(first posted 11/9/2015) Few cars symbolize their respective decades the way hot hatches symbolize the 1980s. The cars merged the economy car boom of the early part of the decade with the late-1980s performance renaissance – and Volkswagen’s GTI started the hot hatch trend with this car. But the GTI not only spawned a new market segment, it also signaled a major shift in Volkswagen’s own sales strategy. In all, this was one amazingly transformational car.
Our featured car is a 1983 model, the first year that the GTI was offered in North America. On its surface, the car resembles a standard Rabbit, with a few cosmetic enhancements. But the beauty of this car lies underneath, and its combination of lively power, agile handling and a reasonable price caused buyers to overlook the fact that it looked like a dated economy car. When it was clear that such a combination could sell well in the US, a new market niche was created. However, Volkswagen’s decision to offer its GTI in the North American market was made mostly out of desperation with otherwise sinking sales, in an attempt to generate some showroom buzz.
Volkswagen, of course, earned its reputation as a purveyor of inexpensive, durable cars with the Beetle. When the Beetle was replaced in the 1970s, VW executives had every reason to believe that its replacement would carry the torch for many years to come – and the company’s business model was built upon offering high-volume, cheap cars. For a while, it seemed as if the Beetle’s replacement would fulfill that expectation, but by the early 1980s, something clearly had gone wrong.
The Rabbit (Golf outside North America) was introduced to much fanfare in 1975 as Volkswagen’s high-volume economy car. But while its Beetle predecessor was able to carry on for decades with minimal upgrades, times had changed – namely because of a new factor: Japanese competition. The Japanese were able to build economy cars cheaper than German Volkswagen, and their short product cycles kept new cars and features pouring into dealerships. VW sales nosedived, and by 1980, for consumers, the Honda Civic was their new Beetle, not the Rabbit. Volkswagen was being pummeled: in 1970 VW held 6.7% of the US car market, but by 1982, that was down to around 2%.
For a while, it looked as if the diesel engine would be the Rabbit’s savior, as diesels became suddenly popular during the second energy crisis. In 1980 and 1981, most US Rabbit sales were diesels. However, the diesel market suddenly collapsed, and that left VW in a very tight spot. The Rabbit was its volume leader, but at 8 years old it was getting tired – and was priced higher than the Japanese competition. Something had to be done quickly to pump some interest into Volkswagen’s US model lineup. Fortunately, that answer was already being sold in Europe: a high-performance Rabbit.
Shortly after the Rabbit/Golf was introduced, European markets received a high performance GTI model, featuring a more powerful fuel injected engine (110 hp from 1588cc), a sport suspension, upgraded interior and blacked-out trim. While the GTI found an immediate following in Europe, VW of America did not bring a similar model to US shores.
Volkswagen proffered several reasons why it didn’t bring the GTI to North America – among them: difficulties with EPA certification and worries that a de-smogged GTI wouldn’t be a genuine performance car. But the most likely reason is that VW didn’t believe it needed to. The company had the Rabbit-based Scirocco for a performance car, and was otherwise content with its existing Rabbit lineup – as long as they were selling. But eventually, Volkswagen needed to inject some interest in its Rabbits, and the GTI was drafted to do the job.
When the GTI did debut in the US for 1983, it had several significant enhancements from the base Rabbit. Foremost was the 1.8-liter 90-hp fuel injected engine that featured redesigned cylinder heads and a higher compression ratio. In addition to the engine (bored out and 22% more powerful than the standard Rabbit’s), GTIs received a close-ratio 5-speed transmission, a free-flow exhaust, and a suspension featuring recalibrated struts, stiffer springs, and front and rear stabilizer bars. Clearly, this was a serious effort at a performance car.
The GTI could reach 60 mph in about 10 seconds – not noteworthy today, but impressive by 1983 standards, and the fastest Volkswagen made until that time. However, the car’s most compelling performance attribute was its handling. The unboosted steering provided exceptional feel, and the suspension components produced a rare combination of high capabilities and reasonable comfort. GTIs were literally cars that could be raced on the weekend, and then driven to work in perfect comfort the next day.
