80’s VW GTI
 

Being a teen of the 80’s I’m thinking my next car must be something of my youth. I had an early 80’s rabbit that I loved but crashed. Always wanted a GTI. Just drive a 08 VW rabbit for that last 3 years and absolutely loved that too. Now my goal is to get something pre OBD, I’m tired of codes and computers. Anyhow, what can ya’ll tell me about them? I’m assuming slow which is okay. What else? Maintenance, hard to find parts, years to avoid? I plan on spending to get a well sorted, heavily loved one and just maintain as things break.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thank you.

Funny you should bring this up. Last fall I bought '89 Golf Cabriolet. It is a first generation car and is completely analog even to the fuel injection. It had some rust and a couple of dents, missing trim clips and needed the seats recovered.
Most of that has been looked after. Thursday I took it for an hour long run.I had forgotten how much fun Mk I Golf's were. It loves to cruise at about 65 mph on twisty back roads. (I've heard :D )

Have fun looking.
Best
Les

Try to find a good online forum for those 1st, checkout clubs that are in your area, do your research.

Put your knee on the front bumper, bounce it up and down, and watch the gap between the fenders and the cowl. If it moves at all, walk away. Also look close at the body where the rear axle mounts to the body. If there's even a hint of rust, walk away.
Plan on replacing the headliner if it hasn't already been done.
I've owned at least one of every color, Silver, Red, Black, White.
In the US they only made them in 83 and 84, in 85 they went to the MkII

If I was in the market for a project and VW GTI is what I had my eye on, I’d go Mk 2.


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Remember the VW pickups? I always thought making one a GTI would be fun.

If it's an early GTI it won't be cheap, but the MK1 is considered a classic. I had one before my 911.

I'd love to own a MKII Jetta GLI or GTI myself...

rjp

I must admit to toying with the idea of shoehorning a 200 hp VW turbo motor into my little cab.
Might be hard keeping tires on it.
Maybe not. I think I am better off with what I've got.

Best
Les

www.vwvortex.com would be a good place to start.

I think they are overrated, the prices for a GTI mk1 or 2 .. get a 924 instead.
much nicer car, similar performance.. RWD... and it's a Porsche

Not looking to modify, just stock. I’m guessing 10-15k will get a nice one. I’ll investigate further. Thanks for all the advice.

This. Stay away from the Mk 4 forums and you’ll be fine.

Unless you like stancebros, not that there’s anything wrong with that.


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A tweeked turbo diesel would be fun !

You don't need no GTI. What you need is a white Rabbit cab with long blond hair flowing in the wind. Hell, even I will take a look at you as I fly by in my family van. All the chicks had one back in the 80s here in LA. Even the ugly ones look damn good in it and you would too, even today:D

I don't know too much about them. My friend John had one in our last year of high school, and that thing was quick. But then again, we all had 3.5 cylinder Tercels or our dad's old pinto or Mustang II with a million miles on them.

I drove the new one couple days ago. It belong to my friend's daughter. It has a turbo on it and the torque is greeeeat. Handles very well. I was surprise.

The only new car I ever bought was an '84 Rabbit, Wolfsberg Edition. I sold it at about 300K miles. It still had the factory clutch disk. I wouldn't believe that if I did not know it was true.

Performance-wise, the hot ticket was the Rabbit pickup, non-diesel. Lighter than the two-door Rabbit. They all weighed under 2000 lbs. I think I don't have to tell this forum that the biggest factor in performance motoring is weight. Dr. Porsche knew that.

Shortly after that came the 16-valve engine. WAY better engine.

I leased a black '84 with all the options. I think they were AC, sunroof, and front vent windows. The car was a blast, felt quick, but it was geared really short. It would be revving pretty good at 65mph. The '84s had the blue seats with the red stripes, which I thought looked a lot better than the red seats of the '83s. Seems like I've seen '84s with the red seats, too, but I thought they were all blue that year.

I owned a 94 VR6 Golf (Mark 3) for about 10 years... I bought it think "it's a VW so it must be good"... Wrong.
As modern cars go it was OK but it wasn't reliable. I was always fixing something.

The Mark 2 is a better car IMO.

I had a 84 white with blue seats. It was a fun car with as mentioned short gears. You could spin tires into 3rd. My sister had a mk2 Jetta. Much more of a solid feeling German car where the gti felt like a go cart with doors. :)

A 1983 Rabbit GTI was my first car. White with Blue interior. Over the past 6 months I've followed the market for one. Incredible how much complete / decent ones sell for nowadays.

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