Finishing School; Sixth-gen VW GTI harks back to the original.(NEWS)

Byline: ROGER HART

When Volks-wagen hopped up a Golf back in 1976, it invented a niche that became known as the hot-hatchback segment. It's difficult now to think that 100 hp was hot, but it was. Hey, it was 1976polyester, John Travolta and the Bee Gees were hot, too.

With leisure suits now faded memories in old photos (whew), the sixth-generation VW Golf GTI that hits our shores this fall as a 2010 model remains a hot hatch that's very cool.

The new GTI made its formal U.S. debut at the New York auto show in April and is not the power player in the segment, if all you're counting is horsepower. No, the Mazdaspeed 3 with its 263 hp is the king; the new GTI makes 200 hp from its 2.0-liter turbocharged fourcylinder. But the GTI has the swagger of an innovator and benefits from decades of refinement.

It's correct to say that this new car has the same power as the outgoing fifth-gen model. What makes the new GTI worth talking about is the refinement that VW engineers have worked into the car's handling, as well as the updates to the interior and the exterior.

Unfortunately, U.S. buyers will not be able to get several of the features available on European-spec cars, such as dynamic chassis control, which allows for three settingscomfort, normal and sportof the shock absorbers. Other items, such as dynamic cruise control, also will not make it to the States. HID headlights, standard on the outgoing model, will be optional on the new car.

VW of America officials say they limited the standard-equipment list to keep down the cost of the three- or five-door hatch (the five-door is a $500 option). But the standard-feature list is long, so don't think that all of the models we get will be strippers. Official prices were not released at our initial test drive, but we expect the car to start at about $24,000, a relative bargain for such a sporty player.