Everything meshed together in this car’s performance attributes, and its driving experience could be summed up in one word: Fun. After a decade of steadily vanishing fun, fun was back in cars, thanks to the GTI.
Visually, the car was still 90% Rabbit, but details suggested it was something more. A front air dam, fender flares, and 60-series tires on snowflake-pattern alloy wheels (from the Quantum) gave the car a more aggressive stance. Black-painted bumpers and trim, and subtle red GTI badges (the grille-mounted badge is missing on our featured car) completed the package. 1983 GTIs were available only in white, red, silver or black.
Inside, some GTIs received eye-poppingly vivid red (called cordovan in VW literature) upholstery, while others had a more subdued midnight blue interior. Less noticeable features included a newly designed steering wheel, full instrumentation, and a unique dimpled shift knob.
Our featured car is in very good condition. With the exception of an aftermarket pop-up sunroof, the car’s exterior is virtually unmodified from what it looked like when it was new.
On the interior, this car appears to have been re-upholstered, in matching red, though not in the original striped pattern (likely because the seating surfaces tended to wear quickly and the original fabric is now very difficult to find). Otherwise, only the addition of a newer stereo indicates the passage of time inside this car; it’s a very well-kempt survivor.
Volkswagen hit the sweet spot with the GTI. It was an immediate hit with buyers, and the company sold an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 US copies in 1983. Car enthusiasts had been suffering for most of the 1970s and early 1980s with a dearth of genuine performance cars, and when the GTI hit the scene it was almost a dream come true.
While at $8,000 to $9,000, it could hardly be considered cheap, a GTI was affordable enough to be an excellent buy for the high level of performance it offered. And although it was obviously a Rabbit, buyers didn’t seem to care; it was the performance, handling and Teutonic feel that drove customers to VW dealers’ door.
And that was Volkswagen’s epiphany. By 1983, the company realized that with high production costs (both in Germany and in VW’s ill-fated Pennsylvania plant where this car was produced), and unfavorable exchange rates, it could no longer hope to challenge the Japanese for high-volume cheap cars. But what VW could offer was German engineering and a European feel and design.
Buyers had a favorable impression of German design and engineering, and that was something the Japanese couldn’t match. The GTI proved quickly that where Volkswagen could succeed was with niche vehicles.
For several years after the GTI’s US introduction, Volkswagen ads frequently stressed the firm’s German heritage and engineering (the above ad is one of the first of this type, full of sarcastic references to German seriousness). Volkswagen found the ultimate niche in its own heritage – stressing its cars’ country of origin and the positive engineering attributes that went with it.
With its niche carved out by the GTI, Volkswagen charted its course through the rest of the decade, marketing itself as a mini-Mercedes or a Teutonic Toyota.
The GTI’s influence, though, didn’t stop with its own company. The concept of a high-performance hatchback was essentially new, and since the GTI was successful, the concept became irresistible to other carmakers. True, there were some similar concepts in the US before the GTI, but they were mostly graphics-and-fancy-trim packages, not genuine performance cars. The GTI changed all that.
What’s remarkable is that this car changed its own company’s strategy, it pioneered a new market segment, and it was only made for 2 years. The Rabbit itself was replaced by the 2nd generation Golf in 1985. The GTI, however, proved its worth and a GTI package transitioned to the new Golf platform.
Within a few years, many other hot hatches hit the US market. These cars merged fun, practicality and affordability – a combination that was highly successful in the late 1980s. Some models were better than others, but the segment became a major force in the affordable-sports market – and all of those cars owed their existence to the GTI’s initial success.
Ultimately, the hot hatch market was a flash in the pan; by the mid 1990s, its core of youthful budget-oriented buyers moved on to other vehicles. But one of the few survivors of this class was the GTI itself. Still made today and in its 7th generation, the new GTI is bigger and more powerful than the original, but remains one of the sole connections to the original hot hatch concept. The GTI virtually created a whole class of cars – and then outlived most of its eventual competitors.
Volkswagen intended for its 1983 GTI to fill a “bridge year” in its marketing strategy –maintaining customers’ interest until it would finally have redesigned cars for 1985. However, the car’s immediate success made it much more than a bridge; the GTI forged Volkswagen’s path forward.
