Forty years of pineappling

[Junkman]

The first Golf GTI was unbelievably good, especially when you consider that up to then small crackerboxes were things like the NSU TT, Glas 1304 TS, Simca 1000 Rally, and the like. So in 1983, I took a very close look at a new one at my local VAG dealer, offered at a discount because the MKII was already announced, yawned, went to the Seat dealer, and bought a brand new Ronda Crono. It cost 1500 Marks less than the discounted GTI, but had power steering, central locking, tinted glass, electric windows up front, and 400cc and 10PS more. Jayzuz, what a stick of dynamite that was.

The jaunty Senorinas, however, flocked to the Golfers.

Why, I ask you. Why?

[garethj]

I think the '70s VWs had an honesty that Beetles had in the 1950s and '60s.  Basic motoring, pretty good quality (I know they rusted, but that was typical variable build quality of the time.  Some lasted for decades, others rusted within 2 years) and nothing arrogant about them.

 

They did an amazing job with the Golf to give huge interior space compared to the Beetle with the same wheelbase and with the Passat it rescued the whole company.

 

I've had a few Beetles, a 412 Estate and we had Golfs and Passats through the family too.  As the 1980s progressed they were making very fine cars that built a reputation the company has used ever since.  Even though they've mostly been sitting on their hands since the early 1990s, or going backwards.

 

The geek in me would have preferred if VW had made the EA266, but the Golf was probably the right choice to let thousands of people keep their jobs, I just wish we had a similar success story in Britain.

[Mr Lobster]

Either way, if anyone wants to give me a Mk2 16v GTi, preferably a 5dr in Oak Green then I'd be as happy as a pig in a sty full of pig deposits.

[brickwall]

My brother's Missus was driving a Mk3 around for a bit and there wasn't much wrong with, but then there was nothing quite right with it. It felt stale even new and I couldn't get any of the wheels to skip when throwing it around country lanes...it was just too refined  for a driver looking to have a smile put on their face.

 

The fun had packed up and gone away leaving not even a note.

[Asimo]

Either way, if anyone wants to give me a Mk2 16v GTi, preferably a 5dr in Oak Green then I'd be as happy as a pig in a sty full of pig deposits.

 

A GTi has 3 doors. 5 door GTi is a compromised wanabe of a car.

[Pete-M]

I've had a few Golfs.

 

First was a V reg Mk1 1.6 4 speed GTi. When it was working properly it was a nice little car. I later had a '82 Y plate 1.8 GTi which was much better.

 

Mk1 was ok but I don't believe they moved the world on for anyone. They made FWD nippy hatchbacks popular. I have always cconsidered that a bad move as personally I'm no fan of FWD - especially in small fun cars.

 

Later I had a few Mk2 GTis. A LHD B plate GTi that was brilliant, a G plate big bumper 16v that I didn't get on with and then a G plate small bumper 8v which I fitted a 2.0 bottom end to.

 

I blame the Golf for killing small RWD stuff like the Sunbeam and Escort. For that reason alone for me there will always be a bit of annoyance toward the Golf. Journos wittered on about how great it was to lose most of the transmission tunnel but the tunnel was never a problem and they kept it in most cars to run the handbrake and exhaust down anyway. We just lost RWD. Which is a bad thing to lose.

[Junkman]

My brother's Missus was driving a Mk3 around for a bit and there wasn't much wrong with, but then there was nothing quite right with it. It felt stale even new and I couldn't get any of the wheels to skip when throwing it around country lanes...it was just too refined  for a driver looking to have a smile put on their face.

 

The fun had packed up and gone away leaving not even a note.

 

I think that's exactly it.

Golfs are about as much fun as Aunt Wilhelmine's birthday parties.

VW should have continued to build daft cars that were at least unintentionally hilarious, then joined British Leyland in automotive history's vast cemetery.

[Pillock]

FWD made every average motorist feel safe and fast though. Boot a FWD in a corner, it'll start to ease out towards the kerb, back off and it'll usually correct. Kitten status: alive. So it was the right choice to sell to the masses packaged into a "fast" car back in the days before TCS, ASR, MFI and whatever.

 

RWD is more fun but it'll also bite you quicker if you're an everyday motorist.

[dollywobbler]

I must admit, I far prefer FWD for on-road hoonigans. Rear-wheel drive is certainly more fun, but only if there's enough space to really enjoy requiring wipers on the side windows.

[Sloth in a bowl]

The proper hot hatches now are Clio/Polo sized arn't they?

 

Golfs and Meganes are more like XR4i's and R21 turbo's in size and weight.

 

I definitely consider my Octavia vrs has more in character with a Saab 9000/9-5 Turbo than a hot hatch and the Golf isn't much smaller.

 

The proper hot hatches are the Fiat 500 / Twingo / MG3 sized things and even they are bulky compared to anything from the 70's or 80's

[Pete-M]

I grew up with RWD. I'm almost certainly quicker on a road I don't know in a FWD car, but a well sorted RWD car is so much more enjoyable.

 

Yes, people ended up in ditches in RWD stuff when they got things wrong, but it's a lot harder to get a proper move on nowadays - and not everyone who buys a 1 series or MX5 is dead yet.

