Since at least the 70’s, sometimes more often than others, foreign manufacturers have been designing products tailored to fit the specifics of the Brazilian car market. It is debatable if it leads to better or worse products (well, the whole concept of better/worse is subjective to ones tastes and concepts) than “off the shelf” projects from the respective parent company but at least a handful times it has been very successful: that’s the case of the Chevrolet Onyx and VW Brasília to name just a couple. My first car was one example of this strategy, and being a first car owned for almost three years it was a companion to many happy events and lifetime decisions. Welcome to the story of my 1985 VW Gol BX.
Original VW Gol with air-cooled boxer engine
In the mid-1970s VW was the market leader in Brazil by a huge margin. It had an extensive lineup but it’s real sellers in the entry and low medium price range were basically two products: the Beetle (know as Fusca in Brazil), national top seller since the 50’s, and the Brasília, a domestic design also very successful. Its products in this market range were extremely robust but due to the classic air cooled rear engine but were lagging in performance, economy, drivability and comfort against new competitors such as the Chevrolet Chevette and Fiat 147. So for the next decade it would be necessary to have products more or less aligned with the product concepts offered by other manufacturers. Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong but it was a similar situation VW faced in Europe some years earlier.
To that end, VW of Brasil could have picked the German Polo or Golf projects, but maybe the harsh use conditions in Brazil induced the adoption of a more robust project. Probably a lower manufacturing cost was a concern too. Designed and developed in Brazil with seemingly Audi Fox/VW Passat Mk1 underpinnings, this new car would be called Gol and was launched in 1980 to replace at any time soon both the Brasília and the mighty Fusca itself. PS: before bringing my personal story with the car there’s an introduction to the Gol history and it’s context in the Brazilian auto market. Anyway, I strongly advise to check nice previous CC sources on the subject, like here by Niedermeyer and here by Rubens.
VW opted for the longitudinal architecture as in the Passat already being built here, but powered by the air-cooled boxer 1.3L liter then still used by the Beetle (I can’t remember any other 80’s car with front wheel drive air-cooled engine). The front suspension was McPherson and rear suspension used a torsion axle, both following the basic principles of the Passat. The car would be hatchback combining low weight (around 800kg or 1764 pounds), economy and a certain practicality of use. It measured 3,79m (149,2 in) long with a 2,36m (92,9in) wheelbase, 1,6m (63in) wide and 1,37m (53,9in) high. One important detail: a good 13cm (5,1in) ground clearance. It’s claimed that the VW German engineers involved in the project described the Gol’s hatchback as it had been “cut with an axe”. It takes just a profile picture to understand what they were talking about.
Writer’s 1985 VW Gol BX – still with gray wheels
So the first Gol had the air-cooled boxer with 1.3L with a whopping 42 hp (net) and four-speed manual gearbox. Sales were no good and already in 1981 the 1.3L engine was replaced by a larger 1.6L boxer capable of 51hp (net). Between 1981 and 1982 came the rest of the family based on the Gol project: sedan (Voyage) SW (Parati) and pickup (Saveiro). It’s very important to emphasize the VW lineup in 1980’s didn’t did not have any Golf or Polo or other newer products except for the Passat Mk1 (Dasher for USA) and Mk2 (Santana in Brazil). So the Gol family would generate the bulk of VW local sales and securing it’s market leadership for a long time. In 1982 VW pulled the plug of the Brasília, killing one internal competitor to the Gol (the Fusca would be gone by 1986). The inline four-cylinder water-cooled engine (1.6L with 81 hp) was launched in the Gol only in 1984. Also in 1984 appeared the sporty Gol GT with a 1.8L engine with 99 hp. In 1986 the air cooled Gol was canceled.
1985 VW Gol GT 1.8 – in my opinion the most beautiful of them all
In 1987 came the first facelift and in 1988 the Gol GTI, the first Brazilian car with electronic injection (2.0L with 112 CV). In 1991 the Gol family had another facelift. In 1994 the new generation Gol was launched (see later COAL) but maintaining the old platform. Something analog to the Lavoisier law of conservation of mass.