The GTI served almost as a flagship for VW in North America – helping convince customers that Volkswagens were sophisticated enough to warrant additional cost over their Japanese competitors. It fulfilled this role perfectly.
Due to its influence both on its own manufacturer and on the US market in general, the Rabbit GTI was one of the most influential cars of the 1980s. The GTI was a fantastically well executed response to a marketplace dilemma; without it, VW would likely have had a dreadful decade in North America, and consumers may have missed out on the hot hatch phenomenon. Considering that the standard Rabbit was 8 years old and barely competitive by 1983, that’s quite an achievement.
that red dash has a very vauxhall / opel vibe about it
Not surprising. When VW opened the Westmoreland plant in ’78-79, they headhunted some designers from Oldsmobile to “Americanize” the Rabbit so you have the same mix of Detroit and German influence as on an Opel.
This is such a well put together package with just the right amount of appearance changes, at a time when the Rabbit was getting soft and the 1.7 engine seemed to be so much more lackluster than the earlier FI 1.6.
I have often wondered why the car was not faster. C&D tests of the early carb 4sp 1.5 Rabbit showed a slightly faster 0-60 time than the much later GTI. The GTI had gained 15 horsepower, a five speed, and extremely short gearing, and did not weigh much more. A mystery, and a lot of tests of all cars during that era seemed to have a lot of car to car variation.
Still a great influential car, actually aimed at the young. Thanks Eric for writing up this well preserved example.
I would guess that bigger wheels and tires are the culprit. It requires more power to turn a larger radius or greater weight, both of which were present in this wheel and tire package I believe…
A couple of points:
VW has (almost?) institutionalized poor marketing in the U.S. market. Europe gets all the “good” models and someone (VW of A?) deems those models “un necessary” or un marketable for the U.S….and they are always wrong. Audi suffers from this too.
Example? The U.S. got that “hairdresser’s car” the EOS, and not the current model of Scirroco. But then, the Eos probably has a higher profit margin.
By the mid 90s, the core market for this car moved to other vehicles….because the GTi had gotten big/heavy/expensive, and the aftermarket for it disappeared/went into hiding. It’s now considered as a “budget-priced” 3 series (or 2 series?) alternative.
With so many good cars at the price point of a NEW GTi, I am hard pressed to overlook VW’s very spotty rep for quality of assembly and dealer service. I’d rather have a Fiesta or Focus ST….and some money in my pocket.
I had an ’87 Jetta Carat, the top-end model with most of the bells and whistles including 4-wheel disc brakes and auto. That car was a joy to drive – when it was working right. Unfortunately, there were so many problems and quality issues along with the horrendous dealer service that it turned me off the VW brand forever.
The dash and interior layout of that GTI were very similar to my Jetta. Where the GTI had extra gauges in the lower console area, I had power window switches there.
Maybe my memories have clouded over 30+ years, but didn’t VWofA make a previous, yet feeble attempt at a sport-tuned version of the Rabbit/Golf?
I could swear I remember a reference to it in one of the car magazines that reviewed the GTI in ’83. It may have been called the “GT,” or something like that, but it was resoundingly panned.
There was a Rabbit S in 1982 that had most of the visuals of the 83 GTI but was a regular Rabbit under the skin. The GT came around 87 or 88 and was a somewhat decontented GTI but WAS available with 4 doors, so it found a bit of a market.
IIRC the Golf GT was a continuation of the ’85-86 8 valve GTI after the 16v was launched at a significantly higher price.
WRT to the Golf GT, they also left off a lot of the nice goodies of the former GTI, no trip computer, no rear discs and no sport seats. My brother had an ’87 GT that was the biggest POS ever. Mind you, he had lax maintenance habits and should have been driving a Toyota.
OTOH it was the first sporty Golf offered in America with four doors. The 5-door GTI wasn’t offered in America until the Mk5.
1981-82.
FWIW, there was a Rabbit GTI sold in Canada in the 1979-80 period that had most of the visuals of the Euro version with the standard engine.
