It’s 1983, I’m 14 and I need a ride home from a buddy’s house. My buddy’s older brother volunteered to take me home and we hoped in his brand new, silver over red interior, 1983 Volkswagen GTI. He turned onto a twisty back lane and cranked up to 55mph! I couldn’t believe how this little car could corner and accelerate. I’ll never forget that he held a can of Coke in his right hand the whole time, steering with his left hand and shifting the golf ball shifter (waaaaah -snick – waaaah – snick – waaaaaah – snick -waaaaah) with just his pinky and ring finger. I’d never been in anything like it, and I made up my mind, someday, I have to have this car!
I’d been in some cool cars before then, including my baby sitter’s Fiat Brava, another buddy’s father’s Mercedes 6.9, my dad’s Opel 1900 4-speed wagon, but never had I felt that seat of the pants feeling before, that connection with the road, that feeling at one and the same time of high-strung lunacy and cold confidence. It felt like the perfect car to me, and so I began dreaming of someday having a GTI.
Well my 1981 Buick Skylark and 1979 Honda Accord were nothing like the GTI, but then in 1986 my sister got a brand new car, a 1986 Volkswagen Jetta GL with a 5-speed. It was awesome. Same rev-happy engine, same quick shifting 5-speed, same german gauges, even the same 4-spoke steering wheel! I had hope, all I had to do was wait two more years, and my dad would buy me a Volkswagen as well.
As we’ve covered here previously, that didn’t happen. Then life intervened. Twenty years later and I’d owned a Toyota, a Nissan, two BMWs (here and here), two Saabs (here and here), and a Mercedes, but still no VW of any type, much less a GTI. I nearly gave up, because over the years, the VW star had faded. I test drove a Jetta in 1993, and it was missing what I considered the fundamental VW-ness. Instead of being revy and tossable, it was bloated and buzzy. Instead of being no nonsense and straightforward, it felt cheap and as if stuff was going to start falling off immediately. The 1993 Toyota Corolla DX 5-speed I leased was way more like a VW than the VW. In 1999 or so, I borrowed my buddy’s GTI VR6 because I needed the roof rack to take my windsurfer to trade for my BMW, and I found my 1997 Maxima 5-speed to be faster and more fun to drive than his GTI, and noticed just how nose heavy the VR6 felt to me.
Then, in 2003, the headliner in my Mercedes fell, and I’d had enough of the maintenance. I estimated “normal” maintenance costs of an older car at about $3,000 per year, and I wondered, what reasonable car can I buy that would cost about the same monthly as my average maintenance cost.
I can’t really remember how I settled on the GTI 1.8T, but it must have been the car magazines. The consensus was that the 1.8T made all the difference in returning the balance to the GTI. It was nearly as powerful at the VR6, and significantly lighter. I looked up the True Market Value (TMV) on Edmunds.com and it said that people were paying $19,400 for a 2003 VW GTI 1.8T with 17″, sunroof and Monsoon sound system. I called up Stohlman VW in Tyson’s Corner VA and said to the salesperson, I’d like to buy a 2003 VW GTI 1.8T etc. in Blue for $19,400. He said we can’t sell it for that little. I said Edmunds TMV says that’s what others are paying. He said ok, let me ask my manager. That was it, they honored the price. I test drove a Subaru WRX to compare, but despite being faster, better handling, etc., the Subaru just didn’t fit me. It was boy racer, loud, cheap in the interior, and $5,000 – $6,000 more expensive. They gave me $4,500 for my Mercedes, VW had 1.9% financing for 60 months, and the deal was done, $282 per month.
So I bought the VW, and woooohooo, the feeling was back! What a contrast with the Mercedes. Where the Mercedes made me look like an old man, the VW made me feel 10 years younger. Where the Mercedes was solid, the VW was fast! And with 225 width tires (as compared to the 195s on the Mercedes), the VW handled the corners with gusto! Sure there was torque steer, but otherwise, it was an incredibly refined car!
In fact, I called it my Audi, because the way I spec’d it, it shared engine, transmission, suspension, chassis, wheel and tire size, steering wheel and key with the base model, fwd Audi TT. The wheelbase was about an inch longer and half an inch narrower than the TT, but the car was also about 50 lbs lighter than the TT and it sat 4 adults in comfort, or in my case, confortably held two car seats in the back seat for my two children under the age of 4.
In fact, the folding seat mechanism and the seatbelt were so well designed that it I could literally step into the back seat of the car to strap my children in to the car seats. The front seat would flip up and out of the way, and the seat belt would move completely out of the way and I could step into the back seat with both feet. A great design.
