RE: VW Golf GTI Mk2 by Petrolicious: Time For Tea
Discussion
Well , I had two and adored them , and what a vast improvement they were on the mk1 I also owned. The build quality was terrific - far better than Pugs of course- and if the chassis wasn't as playful it was still damned good and I especially liked the ride- firm but compliant. Seats? Great - far, far better (again) than Mk 1 and I recall doing a 700 mile drive through France one very long day without aches . Steering ? Not as good as a Sud's but nothing else was either . Go? Not as fast as the Pug (let alone the rocket ship Uno Turboes I had )but entirely fit for 1988 purpose. Yes , many mundane cars may now be quicker but given proliferation of speed cameras and heavy traffic in some areas they probably don't actually go as fast as my enthusiastically driven Golf did . And mine always, always , always did 33mpg whether I thrashed it or pootled- weird.
One of the most fit for purpose cars I have ever owned - and in light green metallic and BBS cross- spokes (as pictured above - snap ) it was a lovely looking car too .
One of the most fit for purpose cars I have ever owned - and in light green metallic and BBS cross- spokes (as pictured above - snap ) it was a lovely looking car too .
k but this is a good one showing a genuine enthusiast enjoying his car.
Had an 88 8v as my first fast car and loved it. 4 years of all kinds of driving including road rallies and track days which it took in its stride. Fast enough to be fun but not too fast that you couldn't wring it out and the handling was fun and predictable - you could throw it around knowing you would generally get round the corner! Replaced with a Sapphire Cosworth that was much more grown up and much much faster, but not as much fun. You had to be a lot more careful as it was bigger and heavier and you would generally be going 30 mph faster when you got to the corner.
Also had a Mk1 for a bit - all I'll say about that was that there's nothing fun about a car that doesn't stop when you press the brake pedal!
Also had a Mk1 for a bit - all I'll say about that was that there's nothing fun about a car that doesn't stop when you press the brake pedal!
Yellowcab said:
Had a Mk2 from new and just bought a mint GTI 16V in Atlas Grey with only 23k miles from new. Love it
Beautiful. That's a rare find.I owned a mk2 16v a number of years ago, and an 8v just afterwards. Tremendous cars - feelsome and exciting in a way precious few cars these days can manage. Preferred the 8V - slower but somehow more responsive and satisfying to drive hard.
Ahbefive said:
Going against the grain here, I found these rattly, underpowered, with crap seats and interior and just generaly poor in just about every way possible.
The brakes and steering were poor and the ride akin to boating. I preferred the 205 and the Fords by quite a margin. Certainly nothing to write home about imo.
How old was the one you drove ?The brakes and steering were poor and the ride akin to boating. I preferred the 205 and the Fords by quite a margin. Certainly nothing to write home about imo.
I have had five and they were all different to drive, but obviously similar in some ways, they werent, when new, underpowered by any stretch, 0-60 in 8 sec or not much more, crisp throttle response and decent torque, they only weight a tonne or so, but things have moved on.
However, I had a couple of early K Jet cars and both were a bit knackered, they just didnt pull as well as the Digifant ones I had, one I had was a bit smoky and I reckoned it was probably down by 15 or 20 bhp, the K Jet ones are fine, it just happened that the two I had were old and probably worn out.
Steering was great, I preffered the ones with PAS, they didnt corner like a 205 GTi but they were still capable handlers.
The OEM pads werent great, braking much improved on Ferodos, and loads better than the MK1 with its wacky bellcrank linkage, especially as that got old and got play in it.
The MK1 was better looking but the MK2 was the better car in so many ways.
I'm afraid I've never liked the Mk2 GTI (although I'll immediately temper that by saying I've never driven a stock 16V - only one that had had virtually every bit of drivetrain and running gear it left Wolfsburg with modified. It drove very nicely but it was basically a track car).
The 8V ones though, never saw what the deal was. Numb, slow steering, crashy ride that was prone to skitter, engine that had to be wrung right up to the top end to get good performance out of it, and not in a nice that's-the-way-it-was-designed VTEC sort of way. Excellent grip provided the road surface was good, but no real sense of 'poise'. All roadholding and not much actual handling. They can cover ground at a decent rate and do a good go-kart impression around roundabouts but they're not much fun. At the end of the day they feel like what they are - a family hatchback with rather crude engineering given a punchy engine and some suspension tweaks.
