the 8v golf GTI, the lukewarm hatch

[madmanmart]

The mk3 gti in all it's forms has always been a quality product with a good image and i'm going to stick my neck out here and say that i read a lot of posts about mechanical woes from 16V/VR6 owners but precious few from 8V owners.

All the engines have common problems but they are all seriously reliable when it comes to it.

[Gavv8]

All golfs up to the mk5 have always been compared to the original mk1 which was from another time in automotive terms, if you compare the number of solid looking mk3's to it's competitors you'll be hard pushed to find more than a handful of decent examples whereas i seem to pass at least one tidy looking mk3 gti/vr every day and usually quite a few.
The mk3 was designed to be a logical step from the mk2 which had hardly any real safety features or equipment, so when the mk3 turned up with electric everything and airbags etc it was bound to be heavier and chunkier than the mk2 but yet again it was compared to the mk1 which was unfair.
The mk3 gti in all it's forms has always been a quality product with a good image and i'm going to stick my neck out here and say that i read a lot of posts about mechanical woes from 16V/VR6 owners but precious few from 8V owners.

Fair point



I would say that 16v and VR'S get spanked on a more regular basis thus need more work.
Also have more moving parts.
most of this generation of engines are pretty solid though.

[Gavv8]

"Me and my mates say Jap for go, vw for show."


My brother in law has a honda accord cdti estate thats been chipped and it goes like a rocket.

[MK3GTI_16Valve]

16v is quicker than a std 2.2 cdi one of these...best mate has one and golf is quicker

[luckycharms]

Repost of something here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrU9xI8d8DI
Skip to 1:51
Should shut up some of the 8v owners


ONly kidding each to their own, and the golf is a far better all round car than a corolla

[tweed]

1.6 

[Toopay_MkIII_GT]

i agree with alot of the points here. i have been a dub person for a very long time. i had a polo gt coupe befor getting the golf gti. i knew very well about the golf performance when buying it, so i knew i wasnt geting a rocket ship. and i can happily take a couple hour dive on some twisties and be suprised how nicly it zips along. my friend has a 08 astra sri with 140 brake, my golf can keeps pace with it. now dont take that wrong way, im not sayin for a moment my golf is faster coz its not. but its holds it own. and my golf would be far happier than the astra going round the twisties. i still belive that vw did wrong putting the gti badge on the 8v. 16v should of been the only gti. my dad had a passat with the same 2.0 engine as my gti, im guessing that cos its  good reliable, solid work horse of a engine, fair point. but to put that engine in the golf slap a gti badge on it ppl are going to expect more, im sorry but they are. in the early 90's vw made the gti name stand for the flagship model in terms of safety features and how much tech they could fit in a reasonably priced car. not speed. that fair enough, but that completely re branding the name, should have just made it a GLor the SE. everyone would sing its prases then. i love the golf for being the better car in terms of build quality to its rivals and the golf does alot of thing well and is class leader. but when they but a badge on the car that everyone associates with "hothatch" dont just settle with new satey features and forget the reason why ppll are going to buy a gti over the model down.

[dave73]

I have recently purchased my mk3 8v it cost me £300 with t & t and i absolutely love it ! I bought it at the local auctions to use for a week and then sell on ..................... that was 6 weeks ago since then fitted alloys , quads , fogs , lowered it and all has cost me virtually nothing ! I have owned alot of cars since passing my test (approx 50 ish) i have all sorts , ranging from old to new from mk1 escort mexicos , mk2 1600 sports , rs turbo x4 , sierra cosworth x3 capri 2.8i specials , vectra sri and gsi , xr2 and xr2i , porsche 944 and 944s2 , alfa 156 , jaguar s type , jaguar x type , astra gte mk1 and 2 , escort vans , peugeot gti 1.6 & 1.9 and 405 mi16 , mini 1275 gt , a gti mk2 8v & 16v and sooooooo many more even a kia rio estate  :embarassed: all these and more in only 20 years of driving , and therefore i think that having owned such a varied spectrum of cars that based on my own experiences and knowledge that the following statements are true

pound for pound the mk3 8v is quite possibly the most fun youll get for virtually no money , to modify them costs peanuts to repair them costs the same to run and insure them is also cheap and they are really quite good looking motors in any guise !!

If its speed you want for your money then dont look at the £100k audis and dont look at the £60k jap nor even at the porsche range because quite simply the best bhp for your money will come from fords sierra cosworth , they can be modified to astronomical levels and leave pretty much anything at the lights , and trust me having been in some seriously modded versions like the famous desert storm cossie built by turbosystems (google it) i know this to be true ! BUT AT WHAT COST ? they are group 20 to insure , if the engine goes bang its a couple of grand , you cant leave it anywhere for fear of them being stolen , every muppet in the world wants to race you at the lights just to see if its a real one and your wages will never be your own 

so in summary go buy an 8v golf gti great to look at , fun to drive , can out perform alot on the roads even with 115bhp cus 9 times outta 10 its down to the driver , and they cost the same as a cheap 42" tv and can be modded to virtually any spec for a similar price !!!! WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU BUY ANYTHING ELSE ??

[Gavv8]

I agree with all of that, i cut my teeth on the old rover v8 engine which was kid of the same thing , cheap reliable fun and i'm seeing an awful lot of very tidy 8v's tooling around at the moment.

[tdi_blu]

I was playing with a mk6 2.0 tdi golf i belive to be a 140bhp model and if i got in front of him he couldnt get past me and the other way round if he was in front of me best thing was when we came long side one another at the traffic lights and he put the window down the lad then said nice golf mate is it a 16v or a VR of course I replied no mate its only a 8v at which point his 2 co-pilots started laughing at him saying you got done by a 8v  made me laugh