(not my) 3 Door Mk2 GTi 8v - First Drive
Discussion
I was in two minds about posting this up, mainly because the actual owner ( number 2 child ) is on here and it really should be his post to make, however with all of the mess Covid has made of our lives DVLA have pushed back his driving test more times than thai lady boy.
I guess now that I've started typing I may as well carry on and write the post...
So the conversations about 'first cars' started with the boy when he was prob 15, we went through all the pro's and con's of older vs newer and I frequently had to piss on his chips when he started talking about 'modified this' and 'big wheel that' much to his obvious disgust.
He managed to get himself a job, and then promptly declared that he'd save up and buy his own first car and that way I wouldn't have a say in what he had... oh how little they know!
and he'd also seemed to forget that his mother would also want a say in what he was tooling around in.
At this point I foolishly agreed to a "if you save up and pay for it, i'll insure it" deal - how was i supposed to know he'd actually save his money!!
anyway... fast forward a bit and he's firmly decided that a Mk2 Gti is where its at.. now I'd not looked at the prices of these since I sold my near mint 8v car 12years ago for £1100. Well FM sideways was I in for a shock. There were people out there asking 8-10K for cars that i didnt think I'd want to eat my dinner off.. apparently if I wanted to do that then I need to be looking at the 15K mark!!
We'd set a budget - I managed to talk him into saving some of it to pay for the inevitable bill to fix whatever the seller failed to tell us... and after missing out on a couple of nice cars as well as dodging some very shonky bullets, we mangaged to secure a car for sale on the south coast. Ticked all the boxes the boy wanted - Not Red, 3 door, not chav'd up. ( there's hope for him yet! )
With lockdown and with the car being bloody miles away we had to take a punt to move quickly or risk losing out so lots of calls, lots of videos and pictures and a deposit was paid. Again covid restrictions in place, I arranged for the guys that looks after my cars to pop down, check it out and bring it back if it was all good... Waiting for that call to come through was like waiting for the call when they picked up their exam results....
A couple of hours later and a very shiny '91 3door Gti 8V was parked on the drive, - knocking exhaust and questionable tracking were the only items reported.
I did take it for a bit of a spin the day it arrived and yeah, the tracking was properly out to cock... so didn't go far.
It went off to EMC in bham to have a proper going over and it was dropped back just in time for last weeks sunny days.. so...well... I did what every self respecting man would do while his son is at work and his car is in the drive.... I borrowed it for the day :grin:
As I said its been a good few years since I've driven a mk2 Gti.... and well... bugger me what a revelation that was. Its fair to say that I've been spoiled in the cars that I've had since, and I proper kicked myself for ever selling my one. It's such an engaging car to drive. It's sitting on newish Bilstein suspension, so it rides like a dream, its got some poxy aftermarket exhaust so it makes a bit of a racket - but I'm assured that its 'lit' and I'm just an 'old dude, so I don't get it'.
Everything about the car makes absolute 100% sense. The size - its perfect, when you move across your lane to set yourself up for the view, you actually MOVE across the lane not just slightly adjust your line. When you press the accelerator there is actual real resistance there, and the ability to gauge the engine braking effect is just effortless. The steering, this is a later PAS car, is sublime in comparison to our 2013 Polo, every aspect of the steering is wonderful, the size and thickness of the steering wheel, the weight when you take up the slack and then teh feel as you actually make the turn.. all cars should be able to do this.
On todays roads, it by no means fast, you'd be stretching the truth if you called it 'relatively quick' but it can do all things beautifully... it'll bumble about town at 30mph so discreetly that only GCHQ would know you were there. It'll cruise smoothly at 70 down the motorway all day long, and when you turn off three junctions early to make that last leg of the journey a little more interesting... oh man it does not disappoint. Every action requires thought and conviction, overtakes have to be properly planned and executed which makes them even more rewarding.
This is a car where you absolutely reap what you sow, it rewards effort more so than anything else I've driven this side of the 911's. When you get home after that B-road run, and you pat the dashboard and say "well done, you did good" it says 'nah man - YOU did good'
Ok there's a whole load of rose tinted opinion here, of course there is, but anyone and everyone who calls themselves a car nut / petrol head has to have owned a Mk2 Gti.
I only managed to stop for a couple of crap photos -- too busy having fun driving it!
I guess now that I've started typing I may as well carry on and write the post...
So the conversations about 'first cars' started with the boy when he was prob 15, we went through all the pro's and con's of older vs newer and I frequently had to piss on his chips when he started talking about 'modified this' and 'big wheel that' much to his obvious disgust.
He managed to get himself a job, and then promptly declared that he'd save up and buy his own first car and that way I wouldn't have a say in what he had... oh how little they know!
and he'd also seemed to forget that his mother would also want a say in what he was tooling around in. At this point I foolishly agreed to a "if you save up and pay for it, i'll insure it" deal - how was i supposed to know he'd actually save his money!!
anyway... fast forward a bit and he's firmly decided that a Mk2 Gti is where its at.. now I'd not looked at the prices of these since I sold my near mint 8v car 12years ago for £1100. Well FM sideways was I in for a shock. There were people out there asking 8-10K for cars that i didnt think I'd want to eat my dinner off.. apparently if I wanted to do that then I need to be looking at the 15K mark!!