Original Gol GT 1.8 interior – look at these nice Recaro seats. Nothing to do with my Gol BX
Since the 1980 modelyear the Gol has had two platform generations (the second based on the German Polo). It’s undeniable that it was an extremely successful product. Starting in 1988 it made 27 straight years as market leader counting only the hatchback version. Considering information updated until May/2015 more than 7.7 million units were produced in Brazil, plus 1.1 million in Argentina. More than 6.6 million were sold in the domestic market and 1.1 million exported to 66 countries, making it the all time top seller and most exported Brazilian automobile. The Gol was also the 8th most produced model of the Volkswagen Group in the world.
1990 VW Gol GL 1.8 – original wheel covers
That pretty much explains why in early to mid 90’s the Gol on its many iterations was a staple on Brazilian roads and why the earlier air cooled Gol was pretty outdated against newer compact cars, especially the new handsome Chevrolet Corsa, the very successful Fiat Uno and of course the more modern and powerful Gol with water cooled engines. Of course these cars cost a lot more than my old Gol.
1995 Chevrolet Corsa – new competition coming
It was around that time that my mother decided to learn to drive. There would be more than a year for my driving age (18 years in Brazil). I can’t remember how that happened but in the end she bought a 1985 VW Gol BX, white with black interior. It had the 1.6L water cooled boxer engine with 51 hp and a 4 speed manual. One important information: it burned only ethanol and had two carburetors, a combination which would make me sweat a little.
Writer’s 1985 VW Gol BX – notice vertical protection trim on the door
When in 1995 I got my driver license my mother had already gave up on driving so we made a deal. The car would be of my usage considering the next year I’d need a more fast transport to go to school and/or work than buses. Of course I would drive my mother and sister to their appointments on my free time. That was obviously a no brainer so we kept the Gol. At the time I was attending Secondary Technical School which meant whole day classes three times a week plus many hours studying and zero income. With short money one of the few modifications I made on the car was to install a right side mirror. The other were removing those horrible little black things on the doors edges (check picture above) and painting the gray wheels with black spray paint.
Writer’s 1985 VW Gol BX – black wheels were not trendy back then…
In the first year in my possession the car was basically used at weekends for everything from shopping to take my mother to relatives homes and other appointments she had, and also my sister too. Usually me and my friends used to go out at Fridays and/or Saturdays, but alternating our cars. The car also had a few trips to country side at relatives or friends house. I did not use it to go to school to cut gas expenses so I continued using bus everyday and in the end I did not use to drive a lot.
The next year things took a different direction. I would have the last (fourth) year in school with only night classes so I would have the days available to work. At the time I thought an internship at any auto/truck company would be close to heaven on earth. And in São Paulo metro area I had many companies to apply: VW, GM and Ford (cars and light trucks), plus Scania and Mercedes Benz (trucks). In the end of the day what I got was an internship at VDO (German manufacturer of auto parts). At the time VDO sourced, along other auto parts, complete dash sets and dash instruments for car manufacturers, mainly GM and VW. The internship was at the engineering department. I had a full drawing board and generally my assignments involved making various modifications like adding details and technical information to products drawings.
In the morning I used to leave home before 6am to catch a bus to a metro station where I’d take the company private bus to work: again I used the buses and not car because it was cheaper. Generally manufacturing facilities work shift’s start early so like at 5:00 pm I’d be home already. But I used to go to school by car, after all, my classes finished late as 11pm and it would be unsafe and too much time-consuming not do it. That was the first time I drove a car at a daily basis.
At that high-speed living last year at school went as fast as bullet. Then came graduation and a huge decision to make: what to do next? A position at VDO wasn’t available so the first thing was to move on. I looked, as usual, for auto/truck companies but the competition was tough and positions too few. What I got was a small company specialized in sales and maintenance of foreign capital goods. I worked almost exclusively with air compressors sourced by Compresores ABC from Spain and designed for blowing of soda PET bottles. Basically I did two kinds of jobs: at office, helping sales of replacement parts, support and maintenance services. Not that thrilling but the plus side was field work at clients, doing startups of new equipment and preventive and corrective (read urgent) maintenance services.
