RE: VW Golf GTI Mk2 by Petrolicious: Time For Tea

[blade7]

aka_kerrly said:

Oh the 90s early 00s when you could buy an RST for a grand fit a Bailey or forge dump valve, whack the boost up and hope for the best. Some lasted fine with 185ish but plenty died at around 200hp.

Likewise VW g60 owners would fit smaller charger pulleys and ecu chips to run 200hp.

The RST vs Gti was a big deal in 80/90s. I'm happy to still have a Gti and a G60.

I'm guessing you never modified an Escort RST then? I've got no dog in this fight really, my RST was sold after a few months and I liked all the mk1 GTi's I had a lot more than the mk2. A Rallye or a G60 may have changed my mind.

[Ahbefive]

A friend had a Corrado G60, it was less reliable than pretty much any car that I can remember and the supercharger replacement was very expensive in 1999.

[rallye_turbo]

Great thread.
Had all sorts of Mk1 and Mk2 Golfs over the years. G60's, Syncros' Rallyes, 16v and 8V GTI's. Had a new one as a company car back in 89! Been a fan ever since. Attending GTI International every year was my highlight back in the day. No matter how hard I tried - it would really never drop below 30mpg.
The Rallye was fitted/unfitted with a Rotrex R32 and now is original - but I loved my Tornado red G60. 240bhp through the front wheels :-) Kept if for a while and it was my daily doing 100 miles most days. One day, I went to a garage to get something and an 'enthusiast' popped out to have a look from the workshop. He mentioned that he heard the G60 whine and knew immediately what it was. Anyway - he mentioned that he had some Group B Rallye bits (same-ish engine) and would I be interested in buying them? Purchased a big valve head, cam and flowed inlet. These were experimental bits that were being developed for the Group B Rallye car. They were like pieces or art! The amount of man hours that went into them was staggering. For example the inlet on a Mk2 is difficult to open up hugely to flow but they had cross sectioned it across the ports multiple times, opened it up and rewelded it and then reflowed it.And did it again. All OEM from the outside :-) And when I fitted them to my car - it was like I had taken the handbrake off.
I had an injector failure that melted a piston and effectively I broke it and weighed in the shell. God I wish I hadn't now.....

[rallye_turbo]

Oh yeah - and one day I took the G60 in for a MOT and the MOT tester wasn't happy that I had fitted a Corrado G60 engine into it and wanted to know if it was done by a mechanic! I said it came from the factory like that :-)

[coppice]

blade7 said:

coppice said:

Escort Turbo , like its Fiesta RS Turbo relation , did have a major image problem in period. The Escorts all seemed to be Essex white and looked adolescent and thuggish at best . Regardless of how good it was to drive(and every Ford engine I drove from 70s to 90s was ghastly compared to Alfa, Peugeot , Toyota and VW) it had terrible DRG and , like it or not, a serious deficiency in imge and perceived quality beside the VW .

What a lot of snobby nonsense. I didn't gel with my 86 RS Turbo but it certainly was a more desirable and better car than the 8v Golf. And turbocharging the 1600 engine disguised it's harshness. If you had been talking about the XR3i I'd have agreed with you though, they were rubbish.

Edited by blade7 on Tuesday 28th November 19:26

It is snobby but it sure isn't nonsense- reqardless of the RS ' qualities most people in that market sector wouldn't have been seen dead in one . It is all terribly unfair , this business of how people judge you by what you drive but do admit - it has always been the case. And I speak as a former 2CV owner and fulltime Q7 loather ....

[blade7]

coppice said:

It is snobby but it sure isn't nonsense- reqardless of the RS ' qualities most people in that market sector wouldn't have been seen dead in one .

Have you ever been to Essex?

[coppice]

I have indeed . Very nice round Halstead way but Thurrock ? Not so much .

[blade7]

Are you implying the people paying big money for Escort RS Turbos are Chavs?

[aka_kerrly]

blade7 said:

I'm guessing you never modified an Escort RST then? I've got no dog in this fight really, my RST was sold after a few months and I liked all the mk1 GTi's I had a lot more than the mk2. A Rallye or a G60 may have changed my mind.

There is a degree of tongue in cheek in my reply. I'd guess that between 99-2004 I must have driven a dozen or so Fiesta & S1/2 Escort RSTs as quite a few friends had them in various stages of tune from standard 1.6cvh t3s, to hybrid turbo setups, then Zetec bottom ends to make 1.8 an 2.0 , then using T4 garrets and the GTX series monsters. The last one I went out in was a 2.1 ZVH with 300hp an no LSD Very quick!!!

There usual issues were headgaskets, lots of blown bottom ends, lots of knackered turbos but you're right at other times around a half of them were running ok. Like lots of cars of the era the most reliable seemed to be largely standard an well serviced or hugely expensive well thought out builds.

Mind you, at the same time I'd gone through 3 head gaskets and 2 bottom ends on my mk2 Golf:getmecoat

[aaron_2000]

blade7 said:

Are you implying the people paying big money for Escort RS Turbos are Chavs?

Chavs that have moved on from their 90's roots, got jobs in IT, have 2 kids and a wife while living on a modern housing estate in a 4bd 2ba, drives a Kia Sportage and a 320d and is now in a midlife crisis are the closest thing to chavs that would buy one now. Show me a modern chav that's gonna be trading in the 1.2 SXI with a bad stereo and naff aftermarket lights for an Escort RS Turbo. The people that think chavs even know what an Escort RST is, never mind think they'd buy one are the same kind of people that think Nova's and 205's are still driven buy people who read Max Power, which hasn't existed for years. These days, chavs drive financed Ibiza's and Corsa's with 1 years free insurance.

Edited by aaron_2000 on Thursday 30th November 10:42

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

aaron_2000 said:

blade7 said:

Are you implying the people paying big money for Escort RS Turbos are Chavs?

Chavs that have moved on from their 90's roots, got jobs in IT, have 2 kids and a wife while living on a modern housing estate in a 4bd 2a, drives a Kia Sportage and a 320d and is now in a midlife crisis are the closest thing to chavs that would buy one now. Show me a modern chav that's gonna be trading in the 1.2 SXI with a bad stereo and naff aftermarket lights for an Escort RS Turbo. The people that think chavs even know what an Escort RST is, never mind think they'd buy one are the same kind of people that think Nova's and 205's are still driven buy people who read Max Power, which hasn't existed for years. These days, chavs drive financed Ibiza's and Corsa's with 1 years free insurance.

Lordy.