We'd set a budget - I managed to talk him into saving some of it to pay for the inevitable bill to fix whatever the seller failed to tell us... and after missing out on a couple of nice cars as well as dodging some very shonky bullets, we mangaged to secure a car for sale on the south coast. Ticked all the boxes the boy wanted - Not Red, 3 door, not chav'd up. ( there's hope for him yet! )
With lockdown and with the car being bloody miles away we had to take a punt to move quickly or risk losing out so lots of calls, lots of videos and pictures and a deposit was paid. Again covid restrictions in place, I arranged for the guys that looks after my cars to pop down, check it out and bring it back if it was all good... Waiting for that call to come through was like waiting for the call when they picked up their exam results....
A couple of hours later and a very shiny '91 3door Gti 8V was parked on the drive, - knocking exhaust and questionable tracking were the only items reported.
I did take it for a bit of a spin the day it arrived and yeah, the tracking was properly out to cock... so didn't go far.
It went off to EMC in bham to have a proper going over and it was dropped back just in time for last weeks sunny days.. so...well... I did what every self respecting man would do while his son is at work and his car is in the drive.... I borrowed it for the day :grin:
As I said its been a good few years since I've driven a mk2 Gti.... and well... bugger me what a revelation that was. Its fair to say that I've been spoiled in the cars that I've had since, and I proper kicked myself for ever selling my one. It's such an engaging car to drive. It's sitting on newish Bilstein suspension, so it rides like a dream, its got some poxy aftermarket exhaust so it makes a bit of a racket - but I'm assured that its 'lit' and I'm just an 'old dude, so I don't get it'.
Everything about the car makes absolute 100% sense. The size - its perfect, when you move across your lane to set yourself up for the view, you actually MOVE across the lane not just slightly adjust your line. When you press the accelerator there is actual real resistance there, and the ability to gauge the engine braking effect is just effortless. The steering, this is a later PAS car, is sublime in comparison to our 2013 Polo, every aspect of the steering is wonderful, the size and thickness of the steering wheel, the weight when you take up the slack and then teh feel as you actually make the turn.. all cars should be able to do this.
On todays roads, it by no means fast, you'd be stretching the truth if you called it 'relatively quick' but it can do all things beautifully... it'll bumble about town at 30mph so discreetly that only GCHQ would know you were there. It'll cruise smoothly at 70 down the motorway all day long, and when you turn off three junctions early to make that last leg of the journey a little more interesting... oh man it does not disappoint. Every action requires thought and conviction, overtakes have to be properly planned and executed which makes them even more rewarding.
This is a car where you absolutely reap what you sow, it rewards effort more so than anything else I've driven this side of the 911's. When you get home after that B-road run, and you pat the dashboard and say "well done, you did good" it says 'nah man - YOU did good'
Ok there's a whole load of rose tinted opinion here, of course there is, but anyone and everyone who calls themselves a car nut / petrol head has to have owned a Mk2 Gti.
I only managed to stop for a couple of crap photos -- too busy having fun driving it!
Awesome, my missus had one as her first car and also had a 3dr black gti when i met her about 6ish years ago. When we got a house together and she had a bigger commute she got a more modern car and sold her mk2. Funnily enough it went down the south coast and had those same wheels but i've a feeling they broke it for parts! We wish we'd kept it really but dont have the space!
Hats off to you and your lad, hope its treats him well from here on in!
Hats off to you and your lad, hope its treats him well from here on in!
What a beautiful car l remember back in the late 90s having a 8Valve MK2 GTi and it was a lovely car to drive and bought it back in the day for £150 and it made a lovely burbling noise as it had a scorpion exhaust.
Mine was a 4 door A plate in silver with a vinyl roof and when I finished with it I sold the P alloys for £80 and used the head and gearbox and battery on my MK1 cabriolet then put a set of steels on it and put the knackered head and gearbox back on it and sold it for scrap (£50).
It must of been the only car that I’ve ever actually got my money’s worth out of it.
Mine was a 4 door A plate in silver with a vinyl roof and when I finished with it I sold the P alloys for £80 and used the head and gearbox and battery on my MK1 cabriolet then put a set of steels on it and put the knackered head and gearbox back on it and sold it for scrap (£50).
It must of been the only car that I’ve ever actually got my money’s worth out of it.
Another here with previous love for the 8V's, my first car was actually a 1.3 MK2 and I must have had 4-5 GTi's after that. What a first car for your son to pick in this day and age, what prompted him to go hunting for an old VW?
Like you, flabbergasted by modern day prices but you'll find it is the same for all sorts of oldish cars out there. It's free and very easy for idiots to list cars for sale now and I think you get dreamers quite happy to list and knock back offers until they get what they want or quietly withdraw the ad and cave in for a lower price.
I don't think I ever paid more than £350 for any of my Golf's and even in 2008 I only paid £200 for my last one.
EDIT: Found some old images on my Flickr account:
And this is what usually happened to them!