That job had a big impact in my life. On the one side, it gave an opportunity to know a little more about technical work and how to deal with external clients (deal with a customer is not like dealing with a boss). Somehow I got more and more contact with a few managers and sales/marketing people and I started being interested on how things works “behind” money decisions. It took sometime to decide that maybe I should not apply to engineering but some other thing. I chose to wait the next year to decide.
The following year I started studying to college admission exams not knowing which area to apply, and continued working at the same job. One other impact of this job in my life will be the theme for the next COAL. Meanwhile, my life with the Gol BX was going ok as long as I took some cautionary measures. Drive in the rain demanded care not get direct spray from the vehicles ahead because the engine distributor would get wet making the engine stall. Also the twin carburetors combined with the alcohol fuel demanded regular tunings, so soon I started carrying a screw driver on the glove box to do it by myself. Not very good but zero cost and faster than going to a mechanic – I had little time to lose at wait lines on Saturdays, the only possible day to do that. I couldn’t complain about break down, though: that never happened.
WV Gol BX engine bay – notice spare tyre support and double carburation
The car itself was an absolute stripper. Not that I cared about it. It gave a sense of purposefulness and ruggedness I miss on newer cars. No electric anything except for windshield wipers. The windshield washer system was operated by a foot pump (like on the Beetle), it had no radio, no cup holders at all, no under dash console, no rear glass defogger, of course no air conditioning and even no forced ventilation (don’t be fooled by the dash air vents).
VW Gol BX interior – exactly like mine
On the other hand I thought being a 1.6L it could be considered a proper car and better than the then novelty 1.0L cars. Follow this series and you get to know I changed my mind a bit. That’s indisputable that for the Brazilian market at the time the Gol BX had some low end torque making it relatively good at hilled roads or streets (a lot of then in São Paulo) and medium speed takeovers. But try make a 250 mile trip at highways with 120km/h (75 mph) averages and you will feel deaf and your body shaken up like a farm tractor operator. My funny friends nicknamed the Gol as “helicopter” because of the engine noise!
But I had a few indications that recommended searching for another car. The major one: the body was not specifically integer with some cracks, and also the clutch wheel started to spin on hill starts, the brakes were in need of new discs breaks and pads, etc. Anyway, in a couple of months I’d have to make extensive daily drives to college and work so that was the call for something safer and more economical with prospectively a few years of trouble free driving.
That generation of Gol was quite attractive. More than a hint of Mk I Scirocco to it.
We got one generation of the Gol in the US as a price leader: two and four door sedans and a quite attractive 2 door wagon. This wagon showed up at a show about 3 years ago…tempted by the “for sale” sign, I took a closer look. The years had not been kind to it.
Yes, the VW Fox which showed up as a 1986 model here in the US in late 1986 (as an 87 model). I remember being intrigued by these, and if VW had provided them with the kind of equipment levels that American drivers were used to, these would have sold a lot better than they did.
… if VW had provided them with the kind of equipment levels that American drivers were used to, these would have sold a lot better than they did.
The Fox was intended as a price leader. If someone came in, attracted by the price, but barked about the lack of amenities, that opened the door to talking to them about a more pricey Golf or Jetta. My 85 Mazda GLC had a manual trans, non-power steering, no a/c, crank windows and mechanical side mirrors, and it was the top of the line LX trim. An auto, power steering and air were options, but the car drove just fine without them. I could have been all over a Fox wagon and not considered it a hardship, tho others crying for an automatic or power steering, would be gently directed to a Jetta.
VW is trying to move upmarket in the US, but still has a lot of more basic models around the world. I was walking through the parking lot at The Henry Ford back in May some time, and I saw a Vento with Mexican plates in the parking lot. The Vento is a sedan version of the Polo. There was quite a buzz last year when VW registered Skoda and several Skoda model names in the US. People were speculating that Skoda would be used to fill the price leader role as VW moves upmarket.
When VW moved the Golf and Jetta upmarket with the Mk V, Canada continued to get the Brazilian built Mk IV with a revised front clip, badged as the Golf and Jetta “City” to fill the price leader role.
