VW Golf GTD Wagon Makes Us Swoon Ahead of Geneva Reveal

Now there'll be one more, and as you might have guessed, it comes from the Volkswagen Group.

At the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, VW will present the new Golf GTD Variant. And if you're wondering what it's all about, it's all right there in the name: those three letters tell us it's a performance diesel, and the Variant name tells us it's a wagon (which we'd more readily recognize as the SportWagen on this side of the Atlantic). So there you have it: a performance-oriented diesel wagon, but not one we're never likely to see on American roads.

If you ever did see one up close, though, you'd find a 2.0-liter turbodiesel four under the hood with 181 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque – enough to send this nimble oil tanker to 100 in 7.9 seconds, all the while returning over 4.43 L/100km (on the lenient European cycle, anyway).

Along with the engine, VW has thrown in other GTD performance-minded bits, including a sports suspension and progressive steering. Visual telltales include unique front and rear bumpers, grilles, 17-inch alloys, blacked-out roof rails, smoked taillight lenses and an interior with plaid sports seats, stainless steel pedals... the works.

European buyers will be able to enjoy all this and more while hauling all their stuff down the Autobahn, passing gas station after gas station in oil-burning bliss.