Like you, flabbergasted by modern day prices but you'll find it is the same for all sorts of oldish cars out there. It's free and very easy for idiots to list cars for sale now and I think you get dreamers quite happy to list and knock back offers until they get what they want or quietly withdraw the ad and cave in for a lower price.
I don't think I ever paid more than £350 for any of my Golf's and even in 2008 I only paid £200 for my last one.
EDIT: Found some old images on my Flickr account:
And this is what usually happened to them!
Edited by beambeam1 on Wednesday 3rd March 22:43
It’s great to read all the love for these coming from what I can only assume are people of the same vintage as me!
The boys got a weekend off coming up so the plan is to get down and dirty and make the GTi shine like it’s never shone before. So we’ll get some more info and pics up then.
But in the meantime keep the live coming and let’s see more of your old golfs from back in the day!
The boys got a weekend off coming up so the plan is to get down and dirty and make the GTi shine like it’s never shone before. So we’ll get some more info and pics up then.
But in the meantime keep the live coming and let’s see more of your old golfs from back in the day!
I had a MK1 1600 GTi and 2 MK2 early 16Vs in the 90s.
They all had fantastic throttle response, but unlike the MK1 the MK2s had decent brakes (for the era)!
All of mine were just cheap runners I had in between other cars, but I wish I had driven a good MK2 16V.
Anyway any MK2 GTi is a great first car!
They all had fantastic throttle response, but unlike the MK1 the MK2s had decent brakes (for the era)!
All of mine were just cheap runners I had in between other cars, but I wish I had driven a good MK2 16V.
Anyway any MK2 GTi is a great first car!
Great looking car - hope you enjoy. I had one that I sold about 10 years ago as the family expanded. Wish I’d keep it but didn’t really have the time to look after it. Loved driving it and it handled really well, despite the crude beam axle. I’m not sure how they did it. Would like another one but I’ve just checked the prices!!!!
I quite liked the steel wheels on it.
I quite liked the steel wheels on it.
, and look forward to seeing how this progresses.
So we finally got round to giving it a proper wash. Turns out that there are a few stone chips in the bonnet and a one or two touch ups that could do with touching I properly.
But none the less for a 30 year old she certainly does scrub up well. - really well.
It took him the full weekend and credit to him he didn’t b
h and moan about it as much I thought he would.. I even got him to stick another “wash and rinse” in just because I felt like being a bit mean...lol...
Once we had it looking right the obvious thing was to take it out and get it dirty right!?
Hell yes!
There is a feeling when you go back to driving something old school, I get it when I’m driving my old beetles as well.. it’s like there’s a level of forgiveness built in to everything, but with this it’s like you start with the “oh, that’s because it’s old..” but the car very quickly comes back with, “don’t worry... I still got what it takes”.
Oh man does this make you smile. The steering is PAS, but it’s got a lovely weight to it. You can feel the connection from your fingertips all the way down to the tarmac. There’s a series of bends on one of my local roads and we went through there, traffic free, sun setting off to the right... it was truly fantastic, the hairs on my arms stood on end. The car tracked beautifully on the line I picked and and nose pushed out as I rolled on the gas out of the final bend and on to the wide open straight....
<insert your fav driving anthem here>
It gets the right level of attention too. At least when I’m driving it, I’m sure it’ll get a different one when he’s behind the wheel. But generally it’s either a knowing nod from a similarly aged bloke in his estate. Or you can see their eyes glaze over and the start of a tear forming.. a yearning for a love lost because he got married and she made him sell his pride and joy.
Anyway- looks like there is some sunshine forecast this week so I might venture out again and get some more pics of it out and about.
But none the less for a 30 year old she certainly does scrub up well. - really well.
It took him the full weekend and credit to him he didn’t b
h and moan about it as much I thought he would.. I even got him to stick another “wash and rinse” in just because I felt like being a bit mean...lol... Once we had it looking right the obvious thing was to take it out and get it dirty right!?
Hell yes!
There is a feeling when you go back to driving something old school, I get it when I’m driving my old beetles as well.. it’s like there’s a level of forgiveness built in to everything, but with this it’s like you start with the “oh, that’s because it’s old..” but the car very quickly comes back with, “don’t worry... I still got what it takes”.
Oh man does this make you smile. The steering is PAS, but it’s got a lovely weight to it. You can feel the connection from your fingertips all the way down to the tarmac. There’s a series of bends on one of my local roads and we went through there, traffic free, sun setting off to the right... it was truly fantastic, the hairs on my arms stood on end. The car tracked beautifully on the line I picked and and nose pushed out as I rolled on the gas out of the final bend and on to the wide open straight....
<insert your fav driving anthem here>
It gets the right level of attention too. At least when I’m driving it, I’m sure it’ll get a different one when he’s behind the wheel. But generally it’s either a knowing nod from a similarly aged bloke in his estate. Or you can see their eyes glaze over and the start of a tear forming.. a yearning for a love lost because he got married and she made him sell his pride and joy.
Anyway- looks like there is some sunshine forecast this week so I might venture out again and get some more pics of it out and about.
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