This Golf City, still wearing it’s Ontario plate, showed up in a car lot near my home a couple years ago.
Agreed that the Fox was a price leader, but as I recall they offered no automatic transmission and the stick was a 4 speed. Surely with it being built in Brazil they could keep the price down lower than the US/German built Golfs and Jettas and still offer a decent stick or an autobox. That would have given VW a chance to charge a bit of a premium for the Golf/Jetta to cash in on the “German road car on a budget” thing that they were pushing at the time. The Fox should have been a good low end car, not a super small niche for tightwads willing to shift (but only 4 times). To me, this is one more example of how VW kept having ideas that were maybe 90% of the way to being good ones.
…but as I recall they offered no automatic transmission and the stick was a 4 speed.
Wiki says, no auto and a 5 speed was only available on the GL trim, and no power steering. I don’t have a Fox brochure in my archive as my Mazda was nearly new, went very well and I was working 60-80 hrs a week so no time for car shows. The two Fox wagons I find for sale right now are both GL trim and have 4 speeds.
To me, this is one more example of how VW kept having ideas that were maybe 90% of the way to being good ones.
Or, classic bait and switch marketing. Make the price leader so unlikeable that nearly no-one buys it because they get switched to a more profitable product. There was a white Fox wagon for sale at a used car lot I passed on my way to my Aunt’s house. I admired the looks of the thing every time I drove past…I had plenty of opportunities to admire it because it sat there about a year.
…not a super small niche for tightwads willing to shift
Hey! I resemble that remark! (I tried to get the Honda dealer to pull the factory standard radio out of my 98 Civic and give me a discount for no radio)
I wonder if the reason why the Brazilian built Fox only offered a manual transmission, and a 4 speed at that, was due to the Brazilian market only having the 1 transmission? Would adding the automatic transmission from a German built Passat been more expensive than what could have been charged for it? I mean, shipping a heavy transmission across the Atlantic wouldn’t be cheap.
Keep in mind those are just guesses.
By the way, I owned a 74 Audi Fox and a 76 Ford Pinto, neither had power steering. Did I miss it in the Fox? No. But that Pinto without power steering was a real workout. Something about VW’s much hyped/revolutionary front suspension layout, made it fairly “light on it’s feet”.
I wonder if the reason why the Brazilian built Fox only offered a manual transmission, and a 4 speed at that, was due to the Brazilian market only having the 1 transmission?
I looked at the Wiki entry for the Brazilian market Gol. An automatic was not available until the third gen in 2008. No mention of power steering. A 5 speed manual was available in the first gen Gol.
shipping a heavy transmission across the Atlantic wouldn’t be cheap.
Not as expensive as you might think. My Mexican built Jetta wagon has a Japanese built Aisin transmission.
Here’s a mind bender: FCA makes 2.4L 4 cylinder engines and ZF makes 9 speed transmissions in the US. The engines and transmissions are shipped to Italy and installed in Jeep Renegades, which are then shipped to the US, so by the time the Renegade hits your dealer, the engine and trans have crossed the Atlantic twice.
Serbian built Fiat 500Ls use a Japanese built Aisin trans. By the time a 500L hits your dealership, the trans has gone about 3/4ths of the way around the world.
The Gol’s BX platform was derived from the Audi Fox/VW Passat B1 platform, so, if VW had wanted to offer an automatic the 3 speed offered in the US Dasher should have fit. 3 speeds were approaching the end of their life by the late 80s, but that trans had the virtue of being rather matured and seems to have provided at least average reliability in late model Dashers and Audi 4000s. Of course, the wild card is what would happen to a German automatic trans when it hit Brazilian customs. Would it be taxed with an exorbitant import tariff, or would it have cleared customs easily as the trans was to be reexported, installed in the car.
They were actually strong sellers back in the day, at least at the VW dealerships where I worked in SoCal. The Golf and Jetta were getting pricey and long in tooth and sales were dropping on these models as time went by. VW could have sold them longer but airbag regulations meant ’93 was the last year they would meet regulations.
They weren’t bad cars for the price and the 1.8 engine is a durable if somewhat underpowered unit, and all did have fuel injection. The skinny 175/70 X 13 tires and light weight made for fairly easy steering even at low speeds, and manual transmissions were still quite common and popular on small cars.