The VW was outfitted almost perfectly for me: a light and powerful engine, stick-shift, big wheels, manual seats, sport cloth, and a good sound system. Almost no extraneous equipment. As you can tell I loved the car!
Except that I hadn’t yet learned that I don’t like sunroofs. About 3 and half years later my car started to smell musty, and then a little worse than musty. I took a bit of time to figure out, but eventually I realized that my sunroof was draining into the car. Well it was about time for a change so I went back down to the VW dealer and got a 2007 Passat with a 6-speed stick and no sunroof for the same monthly payment.
I spent quite a while with a 2 litre Mk4 Golf. Very enjoyable car, not a GTi and with auto, but your description of the driving experience and pleasurable dynamics mirrors mine.
My younger brother had an 83 VW Gti… Silver w/ blue interior, just like the one in the above pic.
He got it, after he brought back his black/gold 82 Trans Am… What a problematic car, that was… Very fast with the 350, although.
The Gti was very agile, and quick and handled like a slot car… This was back around 1987-88, so the car was fairly recent.
He drove it all the way to Fort Bragg, NC, for basic training, and sold it for only $1000… To buy an 89 Mustang 5.0 Fox body notchback.
He regrets selling that VW, so cheap, to this day.
In the mid-late 70s a co-worker offered me an unaccompanied “test drive” in his near new Rabbit. As the owner of a near new 76 Pinto and a big car nut I jumped at the offer. As the British might say, the Pinto and Rabbit were as alike as chalk and cheese. After a new Vega and new Pinto (and rattly old Volvo PV544), that Rabbit was a higher level of sophistication as a car.
I nearly replaced my 97 Civic DX coupe with a 07 Golf GTi last week…..until I discovered the Golf had an automatic transmission. In my area (any area?) GTis are few and far between with a manual transmission.
Sad contrast, to the original 1983 Mk I VW GTi… You couldn’t get them in automatic, only manual. 🙁
It doesn’t feel like a TRUE performance car, without the stick shift and a clutch pedal.
Nice car, Matt. Perfect rim- and tire size, a dark color and for the rest as clean as a whistle. No redundant plastic claddings, just perfect as it is.
Right now there’s a very rich choice of B- and C-segment hot hatches. Of course loaded with electronic nannies these days, but also loaded with horsepower. Around 200 hp for the B-segment cars and 250 to 300 hp on average for the C-segment hatchbacks. All brands offer them, even Skoda.
By the way, the successor of the VW Golf GTI Mk1 was not the Golf GTI Mk2 but the car below. It has become as much as a legend as Volkswagen’s first Gran Turismo Iniezione (IIRC Maserati used the letters GTI first).
The GTI was the car that got VW back on track in the early ’80’s. Your sunroof most likely just needed it’s drain tubes cleaned out. The mk 4 such as your GTI had it’s share of problems, but by 2003 many of them were fixed by the factory. The early ’80’s was when the formerly hot selling Diesels were losing their appeal. Then a couple of years later it was the mk2 Jetta, along with the VW Fox in ’87 that became the hot sellers. Then as these cars became long in tooth in the early ’90’s, the Mexico built mk3 appeared a year later then planned and the sales dropped as it became clear these cars had missed the mark. Too heavy and poorly built. How times have changed from when a 90hp 2100 lb car was the hot setup.
The GTI Mk1 lost 20 hp due to smog regulations ? Or gross/net ratings ? I remember that the GTI Mk1 was good for a healthy 110 hp. DIN hp, most likely.
90 hp net was all we got in the US. Lower compression, different cam, egr, catalytic converter, all took their toll. The cars were also a little heavier with stronger bumpers, door side beams, etc.
PSA pretty much owned the hot hatch segment poor old VW with its Golf was pretty much an also ran, you tried a Subaru Imprezza and found it handled better, a real shame you couldnt get your hands on a 306 or Xsara they eat Imprezzas in the twisties with comfort to burn.
Another hot hatch highlight I vividly remember was the 1993 Renault Clio Williams. A special edition of the Clio 16V, thanks to the fact that Williams-Renault won the 1992 Formula One championship. It had a 150 hp 2.0 liter engine. The Clio Williams weighed only 990 kg (2,183 lbs), so you can imagine that its performance was “adequate”.
I had a 2000 Mk4 VR6 – the European model, which had 204 bhp and AWD. Debadged, with pearlescent dark blue paint. Totally unnoticeable but would do anything you wanted, in any weather. I was very fond of it but it was a company car and when I was made redundant (laid off), I lost the car with the job.
I remember that double-folding front seat mechanism, but as much as it eased rear-seat access, I also recall that there was not nearly enough height under the front seat to slip your feet into, which made what would have been a roomy rear seat feel cramped.
