Meeting up with grandad…

[Exonian]

Not my car or photo but sent to me by my good friend (and forum member) Simon who owns the mk5, thought I’d share it as I love this shot.
Much as I like the mk8’s wheels it’s the mk5 that still does it for me…

[JoeGTI]

The MK5 GTI is still a cracking looking car. A nice clean unmolested one (rare  ) is still a proper head turner today imo.

[Snoopy]

As good as the mk5 is I personally still feel the same way I did when new and I owned one. It was too rounded and had the Audi look rather than the evolution of the golf looks.

[SRGTD]

As good as the mk5 is I personally still feel the same way I did when new and I owned one. It was too rounded and had the Audi look rather than the evolution of the golf looks.

I’m inclined to agree.

One aspect of the mk5 I always thought looked really odd was the rear bumper.



IMHO the rear bumper didn’t match the rest of the car with that weird extra deep textured black plastic lower section extending halfway up the number plate recess. When viewed full on from the rear it highlighted the ‘rounded-ness’ of the rear end of the car and made it look rather ungainly. It was almost as if VW forgot to design a suitable rear bumper and had to cobble something together at the last minute. Not the most cohesive design feature of the car. The R32 did get get ‘proper’ rear bumper though.

I did own a mk5 Golf but chose to have a black one, which went some way towards ‘hiding’ that strange rear lower bumper section.

[dubber36]

I think the best looking Mk5 Golf was the Scirocco.

[SRGTD]

I think the best looking Mk5 Golf was the Scirocco.

Agree. The Scirocco has aged well too, and IMHO it’s design still looks good compared to more modern cars on the road today.

[Splashalot]

As good as the mk5 is I personally still feel the same way I did when new and I owned one. It was too rounded and had the Audi look rather than the evolution of the golf looks.

I’m inclined to agree.

One aspect of the mk5 I always thought looked really odd was the rear bumper.



IMHO the rear bumper didn’t match the rest of the car with that weird extra deep textured black plastic lower section extending halfway up the number plate recess. When viewed full on from the rear it highlighted the ‘rounded-ness’ of the rear end of the car and made it look rather ungainly. It was almost as if VW forgot to design a suitable rear bumper and had to cobble something together at the last minute. Not the most cohesive design feature of the car. The R32 did get get ‘proper’ rear bumper though.

I did own a mk5 Golf but chose to have a black one, which went some way towards ‘hiding’ that strange rear lower bumper section.

Back in the day when I owned my MK5 GTI there was a trend here to repaint that black lower bumper section to body colour. This just made matters worse - the car  then looked like it it had filled it's nappy to the brim! Suffice to say I left my GTI's black.

[JoeGTI]

That black rear valence was subtly different on the GTI though versus the standard MK5 in that photo. The GTI one was in 2 sections, a separate section around the exhaust and I think it looked less flabby than the standard car as a result. Some people used to paint the upper part of those 2 sections, leaving the exhaust valence black which looked well imo. The Edition30 also had the whole thing fully painted.

Also, on the GTI, the side skirts flicked up at the rear door and lined up with that rear bumper valence. You can see this in Exonian's photo. I think that worked well.

Personally I think its a design thats aged very well, certainly better than the MK6.

I'm not sure the MK8 will be remembered so fondly in 15+ years time.

[Yusee]

Friend of mine came over to change the oil on his mk5 recently and we had our own “ meet the grandad” photo shoot…





I find it difficult to be analyse the looks of a car. If you like the car, it looks good.

Mk7 is a beauty.

[GTI_Ant]

Not my car or photo but sent to me by my good friend (and forum member) Simon who owns the mk5, thought I’d share it as I love this shot.
Much as I like the mk8’s wheels it’s the mk5 that still does it for me…

That’s probably because only one of these cars has the correct number of doors. And it isn’t the mk8. I find this a real shame, but we’re stuck with it.