Having owned two mk2 8v's and two mk2 16v's personally I would go for the 16v anyday. Just picked up a cheap 8v as a run-around while I'm looking for a mint 16v, driving it home on saturday and went for an adventurous overtake however revs hit 5k and I had to rethink and pull back in. I said to my girlfriend if we had been in a 16v we could have blasted past that motor no problems. In my view there is no substitute for those extra 1000rpm. Yeah you have to work the gears harder to keep the engine revs up but in my opinion that makes for a much more fun driving experience. Oh and the sound of a 16v engine costantly kept above 5000rpm around some twisty country roads just can't be matched by the painful scream of the equivalent 8v.
Don't get me wrong I still really enjoy the 8v (tis still great fun) but for the real driver it has to be the 16v.
Ahhh that's better been watching this thread for ever and just had to get it off my chest now.
Toby