But I can see why they were so popular. At the end of the day they were/are 'a quick Golf'. They're very well built, rugged and easy to fix. They're comfy (if you can find a good position for seats), quiet, spacious and refined. And they're not going to give you any suprises on a wet wintery day. And it's still one of the only hot hatches to have some middle-class snob appeal about it. It's basically a 1980s equivalent of the MGB GT - it looks nice, it's comfy, it's practical, it's reliable and it's fun but utterly undemanding to drive. If you want to it can be a normal car with a good badge.
I've found the 205 GTi to be a much more fun and involving to drive. It's got a more resolved ride and sharper responses. The 1.6 engine was much zingier. It had a much more inherent feeling of balance and it needed a degree of care and attention to get the best out it which is very satisfying. But the build quality is terrible, the 1.9 engine is still pretty coarse and it's a smaller, less practical machine. If the Golf is an MGB, the 205 is a Triumph GT6.
The absolute best-driving hot-hatch has to be the Alfasud 1.5 Cloverleaf (or the Alfa 33 equivalent) but that's not in anything like the same league of practicality as the Pug, let alone the VW.
The 8V ones though, never saw what the deal was. Numb, slow steering, crashy ride that was prone to skitter, engine that had to be wrung right up to the top end to get good performance out of it, and not in a nice that's-the-way-it-was-designed VTEC sort of way. Excellent grip provided the road surface was good, but no real sense of 'poise'. All roadholding and not much actual handling. They can cover ground at a decent rate and do a good go-kart impression around roundabouts but they're not much fun. At the end of the day they feel like what they are - a family hatchback with rather crude engineering given a punchy engine and some suspension tweaks.
But I can see why they were so popular. At the end of the day they were/are 'a quick Golf'. They're very well built, rugged and easy to fix. They're comfy (if you can find a good position for seats), quiet, spacious and refined. And they're not going to give you any suprises on a wet wintery day. And it's still one of the only hot hatches to have some middle-class snob appeal about it. It's basically a 1980s equivalent of the MGB GT - it looks nice, it's comfy, it's practical, it's reliable and it's fun but utterly undemanding to drive. If you want to it can be a normal car with a good badge.
I've found the 205 GTi to be a much more fun and involving to drive. It's got a more resolved ride and sharper responses. The 1.6 engine was much zingier. It had a much more inherent feeling of balance and it needed a degree of care and attention to get the best out it which is very satisfying. But the build quality is terrible, the 1.9 engine is still pretty coarse and it's a smaller, less practical machine. If the Golf is an MGB, the 205 is a Triumph GT6.
The absolute best-driving hot-hatch has to be the Alfasud 1.5 Cloverleaf (or the Alfa 33 equivalent) but that's not in anything like the same league of practicality as the Pug, let alone the VW.
2xChevrons said:
The 8V ones though, never saw what the deal was. Numb, slow steering, crashy ride that was prone to skitter,
The one you drove must have been broken - they were absolutely nothing like that, quite the opposite. 2xChevrons said:
engine that had to be wrung right up to the top end to get good performance out of it, and not in a nice that's-the-way-it-was-designed VTEC sort of way.
Err, nope. Completely the other way around. The 16v needed to be revved much harder which is why, although it was ultimately more powerful and faster than the 8v, many people preferred the latter because it pulled better at low revs.A 'party trick' with my 8v was to point it up a very steep hill in first gear, pull away and take my feet off the pedals. It would pull itself up the hill with no fuss at all on tickover.
I just had to post a picture of mine.
It is now back in storage and I still go and have a little look now and again and start her up.
This is the post of when I got her back on the road after 5 years being laid up.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
IceBoy
It is now back in storage and I still go and have a little look now and again and start her up.
This is the post of when I got her back on the road after 5 years being laid up.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
IceBoy
I just had to post a picture of mine.
It is now back in storage and I still go and have a little look now and again and start her up.
This is the post of when I got her back on the road after 5 years being laid up.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
IceBoy
It is now back in storage and I still go and have a little look now and again and start her up.