See?
Specs
More specs
I remember the TV ad VW made to promote the GTI:
The best car commercial ever!
Yeah, say what you will about VWoA’s dealer network and marketing decisions, but they could undoubtedly make a great car advertisement. I still remember this ad 37 years after I first saw it – it was a sensation when it first aired. It probably did as much to make the GTI a hit in the US as the car itself.
Love these! In the spring of 1985, I was preparing to graduate from law school and trying to decide what would be my first new car. I had fallen in and out of love with several, and nothing was quite there for me. One day, I was out on a drive (I still remember precisely where) and I saw a silver Rabbit GTI going the other way. It was my Eureka moment, as I had completely forgotten about them.
I still regret that I was one year too late for the original, which I still consider the perfect hot hatch. I really enjoyed my 2 years with my Golf GTI (except for some of the service issues) but always felt like its personality had been dulled just a touch from the original.
Bravo for this comprehensive writeup.
I bought one the next year (’86 GTi) which I owned up to when I bought my present VW (actually sold the GTi in 2001). Despite it being in a minor accident a few years earlier (which totalled the car, mostly because of its age) I got body parts from a wrecking yard and a few friends help straighten the points on the body so the bolt holes would line up …I replaced hood, fender, radiator core support, and bumper bar (was able to reuse my bumper cover, black at the time, glad they hadn’t started painting bumpers back then) . I never got around to painting the panels to match the rest of the body (my own harlequin VW) but I still had lots of interested buyers, seems the ’86 had a slightly different engine and still CIS-E before they went to digifant injection, so lots of people seemed to be interested despite the obvious body work.
I had a ’78 Scirocco when the ’83 GTi came out, though I was definitely interested in the GTi, I wasn’t ready to give up the Scirocco, (only wanted 1 car at a time)…a few years later, a co-worker was giving up his newly purchased (less than 9 months old) ’86 GTi and I bought it from him. It was hard for me to sell the Scirocco (I did keep both cars a short while) but I did. The GTI did almost everything better than the Scirocco, but the Scirocco is still the favorite of the VWs I’ve owned (it was my first, now on my 3rd in a row). Still, I’m glad I bought the GTi at that time, it suited me well at the time).
The Golf and the GTi both look more significant each time we reassess the 1970s.
This car set standards in so many areas – design, build quality, performance, economy, use of diesel, even how it has evolved over 40 years that it can make a strong claim to being the most significant car in that period.
Sometimes, it’s hard to love a Golf (or other VWs), but always easy to respect one.
Build quality? Not in the US built versions!
In the UK and Europe it was, but like many other times since then they must have fed it with something before they Americanized it. As I’m sure Roger will also agree, it was extremely significant in creating the “hot hatch” market in Europe, which in many ways mirrored the US muscle car phenomenon of 20 years earlier: relatively cheap performance cars which eventually – on account of such availability to younger drivers – were pounded by insurance so as to make them unsalable to the original target crowd…
Nice writeup.
Why was a Golf a Golf everywhere but North America?
Even bigger question is why did they go back to Rabbit again?
Doesn’t VW know that Rabbits are evil? E.g. Watership Down, Monty Python’s Killer Rabbit, the Winnie-the-Pooh friend nobody wears tee-shirts for, plagues in Australia.
I don’t know for sure but heard that VW thought the name Golf would not be accepted in North America and be the brunt of jokes. Golf was a game, not a car back in those days.
If so, then it doesn’t explain why the UK got the Golf, no less a sport there than in America. I’m told that golf is less class-oriented in Britain than in America, even at St. Andrews.
I have come across a number of references to some limited edition Mk I Golfs being sold as Rabbits in France at some point in the early 1980s.
I found a copy of the below ad on a French Golf enthusiasts’ website (the site is on the ad itself), but I’ve seen others as well. Prior to seeing these ads, I assumed that Rabbits were only marketed as such in North America. I have no idea what the background story is.
When the GTI was first released here, I thought it was called the GT-One. Call me silly, but I was used to models having Roman numerals, and BMW lower-case i on their models. And there are FIA racing classes GT1, GT2, etc.
