I was lucky enough as a 21 year old in 1983 to buy a 3 year old mark1 in black, with twin headlights. It was one of the greatest days of my life when i bought it. The other greatest day of my life was the day i sold it! Had it robbed too many times. But it was the best bang for your buck in its day. Porsche 944 were twice the price with the same performance.
My first GTI was a MK5 edition. It was one of 3 cars we had at the time. A close friend of mine broke up with his wife and needed a car immediately so we sold him our GTI. At the time it had 280,000 km on the dial. I sold it to him certified for $2,500 CDN, He still has the car now with over 400,000 km on her. What a fantastic car. I miss her.🥶
Love this video who ever has put this up thank you 👏🏾great history lesson for anyone who loves golfs l guess if there was no golf gti mk1 then you would have no gti or golf R or Audi S3. Also what ever happened to Quinton? Hi was a great tv presenter up there with Jeremy Clarkson. He never got as much recognition as Clarkson it’s a shame because he was just as good old school tv presenter are the best 👏🏾👊🏽🥂
8:39 frankly, that says more about the driver than the car. If I was driving along and some bell end - in ANY car - started driving right on my rear bumper, I'd throw my arms in the air, shout a few curse words, and move out of the way too... while hoping the knob smashes into someone who chooses to test brakes further ahead.
Had a convertible one in black - my husband had a XR3i also in black - he was a cop, but we used to race each other home, side by side along dual carriageways..... sometimes I won. I sold it 10 years later, for what he paid for it. Love Quinton Willson, best Top Gear presenter there ever was.
From watching this back then and friends owning them back then it was inevitable that I'd own my 1st one in 1999, I now own the green mk1 from this video with the Awsome plate owned then by Mick Clements who I have contact with now . Awsome cars but not the 1st ever hot hatch realy but one of the best.
I'm pleased for you that you're happy with your 7.5, but you really haven't driven a true GTi until you've had a MK1, they are the original and the best, after a MK 7.5 it would feel as light as a feather, in comparison, the MK7 is about twice the weight and size of a MK1. try and get a go in one, you'll love that much more, trust me, I've owned plenty, still own 3 MK2's to this day.
Mk7 is a great car. It also has decent brakes unlike the Mk1. That was great in its day and responsive light and chuckable....but the later 205GTI was a much better drive. I owned both the VW and the Pug..
GREAT video! I was a MK4 owner, now an MK6 owner. Will continue to buy the VW GTI for the rest of my life. Good job VW and Quentin Willson. One of the few cars that is also a masterpiece.
“Cheap?” It wasn’t cheap (although worth every penny). At nearly 60% more than the basic Golf, it was roughly £30K in today’s money. It was very nearly the price of the 260Z
I fancy buying a mk1 Rabbit (there are many rust free here in the West) and converting it to a Euro Golf GTi -round headlights with fogs, Euro tail lights, Purelli wheels etc. And for gosh sake, ditch that silly Rabbit badging!
Except it wasn't the first hot hatch was it Quentin. The VW Scirocco Mk1 with the same floor pan as the Golf was the first hot hatch by several months.
Excellent video, narrator and passionate about a great German car!👍 Well done!👍Too bad the American spec version wasn't as good, or reliable! Should have left it semi Euro and British spec, with only minimal changes for the U.s. market
The GTI was out of my price range, but, my German-built Rabbit (G mk 1) was the best car I ever owned, I replaced with it's sluggish, ugly successor, the Golf mk 2 which became my third and last VW
I now own the Lhasa green mk1 which had one of the AWSOME plates on from programme, owned then by Mick Clements which he had converted to g60 by awsome gti back then and still has the g60 engine fitted , mk1 is now grey, my instagram is PaulBallingermk1golf_g60 if you fancy seeing what it looks like now 😉
8:59 No,the competition was not like the diesel locomotives. Were'nt the Alfasud built with cheap metal it would blow the Golf GTi away. Also the Sunbeam was RWD so a better handler.