40 Years of GTI Performance.

[Exonian]

My 1.6 GTI wasn't massively unreliable considering the treatment it got but it always had oil leaks and ran too hot. It even burst its expansion tank! It went rusty though despite an anal cleaning routine.
My 1.8 GTI was very unreliable. Better built but mechanically sh!te. I ended up uprating everything that broke on it so it ended up quite modified! I was young then. It wasn't driven really hard but wasn't grannied either but was always in the garage (as was the 1.6) getting little things fixed.
And the cars weren't called "Exocets" for no reason. The standard RHD brakes weren't good.
I hated the non PAS steering. Devon lanes and slow steering don't mix. The 205 GTI's without PAS were just as bad.
My mk2's were all trouble free.
As were my mk4's, mk5's and mk6's
In fact unlike yours Snoops, my mk6's were very reliable considering some of the massive commutes I had to do when my dad was very unwell. Clocking up well over 700 miles a week for a good while during some appalling weather.
Early days with the mk7's.

I'll be the first to agree the mk1 was a truly great car but not as a daily driver in modern traffic and road conditions.
Still, I have found something the mk1 and 7's share that other Golfs lacked - hit an irregularity head on and it sounds like the car has just exploded!

[Snoopy]

Mines been driven v.v.hard ive had it since i was 17  but its  never let me down. Its my dependable fall back on car.
Very little difference between mk1 and mk2 1.8s so as i said you had a couple bad mk1s but normal mk2s.
My SEATs were average, electrical gremlins (all actual vw shared bits or bosch), injection issues and an engine build issue with the 2.0 16v Gti. I miss my ibiza 16v though.
My 2.0 8v stranded me so many times i had to get rid. Engine electronic gremlins.
Im now sick of replacing door locks, window motors on our ibiza mk4 and leon mk1. (Same parts as mk4 golfs)
My mk5 rattled like mad and had a couple of issues which including the cost cutting cheap ass french made fuel injector issue.. Glad i sold it though the way they are rusting.. i also never really fell in love with the micra rounded looks.
The mk6 has had some issues mainly oil leaks. I just feel the engineering is poor and built to a price and has been since the mk2 GTIs to be honest. The more i read about the issues with the mk7 im still unsure if i will ever bother to get one.

[Exonian]

That basically leads back to my first post.
The 40 year old ones tended to rust and later ones are just mass produced & full of cheap electronics that are a time bomb.
Which is best?
Each has its day as to whether it would be better (fun vs. comfort) transport and each probably the best on the market in its respective time.
My 1991 mk2 and 1992 G40 are the only cars I look back on with much fondness.

[Snoopy]

That basically leads back to my first post.
The 40 year old ones tended to rust and later ones are just mass produced & full of cheap electronics that are a time bomb.
Which is best?
Each has its day as to whether it would be better (fun vs. comfort) transport and each probably the best on the market in its respective time.
My 1991 mk2 and 1992 G40 are the only cars I look back on with much fondness.

As i said late mk1s and the mk2s were well built, over engineered , and well waxoyled. Used very little electronics and were very simple construction.
Later models 1992 on were built to a cost and had more and more electronics making them less and less reliable. (ive been designing electronics for a living for 20+ years so know whats happens in that side)

To be honest i have on more than one occation looked at buying a mk2 GTI and doing a full nut and bolt bare metal rebuild on it to use as a reliable daily. Simple reliable mechanical design. Cheaper and less money loss than keep buying new cars.
Infact i went to the point of buying one a few years ago a 89 16v small bumper but when i went to collect it it was far from as described and promised so i backed out.

[Exonian]

Yes, I think I can remember you posting up about that one a while back.
I've never been a fan of the 1.8 16v.
I prefer the injection system on it but the 2.0 drives much better. The 1.8 needs to be worked all the time and gets tiresome.

The trouble with getting a mk2 now is the silly inflated prices older cars are currently fetching. Totally belying condition too.

And having worked with electronics all my life from college, university placements, cars and everything from X-ray machines to current generation trackers (my latest 'project' at work) that purport to be driving aids and also route planners I know 100% what you mean and agree where you're coming from!

[Snoopy]

The silly prices and lack of free time at the moment are why im not doing it just yet.
An engineer whos worked with me for the past  3 years use to work at Bosch in Germany lets just say we have had some interesting discussions over the years...
A QA friend of mine once told me about car manufacturers dictating to suppliers they wont pay more than pennys for items ( 7p an item for a horn, thats a true example) it makes you think.

[Snoopy]

From the book VW GOLF GTI 1976-1986

MK1 1.6  GTI 1976 0-60  9.6  0-100 35.3
                        1981 0-60  9.0  0-100 33.9
MK1 1.8  GTI 1983 0-60  8.3  0-100 24.1
Mk2  1.8  GTI 1984 0-60 8.7  0-100 26.6
                         1991 0-60 8.7  0-100 29.9 (what car 1991)
Mk2 1.8 16v   1986 0-60 7.8  0-100 23.2
Mk3 2.0 8v
mk3 2.0 16v
mk4 1.8 20v
mk4 2.0 8v
mk4 1.8t150
Mk4 1.8t180
Mk5 GTI
mk5 ed30
Mk6 GTI
Mk6 Ed35
Mk7 GTI 230   2013 0-60  6.5  0-100 16.4 (autocar)

Im sure others can fill in from 1992-2015

[andykram]

My Mk2 16v has only ever let me down once. A faulty earth caused it to die as I rolled into Doncaster one day last year. The thing that surprised me was that I got several offers of help from total strangers who loved the car, wanted to look at it and talk about it and one guy actually towed me in his A4 Avant to the garage. That would never have happened with the Mk6 and just shows the affection in which the Mk2s are held.
The Mk6 had the manifold issue but otherwise the car was fine in nearly 60k miles.
Which is better? To say my Mk2 is 25 years old, it's tremendously reliable and great fun to drive but I loved the 6 too, especially after I had it mapped. Ultimately though, as I sold it to avoid the ticking time bomb tensioner issue, I'm going for the Mk2 as I don't think it's good enough for a manufacturer of VW's size to release an inherently faulty product as they did with the Mk6 - that's just not good enough!

[GTI_Ant]

With 40 years of GTI I thought I'd look at the progress of the GTI from MK1 TO MK7.
The figures I found were as follows:-

MK1 110BHP 0-60 9.0s 103lbft Torque 810kg 135BHP/Tonne

MK7(3 door) 220BHP 0-60 6.5s 258lbft Torque 1400Kg 157BHP/tonne

So over 40 years it seems the power to weight ratio( I thought it would be a lot higher) is nothing compared to the increase in the torque figures which I find rather interesting. What do you think?

Be careful about comparing weights.  VW uses (and has done since the MK 4) the EU method that includes 68Kg for the driver and 7Kg of luggage.  So for example the MK7 GTI at 1349 Kg is actually 1274 Kg without this allowance.  Many manufacturers including Audi don't use this system.  So an Audi TT is declared to be 1230 Kg but needs 75Kg added to make a like for like comparison with a Golf for power to weight reasons.