[Junkman]

My dad is Mr FWD himself. With the exception of a Beetle and a Caprice Classic, he only ever drove FWDs for 50 odd years. He can do it. He can throw them into corners, do 360 flips, drive them on snow, the lot.

All I can do with FWDs is drive them into hedges, stone walls, and ditches. I just don't get the concept.

[brickwall]

Same. Dad wouldae drive a rear wheeler unless it was free. He used to be able to do some amazing things with the FWD and taught me a lot that would never make the Highway Code, if you know what I mean.

[Junkman]

"Son, all you need to do, is aim the front wheels where you want to go, and step on that loud pedal".

Well, if you do that with a RWD, you're dead, hence I have some kind of a mental blockade.

[brickwall]

 

 

 

 

This is the pick that explains what I was talking about. The car on the left is a dandy little car that can scoot along and is light on its boots. The car on the right is a car.

[Pillock]

Well apart from FWD layout, there's nothing in common. I'd be very surprised if any parts were interchangeable (at least without hammers) so it kind of goes back to what I was saying about the most interesting bit being the unchanged name - Escort to Focus, Cavalier to Vectra to Insignia, Nova to Corsa you kind of get a fresh start and it's harder to compare back over decades.

 

I think Trig's Civic escapes too many comparisons to newer cars because back in the day it wasn't a massive seller along the lines of a Fiesta, its not on a lot of radars.

[forddeliveryboy]

The Mk1 Golf was pretty revolutionary. Today, bland trying-to-be-posh hatchbacks are all the rage, but back in 1974, the Golf immediately made stuff like the Ford Escort, Hillman Avenger and Vauxhall Viva seem woefully outdated. When you consider VW's track record up to that point, it's all the more remarkable. Sadly though, the Mk2 didn't move the game on at all really. I'm not sure mine compared all that favourably against a Ford Escort Mk3/4 or Vauxhall Astra Mk2. It still felt a bit 1970s to be honest - albeit the fresh side of the 1970s.

 

 

The first Golf GTI was unbelievably good, especially when you consider that up to then small crackerboxes were things like the NSU TT, Glas 1304 TS, Simca 1000 Rally, and the like. So in 1983, I took a very close look at a new one at my local VAG dealer, offered at a discount because the MKII was already announced, yawned, went to the Seat dealer, and bought a brand new Ronda Crono. It cost 1500 Marks less than the discounted GTI, but had power steering, central locking, tinted glass, electric windows up front, and 400cc and 10PS more. Jayzuz, what a stick of dynamite that was.

The jaunty Senorinas, however, flocked to the Golfers.

Why, I ask you. Why?

 

 

The Golf was a bland, cheapened copy of what there already was available, but a little more reliable and consumer-friendly. Often more reliable than other cars because mechanics found it easy to work on. And the bits which make a car unreliable - often cheap little parts - were well designed and well made. Derestricted motorways in the Fatherland meant that even the most determined teenage boy couldn't blow a Golf up, flat out. Perhaps that was the beginnings of success?

 

Compared with any AlfaSud, a Mk1 Golf GTi is utter crap in almost every respect, other than ease of front brake pad replacement. Compared with a Simca 1100, it could easily be argued that a Mk1 Golf was deformed and weak. After the Beetle, it was amazing. And if you traded in your Maxi or Allegro, the Golf felt better quality and was more fashionable. Ford buyers often stayed loyal - the dealer network was similarly good. Golfs were also quick, thanks to a lack of metal, Ford-style.

 

The fashionable set took to it partly because the dealers weren't condescending, oily and rude, parts were available often quicker than BL stuff and they were reliable. And nippy - everyone likes a light car, if the doors don't close like a 2cv's. When the originals rotted out quickly, rather than have new front wings new cars were bought - there were faster and better equipped models available. Weak spots had been improved - when you started life making a car as awful as the original Beetle had been, improvement came as second nature.

 

On top of all this, the advertising was brilliant - self-deprecating, witty and to the point. It didn't matter that the wipers and column stalks were set for those who drive on the wrong side of the road, the cars were honest, neat, reliable and good to drive. The British had never been too worried about awesome braking abilites - was this by luck and chance or good judgement that VW got away with such poor brakes?

 

What could go wrong? From near-bankruptcy (only staved off by the West German govt - who unlike HMG with BL gave VW a limited time to sort themselves out) in the early 70s to a global giant in the early 21st century who also own and make Bentleys (effectively what was Rolls-Royce, all bar the name), Bugatti, Lamborghini, Skoda and so on. Audi is the preferred marque of the moneyed classes, VW is launching the 300mpg supercar. The company wobbled in the early 90s, but true to German industry they stood firm, grasped what was wrong and self-improved.

 

My first car was a Mk1 Golf 1500, which I thought was properly ace (Dad always had Austins, Rovers and Triumphs which felt poorly-built and asthmatic by comparison), until Mum bought a Dyane. I couldn't get my head round how what was essentially a wartime design could outclass what I had considered was the cutting edge in so many respects. Especially when they were cars for French peasants.

 

I do wonder if the whole German car thing isn't based on just one thing? - the doors close nicely.