This is the post of when I got her back on the road after 5 years being laid up.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
IceBoy
Ari said:
The one you drove must have been broken - they were absolutely nothing like that, quite the opposite.
It's quite possible, given that I drove the first one in 2010, so none of them have been 'box fresh'. They've all been pretty good examples and have given the same impression, though. Ari said:
Err, nope. Completely the other way around. The 16v needed to be revved much harder which is why, although it was ultimately more powerful and faster than the 8v, many people preferred the latter because it pulled better at low revs.
Oh yeah, the 8V was punchy in the mid-range alright, but (in my experience, for the little that is worth) it doesn't particuarly like being 'extended'. Torquey and tractable, and excellent for cruising around when you're not in GTI mode, but to get hot-hatch performance from it you seem to have to wring its neck to the 4500-6000rpm region, which it doesn't seem to particularly enjoy. I know what you mean about the 16V, but there's a difference between having an engine that's designed and tuned to rev high for its torque (and be nice while doing so) and one which leaves its torque behind and feels strained when around its power peak. Which is what the 8V GTI has always felt like to me. The 1.9 205 GTi engine is the same, but it doesn't feel like it's dragging around such a weight of metal, even though the Golf is no heavyweight.
But then I had to drive about 10 'Spridgets' before I came across one that had been restored and set up properly that didn't drive like an ropey Austin A35 with no roof, and then I realised how brilliant they can be. So I can quite believe that I just haven't experienced a Golf whose mechanical condition matches its cosmetics.
But for now the appeal eludes me.
Yellowcab said:
I paid what I thought it was worth, but knew I wouldn't lose out if I wanted to move it on. I have already been offered 60% more than I paid for it but didn't buy it too make money. At the end of the day I'd be looking for two years for the right car and finally found it
Almost shudder to think what you paid when you compare how good your car is against this:https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-GOLF-GTI/272...
I'm assuming Mr Ebayer is somewhat over optimistic?
eta - wouldn't a 85/86 GTI still have had alloys despite the poverty spec of this one on the ad?
So nearly bought a 4 year old big bumper 15v with full leather in 1995 but the owner wasn't in & I ended up buying a similar aged/similar priced CRX VTEC instead.
Owned a Mk1 1.8GTI, never got to own a Mk2 but had a couple of Ibiza Cupras (2.0 8v & 1.8 20VT) and always felt these were more successors of the Mk1/2 GTIs compared to the Mk4 VW were offering at the same time.
Edited by graham22 on Thursday 23 November 17:23
Here's my 1990 GTI 8V.
It's not really sunk in yet that I've actually bought this car. It was my dad's first ever company motor (he'd always wanted a GTI), and after he bought it outright he sold it to my grandad in 1993/94, who kept it for around 10 more years.
I honestly believed that I'd never see it again, but then the latest owner replied to a post of mine on a VW forum, requesting to know its whereabouts.
I would say it's aged amazingly well, but then I'm a little biased! The odometer is approaching 110000 miles, and I'm the sixth owner. The paintwork has faded a little, but it's pretty damn good overall. There's wear on the driver's seat bolster, but otherwise the interior is scuff free and solid.
I picked up the car in Oswestry in July and couldn't resist driving it straight to my dad's, which was another 60 miles north. To be honest, I could barely relax for the first few dozen miles, as I was just sitting in silence, listening for anything untoward and hoping it wouldn't die on me. Stop-start traffic over Runcorn bridge didn't help calm my nerves.
But arrive 'home' she did. "You little bugger!" my dad shouted at me as he opened his front door. I'd kept the whole thing a secret until now. Of course, I threw him the keys and we went for a little mooch on some local back roads. I think we spent most of the time just shaking our heads in disbelief.
We are both impressed by how strong the engine still feels. In this age of turbocharged hatchbacks, throttle response is brilliantly instant, and the whole car feels like a big, wieldy go-kart – including the lack of power steering!
Come the next morning, the nerves returned. Now I had to drive 250 miles back home to south London. It didn't take long for the anxiety to dissipate, however, as the car felt so composed and bulletproof at 70mph. For the first time, I began to properly enjoy the driving experience, and I even got a thumbs-up from a chap in a VW Camper.
