Five cylinders, arranged in a vee, banked 15 degrees apart. The "V5" is one of the strangest engines ever made. The Volkswagen Group pioneered the use of the auto industry’s now-standard engine ...

It took Volkswagen five years to get the Golf Mk4 hot hatchback right, after trying various powertrains in the VW Golf GTI and even experimenting with the unusual V5 to make the Golf a bit quirky.