Volkswagen just freshened-up the Golf GTi Cabriolet, offering an affordable, sharp-looking, sporty drop- top in the process.

Mind you, the facelift doesn’t bring a radical overhaul to the car’s design, but the subtle, revised visual cues make a whole lot of difference to the overall aspect of the model. With a sportier exterior, upgraded interior and new body colors, Volkswagen’s roofless compact car looks fresh.

Of course, the typical re-imagined GTi features sprinkled throughout the car (both inside and out) makes it seem even more performance-oriented – a trait underlined by the vehicle’s red-striped radiator grille with its honeycomb structure, red painted brake calipers, new bumpers and side sills, the new high-gloss diffuser, and the 17/18-inch wheels .

The interior was reworked as well, now boasting a new, leather-wrapped steering wheel (including gear knob and hand brake lever) that complements the classic checkered seat covers, or the optional leather upholstery with red accents.

Under the hood, things remained more or less the same. The new edition of the sporty convertible has exactly the same performance figures of the classic Golf GTi, which means the 2.0-litre 4-banger must cope with the 217 hp output. Still, that’s enough to take the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 6.9 seconds, while the sport chassis and electronic differential lock assures that the driver has a big grin on his face while driving.

The revised Golf GTi Cabriolet can be now ordered from Volkswagen dealers in Europe, with a starting price of €37,075 ($40,666) in Germany.

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