RE: SOTW: Volkswagen Jetta GTI

[Escort Si-130]

Top shed, had to laugh about the health & safety. I remember riding in cars in the 80's that were for a capacity of 5 but carrying 8 people. I alaos remember students used to do this with mini's back in the 80's carrying a heap of people.

I miss the 80's, lol

[dbdb]

Liquid Knight said:

£800 too much really. It's no Orion Ghia.

[EDLT]

Looks tidy, someone buy it before the dubbers find it!

All I know about these cars is that there was one in Hot Fuzz and they managed to fit a whole Simon Pegg in the boot.

[CPDMotorsport]

While at Uni' I owned 2 Jetta GTi 16v's

Awesome cars, handled better than a Golf (a traded up from a Golf), they were also considerably cheaper to insure and garnered a lot less attention.

My second one even was timed at 0-60 in 7 seconds dead which for a 20 year old 1.8 is pretty impressive, made one of the rich students Octavia VRS look a bit crap.

[Garlick]

Like a Golf, but not a Golf, but a saloon.

[robsti]

I had a jetta gt special back in 86 ,I think it was one of 40 built by GTI Engineering but sold through VAG dealers it was a real head turner back in the day but can't find any photos to post!

[Triumph Man]

I hope i'm not alone in wanting a Jetta GTi because there was one in Hot Fuzz? Anyone? No?

[matchmaker]

CPDMotorsport said:

While at Uni' I owned 2 Jetta GTi 16v's

Awesome cars, handled better than a Golf (a traded up from a Golf), they were also considerably cheaper to insure and garnered a lot less attention.

Exactly. I had a 16v Jetta. Traded up from a Golf. All of the above applied!

[david_h]

Great shed, as already stated the Jetta's handle much better.

Find a decent 16v these days and it will hold it's money.

did you know in Europe they did a Jetta coupe version with 3 doors.

[Motorrad]

If it isn't rotten this is a great shed. My MKII GTi is still one of the best all round cars I've ever owned.

[badgerracing]

Learnt to drive in a 1.8 version of one of these. Felt fast at the time, and they were light - less that 900kg IIRC....

[mrmaggit]

I had a TX for 60,000 miles then replaced it with a GTI 16v, wish I'd kept it, they were great "Q" cars.

[Oddball RS]

Frimley111R said:

jake15919 said:

Not very good in it's day and it has't got any better over the last 20+ years. Don't be fooled, this is not some 80s performance icon, it's a pretty dull small saloon. Disappointment awaits.

Agreed. Without the GTI badge and link to the golf its an utterly dull and forgettable car. Interesting and different nonetheless though....

Im struggling with this train of thought a little, the badge and link to the golf are worth nothing, so take them off both, thus both become utterly dull and forgettable?? is that what you are saying.

[Nuppy]

I had an F reg 16v Jetta back in the day- Quite rare if memory serves. Its was a small bumper model, bright red & amazing performance (for its time).
Mine was a dog though, off the road more often than I care to remember so I got shut after a year. Still got great memories of thrashing it around West Yorkshire!!

[luckystrike]

ninos said:

I did have a go in the 16 valve version and although it was more powerful, it didn't have anywhere near as much torque but it was a lot smother to drive.

Wrong, I'm afraid. The 16V engine has more torque at every point of its rev range than the 8v. Don't confuse a noticeable increase in top end power as a reduction in low-down torque.

[Gazzab]

Seems quite expensive? I sold an F reg Golf Gti back in about 2003 for £600 ish from memory. Wasnt perfect but was a good car that we had owned for 4 years.

[I WISH]

Martin 480 Turbo said:

Garlick,

you are the man. Admitting to having been the last kid to be picked up for footy
takes some balls. (honest)

On a different note: Have you ever driven the Jetta yourself. It is pretty lame.
110 Bhp for a car like that was not much, even back then. This example is a nice survivor
nevertheless... till now.

Martin

Edited by Martin 480 Turbo on Friday 25th February 08:19

Have YOU ever driven one? I had two Golf MK2 GTIs. The Jetta has pretty much the same performance but handled even better.
The MK2 GTI was certainly NOT "lame". What you fail to appreciate is how relatively lightweight cars were back then.
The Jetta came in at a measley (by today's standards) 1050kg. A Golf MK5 weighs in at least a full 50% more than that.
They might not have been electrifyingly fast ..... but "lame"??!!

Edited by I WISH on Friday 25th February 15:31

Edited by I WISH on Friday 25th February 15:32

[macp]

Always liked the Jetta GTi.Seems to be a later car due to the door mirror position so should have the improved digifant fuel injection rather than the earlier Kjet system.

[DrTre]

Martin 480 Turbo said:

On a different note: Have you ever driven the Jetta yourself. It is pretty lame.
110 Bhp for a car like that was not much, even back then. This example is a nice survivor
nevertheless... till now.

Martin

I'd say 110bhp from a 1.8NA is more impressive than 120 from a turbocharged 1.7 though...

Frimley111R said:

jake15919 said:

Not very good in it's day and it has't got any better over the last 20+ years. Don't be fooled, this is not some 80s performance icon, it's a pretty dull small saloon. Disappointment awaits.

Agreed. Without the GTI badge and link to the golf its an utterly dull and forgettable car. Interesting and different nonetheless though....

Aesthetics aside, dynamically speaking it was as good and in some respects better than, the Golf GTi so any plaudits the Golf receives, there's no logical reason the Jetta shouldn't get the same.

[Faust66]

Never seen what all the fuss is about re. the whole VW scene. OK cars I suppose, but to me they're just missing a bit of character.

A lass I know runs a veedub GTi club in Nottingham - there are some fast cars that turn up to the monthly meetings, and I can appreciate the work that goes in to them... but they ain't for me.


I suppose this Jetta would make a good daily driver for someone, but it leaves me cold I'm afraid.

Now, a nice Corrado on the other hand!