mk3 - nothing going for them even when people spend ££££'s on them at shows. It's a mk3!
Now here's an interesting thing and I'll get murdered for saying this, but what the hell - it's just based on my experience and it's about the driving, not the looking.
If you have a relatively early and basic MK3, like my sh*t-shaped utility motoring item, then it's relatively close to the Golf2, because it doesn't weigh a lot more than the late Golf2 GTIs - it's not got the electric windows or any of that nice (read heavy) stuff, but it means it doesn't have the lard that most Golf3 GTIs have (or the late Golf2s). What it needs is better damping (probably replacing the 170k probably-still-original dampers with Golf2 GTI OEM items - or better some Bilsteins - might sort that). I might do a weight-saving drive on it later in the year and see how many kilos of sound deadening and other clutter I can pull out of it.
It still looks turd, but I'd be interested in comparing it back to back with a late Golf2 8V cross country. It does make me smirk when I'm being unkind to it.
But then this is a thread for those who have kept their cars relatively standard and it's about the complete package and under no circumstances will I suggest a Golf3 TDI is ever anywhere in the same continent as an ownership proposition vs what you guys have.
This does, however mean I don't feel obliged to clean it, or look after it cosmetically in any way at all though and for utility motoring, for me that is a big draw.
Oh and every time I get in my Syncro and boot it I'm reminded about just how big a grin it's possible to wear.
