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This year's Goodwood Festival of Speed will play host to Volkswagen marking 60 years since it first began importing vehicles to the UK. To celebrate the milestone Volkswagen will showcase four of the most modern vehicles it currently produces.
Taking centre stage is the XL1 - officially the greenest car on sale today. Sitting at a very low 1,282mm tall the XL1 is powered by a two-cylinder 800cc diesel engine that works in conjunction with an electric motor. The result is a scarcely believable fuel economy figure of 313mpg; while CO2 emissions sit at 21g/km.
Going from one extreme to the other; sitting next to the super-frugal XL1 is the super-quick Polo WRC car. As well as being able to check out the current competition car up close festival goers will be able to see the Polo WRC car in action as it - along with the XL1 - tackles Goodwood's famous hillclimb.
To add a sense of normality to the stand, Volkswagen has brought along the latest Golf GTI and GTD. The latter features a 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine developing 184hp and a hefty 380Nm of torque while still returning an impressive 67.3mpg and just 109g/km of CO2.
Although it can't match the GTD in terms of fuel economy; the Golf GTI can certainly trump it in the power stakes. Power comes in at 230hp (in the Performance Edition), which gives a 0-62mph time of 6.4 seconds and a top speed of 155mph.
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The 20th annual Goodwood Festival of Speed runs from 12th-14th July 2013. For more information on the event please visit www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed.
James Giddings - 1 Jul 2013