WHAT IS IT?
What is it? What is it? It’s the original hot hatch, and if you have to ask, well…….North Americans got the watered-down, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania-built version of the MK 1 GTI. This one is the RoW spec that God intended, with thousands in sympathetic work done to make the car look as though it could have come straight from a showroom in Dusseldorf in the early MTV era. It makes you want to go blast some Kraftwerk or Scorpions just looking at it. With about 110 fuel-injected horsepower and under 2,000-lbs. of curb weight, the 1.8-L GTI could do 0-60 in under nine seconds which was quite quick for the era.
WHY THIS CAR HAS BEST ONE ON THE PLANET CHOPS
I’ve seen the one at the Zeithaus at AutoStadt, VW’s giant Wolfsburg museum, and it doesn’t present any better than this one, although it’s largely unrestored and it’s an earlier 1.6-L car. Top to bottom, underside, interior and engine compartment are outstanding on this car and the seller has extensive receipts. Is it cheap at €29,000/$33,675? No, but best of luck finding a better example of this utterly iconic car for less. It’s on offer by Automobili Undici in Padova, Italy
 the car looks as though it could have come straight from a showroom in Dusseldorf in the early MTV era. it makes you want to go blast some Kraftwerk or Scorpions just looking at it.
I love it… these light weight, fun, and perky hatchbacks of the 80’s just did it all. As a child of the 80’s I love this one so much. I still wouldn’t kick a square-headlight early US model out of my garage if I could have a decent one… and they are increasingly hard to come by. I had a Mk.2 Jetta GLI 16v for a few years and while it was terribly noisy at freeway speeds it just made me smile every time you drove it.
Everything seemed to get so expensive during COVID, strangely, the ask on this car seems reasonable to me now for something so iconic.
These are such an iconic Hot Hatch of the ’80s, and being so popular, many were lost to excessive modifications. To see one in this condition after 43 years is quite impressive.
Another utter beauty designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro – complete with golf ball gear shift knob and that distinctive red frame around the front grill that housed the rally inspired lights. It sits up straight almost at the same angle of the Innocenti Mini and it doesn’t matter what rims it wears- it looks perfect on any.
Loving that Kraftwerk reference- distinctly remember like it was yesterday- stopping and inspecting a parked red GTI for the first time while heading to a party in the early 80s, only to get yelled at by my friends to catch up.