If I were to ask you what the hottest hot hatchback in the world is, you'd probably tell me it was the new Honda Civic Type R, Golf GTi Clubsport S, or the Ford Focus RS. It's no lie that today's hot-hatchbacks have progressed to a point where you could almost refer to them as supercar-slayers. Certainly, if pitched against the supercars of 10 years ago around a twisting circuit, today's sophisticated hatches may find themselves victorious.

As hot as they all are however, a decade ago we saw the birth of a hot hatch like no other. Something that was filled with such undiluted fury, it was essentially a hypercar with a hatchback's body. I am of course talking about the craziness that is the Volkswagen Golf GTi W12-650.

The moment you hear the name, you're aware that its ingredients are so fire-spittingly furious, it's enough to demote today's hot hatches to barely lukewarm status. This was a Mark 5 Golf that was powered by the 6L Twin-Turbo W12 engine you'd normally find in a Bentley Continental GT. The 552bhp the Bentley produced however wasn't considered adequate for the Golf – so it was turned up to 641bhp!!

In an attempt to maximise traction off the line, VW did what Ferrari do nowadays on their turbocharged cars, and limited the torque in the lower gears. In 1st gear, only 50% of the torque was available; in 2nd gear, 60% was yours to play with; and it was only when you got into 3rd gear could you unleash every ounce of the 553lb-ft the engine had to offer – which was a lot.

Sat right on the rear axle, pushing the driven wheels into the ground, the sensationally powerful Bentley engine was enough to get the GTi to 0-60mph in 3.6 seconds and onwards to a top speed of 202mph. The position of the engine in the middle meant that the back seats had to be scrapped. But for all the extra speed, that sacrifice was near enough insignificant.

In an attempt to contain all that power, VW borrowed components from their group's extensive parts bin. The only gearbox they had that could handle the torque was a tiptronic offering from the Phaeton; the chassis was made up from bits of Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi R8; and the brakes also came from the Gallardo. That supercar-sophistication may, on paper, give people confidence in the car – but in truth, the GTi W12 contained its power about as well as Chernobyl contains its own radiation.

While pointing the car in a straight line, all was fine and well – but the moment you inched the steering wheel into a corner, you'd suddenly become acutely aware that the W12 has only two handling traits: massive understeer, or massive oversteer.

Ploughing off the road wasn't an accidental occurrence for which the driver was to blame – it was simply part of the cornering process. Crashing was a certainty that you had no choice in; the only thing you could influence was which direction you faced upon spearing into whatever lay in your trajectory.

By treating the controls with the delicacy you'd show towards a premature baby, you'd find yourself understeering in a manner which would lead you to believe the steering wheel wasn't connected to anything; step 1% beyond this level of gentleness however, and you'd suddenly fall victim to oversteer that no one could tame without the aid of superpowers.

Since the engine was situated right at the back of the car – and since it was a monstrously heavy lump with 12 cylinders and 2 turbochargers – it didn't take much encouragement for the inertia to overcome the rear axle's grip. Once it started to slide, what you did with the steering was of little significance. Lifting off the throttle invoked the engine to swing around more, and tickling the throttle gently resulting in the rear wheels spinning and throwing the back of the car out even further. In short, you were damned if you did, and you were damned if you didn't.

This car however wasn't built for circuit domination. In just 8 weeks, it was thrown together as a last minute gift for the good people of an annual Golf GTi festival in Austria. To these GTi enthusiasts, the W12 is arguably the ultimate pin-up GTi – a fact which isn't difficult to understand.

With that widened body designed to accommodate the air-intakes needed to both cool the engine and feed the turbochargers, it does underquestionably look about as fast as a Golf can look. But while it may look great for a Golf, for a supercar, it looks...well...like a Golf! And that's not exactly something you can brag about!

The GTi W12 was genuinely destined for production. Obviously, a production version would've needed to have handled significantly better, else # DieselGate would've been the second biggest scandal in VW's history next to # MyCarTriedToKillMeAt12mphGate. But while its existence as merely a concept that didn't get perfected is mildly deflating, it's hardly surprising that it didn't get made. I mean, it's not like there's many people in the world who'd want their supercar to go by the name "Volkswagen Golf".

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Written by: Angelo Uccello

Twitter: @AngeloUccello

Tribe: Speed Machines

Facebook: Speed Machines - DriveTribe

Photo Credits: Autoblog