The Wagon went away in ’91, and oddly enough final year ’93’s all came with 5 speed and AC as standard equipment. Dealer’s were sad to see them go away, they were a big help keeping VW alive during these dark days.
Yeah I came close to buying a city Jetta around 2007-08. They were a good value if you didn’t mind the tried and true 2 litre engine and crank windows. Us Canadians are a thrifty bunch that don’t mind small cars. I am really surprised VW hasn’t brought us the polo as Nissan sells the Micra here.
Us Canadians are a thrifty bunch that don’t mind small cars. I am really surprised VW hasn’t brought us the polo as Nissan sells the Micra here.
A friend of mine who lives in Halifax is about 70 years old now, does not do much long distance driving any more, so traded his 15 year old Volvo sedan on a Micra recently.
Here’s another mind bender: the current Polo is the same size as the Mk I Golf. The 2018 Polo, which was unveiled a couple weeks ago, is even larger.
I also think the Gol looks quite similar to the 1st generation of Scirroco, until you look at that shot of the interior. The interior photo makes a 1st generation Golf look like a luxury car.
VW in Germany came up with all sorts of engine layouts when they tried to replace the beetle. Yet, I don’t remember them ever trying a FWD, air-cooled boxer engined, hatchback…and it seems (in hindsight) like such a perfect marriage.
I owned a 1st generation Audi Fox and liked it for the most part. But when VW FINALLY added a hatchback to the Dasher/Passat, I felt that that was a better small car than the Audi.
A very sharp looking design in a 70s/80s way. Lots of VW Scirocco and Seat Ibiza design cues. Maybe even a bit of Ford Fiesta in there too?
Citroen built the air-cooled fwd GS and GSA from 1970 through 1986. It was even a flat 4, just like the VW.
Nice to read a real life experience living with these Brazilian VW’s that have always interested me. A little bit of hot rodding to the air cooled engine probably would have made the early Gol a lot of fun, I can see how the noisy air cooled engine being up front and close to the driver would get tiring on long trips, though.
Neighbor had a silver ’88 Fox wagon sitting in his driveway for a couple of years, said it had transmission problems but likely was just a linkage problem, eventually after he passed his wife junked it, probably could of got it for next to nothing and it was clean and straight.
Looking forward to the next episode.
Vw’s are notorious for broken manual tranny’s. I had a fox myself,where the mechanic also stated “probably a linkage problem. Pay me x, and I will fix it”.
Well, that ended in me having to change the tranny myself lying in my driveway.
The hint was that at the junkyards,an 80’s manual Ford transmission,was about $90, while a manual VW trans was $600. This in Europe.
Guess which was more in demand?
I like the Gol. It is a wild mix of various Volkswagens. I can recognize Beetle, Polo I, Polo II, Golf I, somehow the Scirocco. Maybe there are even more. And I don’t think that any other carmaker has ever built a front wheel drive air-cooled engined car.
1948 Citroën 2CV.
Quite like it in terms of comfort amenities!
1970-1986 Citroen GS and GSA
Other 1980s air cooled front drivers from Citroen and, most Gol-like, their Romanian made Axel / Oltcit 1100.
Nice article. The lines on this VW remind me somewhat of the unlamented mid 1980s Lada Samara.
I really liked the 2-door Fox wagons when they first came out. But VW’s ‘shell-game’ pricing drove me away.
I looked at a new Fox wagon as a replacement for my trouble-prone ’71 Audi 2-door wagon. I was OK with the 4-speed and only two-doors, but figured if I was going into debt for a new car, I’d at least get AC. IIRC, the base Fox sedan was $5995. So I figured on a few hundred extra for the wagon and a few hundred more for AC.
But the wagon was only available in the GL line-up, which was something over $1500 more than the base sedan. Add AC and the price jumped to well over $8000. So I passed. Good thing as those Foxes developed a bad reliability rep anyway.
Happy Motoring, Mark
I looked at a new Fox wagon as a replacement for my trouble-prone ’71 Audi 2-door wagon.