That’s not too bad, I knew someone who thought a Pontiac 6000 in the LE trim level was called a “GOOLIE”
A Pontiac 6000 SE would then be a goose!
In 1982, I bought a new Rabbit L. In the first week I had it, something fell out of the bottom and the shifter dropped thru the floor. Then the paint started flaking around the rear bumper supports and there was rust underneath. Then, the radio would start cutting out over bumps, and the dealer refused to replace it immediately, despite having one in the Parts Dept showcase. (Oh, that’s a display model, we can’t give you that!) This was right around the time my dad bought an Audi 5000 TD that was also a rolling nightmare.
The dealer was absolute pond scum, but then, aren’t all VW dealers?
I actually got a job selling cars for this same dealer
(did I mention they were pond scum), where my demo was an ’87 GTI. Now, that was fun, the only good part of working there.
I was a big enough chump, i mean fanboi, to buy an ’85 A2 Jetta, but used, not from Banner Motors in Saskatoon (long defunct). I’m glad me and my family are off VW-Audi now. It was a nasty, destructive addiction.
I remember a new ’81 US built Rabbit that was towed in after a short time, missing a rear wheel and brake drum. The axle nut had come off because the cotter pin was never installed at the factory.
The story I heard was VW picked the Westmoreland, PA location because it had the highest proportion of people with German ancestry, so they thought the workforce would have German working habits.
It didn’t work out too well for them.
Mike G.: That’s an old wives’ tale, or Internet legend, or something like that. 😉
The real reason is much more practical: In the 1960s, Chrysler Corp. started building an auto plant in Westmoreland County, Pa., because it was near the steel industry (mostly centered in Pittsburgh in those days) as well as railroads and the newly constructed Interstate 70.
And then Chrysler cratered in the early 1970s and never finished the plant, and VW swooped in and purchased it.
Google search for “Chrysler New Stanton”: http://bit.ly/1MO3U3Z
Awesome car! I’ve never owned a Rabbit or GTI, nor have I ever driven one, but I have ridden in both, and I found them more comfortable than they looked like they would be. I’ve always liked this generation Golf/Rabbit GTI.
VW offered the GTi in Canada YEARS before they offered it in the U.S.?
And this is/was the same car company that wanted to pass GM and Toyota in the U.S.? How will that ever happen if they keep making these dumb marketing moves?
BTW, I do admire and respect these cars, the company that builds them and the dealers that sell/service them? Nope.
And will we ever get the Polo or Polo GTi? Probably not.
There’s a Polo GTI too? Mexico gets the Polo, but the US never did. Sometimes I’ll see unusual Mexican-market cars driving around Tucson (maybe they like shopping here), but usually, Sonorans seem to like American SUVs.
The first “hot” VW Polo was the Polo Coupe G40, 115 hp (2nd gen Polo).
The current Polo GTI has a 192 hp 1.8 TSI engine. Around 200 hp, the norm for B-segment hot hatches these days.
Actually it was more like the Rabbit S. GTI look but stock regular Rabbit drivetrain.
Not sure why, but in Canada, we got German Rabbits including the GTI (minus an engine upgrade) up to model year 1980. My first car was a lime green 1980 German Rabbit, with a 4-speed. Loved it to death, literally. US built cars arrived here for Model year ’81. Again I have no idea why it was two years later..anyone know?
Sharp-looking and, evidently, sharp-driving cars. I’ve always thought the “Westmoreland” square-lamp front clip actually works better with the boxy design than did the original round lamps.
Judging from comments here (and elsewhere), the recent TDI EPA cheating scandal would seem to fit right in with the VW corporate mentality. It’s a real shame because, otherwise, VW cars, like the original Rabbit GTI, have almost always gotten stellar reviews and seemed rather nice (if pricey). Just like domestic manufacturers, VW seemed to lose their way when faced with some stiff Japanese competition with the dismal failure of the Westmoreland factory being a great example.
OTOH, maybe it’s just German cars, in general. It doesn’t sound like owning an Audi, Porsche, BMW, or Mercedes is all that pleasant, either. Seems like it’s only the fanboys that put up with their issues (and dealer networks) in the long-term.
