Which is a better engine... 8v or 16v??? I Didnt say faster, i said better!

[alan293]

Hey guys new to this MK2 stuff. having previously had a wicked Mk1 8v which was a great car to drive. I am picking up B-reg 1 owner MK2 8v on Saturday with only 64k on the clock .  What engine will it be? I love the cars and love the drive but I have no idea about engines etc....

Will post pics later.....

[Volkswagavin]

This old chesnut again...

It all depends on how you drive.  If you spend most of your time driving as though you've sat on a wasp, the 16v is better, although bear in mind if you buy one you should budget for a new engine and gearbox, just in case.

The 8v is probably easier to drive as it has plenty of torque low down in the rev range.  Whilst the graphs show that the 16v has more torque than the 8v at all rev ranges, the gearing is slightly different so you end up shifting more in the 16v, whereas there is less need to drop a cog to overtake in an 8v.

Both cars are great though and anything is better and, well, as long as its not French eh...

[VeeDubGTI16v]

Hey guys new to this MK2 stuff. having previously had a wicked Mk1 8v which was a great car to drive. I am picking up B-reg 1 owner MK2 8v on Saturday with only 64k on the clock . What engine will it be? I love the cars and love the drive but I have no idea about engines etc....

Will post pics later.....

probably the same kjet you had in your mk1.

kjets have more low down torque than digifant

[Daz...]

I love my 16v and wouldn't swap it for anything (apart from maybe a limited  ) but I've got to admit that it really does lack guts low down in the revs...have to keep it above 4k all the time..ahh, the sound of a screaming valver 

My neighbours got an 8v and he seems to have more probs with that than I've had with mine..but other than that don't know which is the 'better' engine, just know which one i'd choose everytime 

[Devon Joe]

I agree with shaunj- its a badge thing really..have owned 4 golfs: 1.6 carb, 2 x 8v gtis and now a 16v and love them all.
I keep on trying to stop this fixation by trying to buy other cars but there genuinely is something special about the mk2 golf.

At the grand old age of 28 i am slowly working through classic 80's performance cars (my insurance is cheap and so are the cars)
Its all very personal- In my humble opinion i found the 1.9 205gti, r5 turbo, astra gte 16v to be awful cars; any paper tiger will know they are 'faster' then standard 8v/16v golfs but each one has either nasty chassis gremlins, awful build, terrible ergonomics or quite frankly horrible styling/image that offset more power/better handling/grip/feedback etc. Also done Maestro turbo,m535i, Metro 16v, Mk1 Golf 1600gti, Nissan 180sx and 4.0 xj6 (if you havent been to le mans, buy a £300 jag, what a road trip!) I dont keep cars for long and usually break even/make a slight profit too!

Please dont take all this as me boasting- i am just speaking from lucky personal experience but the point is i keep coming back to the Volkswagen Golf Mk2 as the one car i want to own.

The Mk2 Golf Gti is a truly iconic hot hatch because it always seems to polarise opinion on the road..you either get respect or raced. There is a dick near me who often proves that his standard Nissan Almera Gti is quicker than my standard 16v but he must be quite sad to know he is in a Nissan Almera Gti. 

Mechanically I find 8v and 16v engines easy to work on ( downpipe joint aside ) but the 16v takes slightly longer (e.g 32 tiny valve collets versus 16!)
As for the 8v/16v debate...my 16v is getting 2.0 litres soon which probably means i am heading for best of both...

[Neaty]

I have never driven an 8 valve so i am going to be biased and say 16valve, but it depends how u want to drive i suppose, i like the fact the 16valves rev to 7200 rpm!

one thing that i always wondered was, why didnt they do a digifant 16valve on the later models, like they did withthe 8 valve? maybe vw thought that k-jet was better for performance?

but i must say as soon as i can afford one i will be getting an 8valve in the form of a G60!

[AudiA8Quattro]

They did do a digifant 16v, but it didn't appear until 1994, in the mk3 golf, engine code ABF.

[Neaty]

I didnt think mark 3's were digifant

[Mirage-]

Based totally on finances I'd have to say my 8v is the best... it was free! 

[RYoungMK1GTI]

the 16v engines are fun an an 8v in a mk2 arnt that quick i puta digifant in my mk1 that was realy fun and reliable, till it justefd a tooth on the timing belt. good engines though