What a great car for a 23 year old. If I remember right I payed £600 to insure a 205 gti in 1996 ( i was 23 then). I can remember spending hours shopping for insurance. £82 per month sounds pretty good to me.
My first 'quick' car was a Cavalier SRi 130 in 1989 when I was 19. I'm pretty sure that the insurance was about £300 for me and my Dad as a named driver. Those days you went to your trusted broker who got out his big book of rates from a handful of companies to look up the premium.
Update: He's completely smitten with the car, absolutely loves it. On the subject of insurance premiums "back in the day" my first GTI was an 18-month old Mk1, which I bought in 1983, and from memory it cost me £165 to insure. But that was Fully Comp.
At the time, you could buy a GTI in any colour you liked in the UK, as long as it was black, red, or white. Or possibly silver. Mine was Helios Blue, a dark(ish) metallic blue, bought new by a Captain in the BAOR (British Army of Occupation in the Rhine, or something like that), in full UK spec, even the wipers were mounted correctly. When he'd finished his tour of duty he brought it back to the UK.
I've never seen another in that colour, but there must be some, surely?
