teach modern rivals a thing or two about oddments storage. There is a convenient shelf that spans the width of the cabin underneath the fascia and a multitude of other smaller hidey holes.
Volkswagen has specified the Vivo GTS with a younger "enthusiast" in mind. As such, there is a definite focus on things that look and sound nice. Besides the aforementioned attractive interior trim, the star of the show for many will be the comprehensive sound system. It offers 6 speakers and Bluetooth, SD card and USB functionality from a neatly integrated interface.
Also included as standard are: front fog lamps, electric front windows, air-conditioning, power steering, dual front airbags and ABS with EBD. As is to be expected, there is no traction control. You also have to adjust the side mirrors manually, which is a bit of a pain. Cruise control can be specified at extra cost.
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