*blink* you had a Super 90 wagon? That makes two people I have run into that have had a Super 90 of any sort.
Yeah. I’ve had two Super 90 wagons, along with a Super 90 4-door sedan parts-car. In between repairs, they were wonderful cars. I kept the last one – a ’71 wagon – running until 1992, when rust and the lack of parts finished it off.
Happy Motoring, Mark
My girlfriend had a late 1980’s fox sedan with the watercooled motor. I don’t remember any real problems other than a broken alternator. Boy was I confused to see the motor facing the wrong way compared to my Jetta or golf. I was also surprised by the many French and Brazilian parts. Which although had a better rep than the Mexican ones still didn’t have the cache of the German parts. Fast forward to 2015 when I was last looking for VW parts and they all seemed to be from India or China…
That said I really like the different VW’s from Brazil especially the old busses, sp2 sports car and those brazilias.
Thanks for the write up on a car I have never seen here with an aircooled motor up front!
So does anyone know why VW gave the Gol a name so confusingly similar to Golf, even if they weren’t sold concurrently in the same place? Similar to Taunus/Taurus or Volt/Bolt (the latter which *are* sold at the same time in the same market).
It was in line with the VW philosophy to name their cars after popular (some more than other) sports.
Gol means Goal in Portuguese, and considering the fact that football (rest of the world)/soccer (US) is the most popular sport here in Brazil, and often regarded as the “sport of the masses”, I think the name is completely adequate to this car and the market VW of Brazil was targeting with this car.
About the similarity with the Golf name, even that was kinda successfully exploited, not by VW itself, but by the general people, as when the Golf was finally launched here in Brazil in mid 90s on its 3rd-gen, it was common to hear a certain joke, something like ” the difference between the Gol and the Golf is exactly what their name implies, gol is football, and football is for the masses, the blue collar people, and golf is for the riches.”
That’s a good point. As Diego pointed, it made a lot of sense to use such a meaningful Portuguese name at the time.
Back in the day many new cars used to get Portuguese names like Ford Corcel and VW Brasilia (1970’s), Ford Del Rey and Pampa and VW Gol, Parati, Saveiro and Santana, Fiat Prêmio and Chevrolet Ipanema, Diplomata and Marajó (all from the 1980’s).
I’m quite sure that probably won’t happen anymore to a new car. Nowadays all new car names in Brazil are english or some other foreign language (sometimes no language at all!!). Of course that’s supposed to happen to “world cars” like Toyota Corolla or Chevrolet Cruze.
The base Jetta is VWs current loss-leader now. Basic mechanical bits and you don’t get the good engines like the 1.8 or 2.0 turbos, you get the 1.4 turbo
For $19,000
I know they are a different class of vehicle but $19k is a lot more than the $9999 Nissan Micra we get up here in the great white north….
The Jetta 1.4T is a fine engine IMO for an entry-level car – smooth, quiet, and same torque as the 1.8T. And great fuel economy. Who needs diesel anyway?
When the Mk VI Jetta first came out in 2011, it was a huge step down from the Mk V. A return to a rear beam axle, rear drum brakes, a dumbed down instrument cluster. lots of cheap, hard plastic in the interior. The worst thing about the S trim Mk VI was it was powered by the same 8 valve 115hp 2.0L four as the Mk IV, which was a lot smaller and lighter.
I drove a 2014 S Jetta for a couple days and utterly hated it. At least if it was dark I could not see the bargain basement interior, but I could still hear that engine laboring and straining to pull that heavy car around. The worst moment was when I made a right turn, without stopping, as the light was green. The trans dropped at least two, maybe three gears, with a loud bang as the engine struggled to accelerate out of the turn.
Then there was the nasty, rubbery, sound of the rear brakes.
And this was a new car, not some Avis rental that had already been flogged within an inch of it’s life.
But the Mk VI had a low advertised price, and sales soared.
For my generation the obvious choice for a first car was the VW Beetle. It took me a while untill I could afford a Gol. In 1992 I bought a bone stock 1980, 1.3 beige (as beige as it could get) VW Gol.
Probably the slowest car I ever had.