Mercifully, traffic remained light, even on the M25, the Golf's temperature gauge not budging a millimetre throughout. I couldn't just put it in storage, not without cleaning the bugs off first. I'm already quite precious about it...
Job done and some more pictures taken, she was rolled into the garage. And breathe...
The history file is incredible, and includes a fully stamped service book, plus every single invoice from during my grandad's ownership, which he kept in a neat binder. He didn't half chuck some money at it! I even found the original agreement my dad signed when he took delivery of the car in 1990. I keep pinching myself...
It's not really sunk in yet that I've actually bought this car. It was my dad's first ever company motor (he'd always wanted a GTI), and after he bought it outright he sold it to my grandad in 1993/94, who kept it for around 10 more years.
I honestly believed that I'd never see it again, but then the latest owner replied to a post of mine on a VW forum, requesting to know its whereabouts.
I would say it's aged amazingly well, but then I'm a little biased! The odometer is approaching 110000 miles, and I'm the sixth owner. The paintwork has faded a little, but it's pretty damn good overall. There's wear on the driver's seat bolster, but otherwise the interior is scuff free and solid.
I picked up the car in Oswestry in July and couldn't resist driving it straight to my dad's, which was another 60 miles north. To be honest, I could barely relax for the first few dozen miles, as I was just sitting in silence, listening for anything untoward and hoping it wouldn't die on me. Stop-start traffic over Runcorn bridge didn't help calm my nerves.
But arrive 'home' she did. "You little bugger!" my dad shouted at me as he opened his front door. I'd kept the whole thing a secret until now. Of course, I threw him the keys and we went for a little mooch on some local back roads. I think we spent most of the time just shaking our heads in disbelief.
We are both impressed by how strong the engine still feels. In this age of turbocharged hatchbacks, throttle response is brilliantly instant, and the whole car feels like a big, wieldy go-kart – including the lack of power steering!
Come the next morning, the nerves returned. Now I had to drive 250 miles back home to south London. It didn't take long for the anxiety to dissipate, however, as the car felt so composed and bulletproof at 70mph. For the first time, I began to properly enjoy the driving experience, and I even got a thumbs-up from a chap in a VW Camper.
Mercifully, traffic remained light, even on the M25, the Golf's temperature gauge not budging a millimetre throughout. I couldn't just put it in storage, not without cleaning the bugs off first. I'm already quite precious about it...
Job done and some more pictures taken, she was rolled into the garage. And breathe...
The history file is incredible, and includes a fully stamped service book, plus every single invoice from during my grandad's ownership, which he kept in a neat binder. He didn't half chuck some money at it! I even found the original agreement my dad signed when he took delivery of the car in 1990. I keep pinching myself...
blade7 said:
I'm not a great fan of either TBH but having owned a 85 Golf GTi and a 86 S1 Escort Turbo, I'd have to say the Escort would murder the Golf.
The RS turbo wasnt a competitor for the 8 valve GTI, which was an XR3i rival, 16 valve Golf was more on a par with a RS Turbo, and RS Turbos generally tended to be faster than standard due to the boost getting cranked up.BenGB said:
Had an 88 8v as my first fast car and loved it. 4 years of all kinds of driving including road rallies and track days which it took in its stride. Fast enough to be fun but not too fast that you couldn't wring it out and the handling was fun and predictable - you could throw it around knowing you would generally get round the corner! Replaced with a Sapphire Cosworth that was much more grown up and much much faster, but not as much fun. You had to be a lot more careful as it was bigger and heavier and you would generally be going 30 mph faster when you got to the corner.
Also had a Mk1 for a bit - all I'll say about that was that there's nothing fun about a car that doesn't stop when you press the brake pedal!
I had a Mk1 1800 in the mid 80s and know exactly what you mean! Quite a shock after my RS2000 as the Golf shifted the same, just didn't stop the same!Also had a Mk1 for a bit - all I'll say about that was that there's nothing fun about a car that doesn't stop when you press the brake pedal!
Well documented fixes for it now though. Never got round to a mk2 Golf as I'd discovered 205/309s and the 16v Astras which were more rewarding to drive for me
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