As much as I love the current Mk7 GTI, I wish I could still get that burgundy velour color-keyed interior, and those auxiliary gauges in the console.
My Lincoln Mark VIII had the same problem–plenty of hip and knee room in the rear seat (albeit at a somewhat steep angle) but nowhere to put one’s feet as the front seats were quite low to the floor. It does ruin an otherwise roomy situation.
While I miss the days when you could get a car with several interior color choices (the 65-66 Mustang offered about 6 or 7 color choices AND a few in two-tone), that burgundy interior shown is a bit much. It looks like a 6 pack of fruit punch exploded in the front seat area. My 1980 Fiesta was red inside and out, but in my opinion looks better than the VW pictured because the complete dashboard was black. Besides, THE best Golf/Rabbit GTi interiors featured the plaid (tartan?) upholstery patterned seats.
Matt, thank you for posting this piece as it really helped me realize something about a big decision I just made. I had been deciding between a new 2015 Golf TSI (the Base model now) or waiting a few years and springing for a GTI. I ended up falling hard for a beautiful silk blue over tan 2 door TSI with a 5 speed and with the dealer incentives (even pre dieselgate) it just seemed to make more sense. I haven’t regretted my decision for a second and now reading your post has helped me understand why.
While it may seem that I have purchased a base model Golf, what I really purchased was closer to a brand new 2003 GTI 1.8T. While the suspension and small wheels may not allow it quite the same performance as your GTI it’s still really tossable and that 1.8T is a dream. I do wish mine had the neat trick seats like yours though, then it would be truly perfect.
“I estimated “normal” maintenance costs of an older car at about $3,000 per year”
$3k per year for maintenance? Egads. I don’t think I could bring myself to put anywhere near that into an older car inside of a year. My Crown Vic, which is approaching 20 years old, has cost me about $1500 total in the 3 years I’ve owned it. Definitely a good decision on your part, as one of the universal tenets of the “keep old car” versus “buy new car” decision is to move on when repair costs outweigh monthly payments, I guess I’ve just been lucky enough never to find myself in that situation.
I’ve also never owned a German car which may have something to do with it. Did look somewhat seriously at buying a Golf in 2004 but it ended up being out of my price range. Nice car though, so I can see why you enjoyed the GTi so much.
I personally figure that as long as I spend under $2k a year on repairs, it’s cheaper than leasing a new Civic, so I can justify it to my wife. The first year tends to be the worse, with a timing belt and water pump a must-do on older Volvos, and generally a set of tires, then after that, the costs taper off.
There’s also the perverse pride in watching mileage accumulate. My 97 Volvo just turned over 200,000 the other day and it’s become a challenge to see how far I can take it. I have never successfully gotten over 300k…had a BMW 528e at 298,500 and some nitwit pulled out of a side street and smacked it in the right front and totaled it.
I like the idea of modern VWs but still have bad memories of the nightmarish 2000 VW Beetle turbo my ex wife had…I knew it was a bad sign when the passenger window regulator broke the FIRST TIME we lowered that window. It only got worse from there.
Even $2k sounds high to me, but you’re right that it’s cheaper than just about any lease rate (I’ve very occasionally seen $159/mo “teaser” rates but that is almost certainly with a down payment, and on a stripper model to boot).
I’ve come to the realization, though, that I have been genetically conditioned to think of maintaining an older car as the norm and to possess a “drive it until it dies” mentality. Take the collective example of my parents: they have been driving for 48 and 49 years respectively. Between them they’ve owned, by my rough count, 18 cars. Of those 18 cars, precsiely three have been divested while still properly functioning. One sold, two passed along to me at times I needed transportation.
The other 15? One stolen, two written off in accidents, and a whopping 12 driven until effectively dead. Some had to be hauled off or sold for parts, a few were sold on cheaply or minimal value trade-ins with the knowledge that there were major problems and the cars would not pass inspection and were generally unsafe to drive.
This has informed my choices over the years, naturally, and it’s the sort of logical analysis that is why I’m still driving a ’97 Crown Vic that my wife despises and that I find desparately boring. However you can’t argue with the running costs!
Part of my situation is keeping my old beater looking as good as possible, because my bride is already unenthused about my car choice, and the better it looks, the less it bugs her. Wash, wax,leather conditioner, tire goop every weekend, keep the windows clean inside and out, make it smell good.
Clay Cooley Nissan advertises $97 Sentra S leases deals with $2000 down, but then you have to contend with mileage limits, worry about every little ding and dent, higher insurance (full coverage) and being seen in stripper Sentra….and the shame of having a Clay Cooley sticker on the car…everybody will think I have bad credit.