Hot new 503 hp Volkswagen GTI Roadster to make N.A. debut in LA

Volkswagen Golf GTI fans will get to see the 503hp GTI Roadster show car that was originally created as a purely electronic CGI entity for the Sony PlayStation 3 "Gran Turismo 6.” It’s coming to the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be displayed for the first time in North America. Too bad this sports car is just a concept car and won’t ever likely be a production model.

First seen in Austria

The Volkswagen GTI Roadster was first unveiled at the Worthersee enthusiast festival in Austria in May. The concept sports car blurs the lines between the virtual world and the real world. The GTI Roadster uses the same Transverse Matrix (MQB) architecture that underpins the new Volkswagen Golf, Golf GTI, e-Golf, and Golf R models.

GTI Roadster specs

In the real world, the two-seat convertible GTI Roadster is a powerful example of a true sports car that GTI fans would like to get their hands on. It comes powered by a 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbocharged TSI engine that produces 503 horsepower and a neck-snapping 413 pound-feet of torque. VW says that 369 lb-ft of that torque is available from just 2,000 revs.

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All that power is mated to a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission and transferred to all four wheels via Volkswagen’s 4MOTION all-wheel-drive system. It rides on a 20-inch wheel-and-tire combination that sets this GTI convertible apart from the production GTI models. The two-seat sports car weights in at just 3,133 lbs. and is super fast with a 0-60 sprint time of 3.5 seconds and has a top track speed of 192 mph.

It’s not likely to see production

Because of production constraints like price and production costs the feasibility of this sports car ever making it to production is not likely. Volkswagen says, “The goal of the GTI Roadster was to push the Design Vision GTI concept to even greater extremes.”

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The spectacular Volkswagen GTI Roadster concept car makes its North America debut for the first time at the LA Auto Show. Even though it shares the same architecture that underpins the new Volkswagen Golf, Golf GTI, e-Golf, and Golf R models, don’t look for the two-seat convertible to make it to production.