Although i love my 8v its pretty much the reason why the mk3 gti was unloved as it was underpowered, handled poorly and was larger than the mk2 it replaced which was a better car in its day and the situation wasn't reversed until the 16v came along which was hardly a ball of fire itself , however and its a big however i do believe that the mk3's time has come around and the 8v is helping this because the mk3 has now gained a reputation for reliability and easy/cheap maintenance which then spurs owners on to the 16v and vr6 models, yes the 3 does have rust issues but no worse than a lot of other cars and better than a lot of other cars of its age.
Like a lot of people on here i drive mine every day and i regularly do 200-250 miles a week and enjoy every minute which i wouldn't be doing if i owned something with less revered heritage.
I also think that as most of the good mk2's become show ponies and weekend toys the mk3 is the 'cool' old Gti now.