Swapped a GTI engine into my 1975 Audi Fox. Nothing beats having breaker points and CIS fuel injection. Trust me.
I had CIS fuel injection in my ’87 Jetta, the last year for it before VW switched to electronic fuel injection. Worst fuel injection system ever!
My ’86 Jetta GL has the same K-jet CIS fuel injection. The only problem in the 24 and counting years since I bought it in ’91 it had was 2 fuel pump relays (about $25.00) and finally needing a fuel pump earlier this year at 300k miles, and still runs great today with original engine and transmission. I had a ’80 Jetta with CIS and had no fuel injection problems. Had a ’77 with CIS that need a $50.00 auxiliary air regulator to fix a slow idle when warming up, and one fuel pump relay. Had an ’80 Rabbit with CIS that had no fuel injection problems. Family member had a ’89 Jetta GL with digifant injection and had no FI problems. I have heard that some people have had a lot more problems with the digifant injection, however.
I have never had an issue with Bosch K-jet CIS injection in BMWs and Mercedes from that era. The digifant-injected VW Cabriolet I had was awful…my mechanic called it digi-fart and said it was nearly impossible to make it work again if it acted up…he suggested a Weber carb.
Great find on this mostly original looking example. Was the right car at the right time to boost VW’s sales in the US. Heavier and 20 hp shy of the European examples but still quick for the times with great handling.
I like the picture (overview) in the article of the many other hot hatches that hit the US market.
In Europe, Ford and Opel have been VW’s main competitors in the GTI C-segment throughout the years. Renault and -especially- Peugeot offered (and still offer) some great C-segment hot hatches too.
The VW Golf Mk1 GTI was introduced in 1976, initially with a 110 hp 1.6 liter engine. Below the hot Ford and Opel competitors from that era.
Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000:
Opel Kadett C Coupe GT/E:
Fahrvergnügen of 1990
I drove quite a few of ’em in the eighties during my detail ship days–an absolute blast to drive. I always liked the simplicity and honesty of the 1983-84 GTI (that went away with the 1985 redo). It just needs a set of the European-market bumpers to look totally right.
We had a 79 Rabbit, the first year made on the USA. The sticker was $5400. No AC, crank windows . Drove it 155,000 miles in 10 years. But had quite a few mechanical problems. With snow tires the car and unstoppable in the winter.
I had a 1980 VW Rabbit and it was fun BUT rain leaked into the base of the radio antennae and shorted out the C Block of the fuse box relay which controlled the fuel injection system. Then the vent windows came unglued. And the moonroof seal came loose and dangled down. I thought about getting a GTI but ended up with a ’86 Honda Accord hatchback. The Accord was wonderful. Very smooth. Very reliable.
Got another Accord in ’95.
A game changing car.
A close friend had his English 1980 GTI, silver with dark plaid seats, shipped to Long Island, NY, mid 1980s. That car was as much a revelation to me as was a BMW 2002 around 15-20 years earlier.
I wont go back to Detroit except maybe some antique truck in coming years.
I drive a ten year old manual tranny Audi A4, no horrible niggling issues and the Audi dealers well they charge their money but get things more or less right. I am quite happy with it, although it shares little with a Golf GTI Mark I other than the clutch.
I had to order my A4, none were available in North America with manual. Took a few weeks to arrive.
I was in Germany with the US Army. Owned a BMW, a SAAB, and a Porsche.. In 1983 I saw a VW GTI at the local PX. Fell in love. Mine was black with red interior. I drove that car all over Europe. What a ride. Had it maintained at a local. VW dealership. The Germans were enthralled with the car. They considered it far superior to the German equivalent. Made many friends with that car. I bought it in Germany, but shipped it from PA. Picked up at port in Bremerhaven and drove it back to Frankfurt. Shipped it back to the US and drove it without issue until 1990 when my wife convinced me to sell it for a larger vehucle. Biggest mistake of my life …. Selling the car, not the wife. Not only was this car a game changer, it was very fun car to drive. Love it still and can feel the handling in my mind every day.