Rubbish Cars We Love: Volkswagen Golf Mk 2 – Run Rabbit, Run

Only rubbish because it was not a Mk 1, the second gen Golf brought so much more to the party than bigger boot space.

Best GTI ever..? One to debate on your own time, that.

Savior:

If it wasn’t for the huge success of the Mk 1 Golf, who knows where Volkswagen would have been by now.

A good decade up until the first Golf appeared in 1974, the company has been struggling to find anything more than increasing debt. Though Audi were now running things, all was not going according to plan. The rapid decline of Beetle sales being just about the biggest problem they had to contend with.

That’s why the Volkswagen Golf Mk 1 was such a revelation. Curator of the first GTI hot-hatch, it was cute, aggressive, nippy and innovative. Though after nine years in production, its silhouette was being increasingly plagiarised by the other big vehicle manufacturers.

Before their days of airbrushing ethnic minorities out of company literature, Ford brought their Mk 1 Fiesta to the ring. It was a worse car than the first gen Golf, but the public lapped up the chance to drive something different. Especially ladies, who - back in the early 1980s - were just getting into shopping for a living.

Volkswagen responded with a muscular follow-up to suit the chaps. The Mk 2 was longer than their first effort, wider, had a better range of engine options, plus a much smoother drive above sixty. It felt like a slug when parking, but that just ensured your forearms kept strong. Like Popeye.

Thrilling:

Indeedio. Some fat journalists with minimalist facial hair protested the new GTI’s handling was not as distinct as its predecessor, but they were just being picky. Besides, discs are better than drums the same as porn is better than cheating. Good sense doesn’t have to be boring.

Adding a few extra millimetres certainly made all the difference to the Mk 2’s cabin. We owned one in our student days and it never felt cramped, even with a dozen takeaway boxes and empty Ribena cartons trapped under the seat. Trim, for all its blandness, at least kept clean easily and didn’t fade in the sun. We’re not fussy when it comes to creature comforts on a budget.

The busy Golf (we had a 1.6 petrol) always drank more than it should have for a hatch - though this was forgivable at motorway speeds. Good for overtaking and as sturdy as a rock during crosswinds, the Mk 2 had a cracking chassis that inspired almost too much confidence.

We raced a few (daft) times and always ended up buying a round. Unless you were sitting in a 1986-onwards 16v GTI, the Golf was not much cop at accelerating. The basic 112bhp GTI was no wheeler-basket, that’s a given, but the jumpy XR2 Fiesta was famous for leaving it behind in corners.

Marketing:

Every time another Golf revs off the drawing board a brand new advertisement is unleashed upon us poor media-junkies. The Golf is probably the most famously marketed hatch in history. Who can forget the Mk 1 ‘Bouncing Car’? Or the Mk 2 ‘Casino Man’? Yeah, don’t worry, we had to look them both up as well.

The recently screened Singing in the Rain Golf ad won’t leave our brains in a hurry though. Shit computer animation and the laziest Mint Royale remix ever? What a disaster. Still, if we’re writing about it and you’re reading about it, it must be working. So says someone earning more money than us anyway.

Retaining:

Mk 2 Golf’s are an intelligent used buy. They hold their value so tightly we are starting to suspect someone in the factory stashed a secret cache of gold under the seats.

Good cars, but £1,000 for a patchy-history ‘88 with 112,000 on the clock? Seems a bit steep to us. This particular model sold though. We know because one of our mates bought it not six months ago. He’s had no more problems than getting a old Maiden cassette jammed in the stereo too. Jammy beggar.

Keeping our eyes fully open, we have found a bargain Mk 2 on eBay. As usual, we accept no responsibility if it turns out to be a pile of smelly manure. It’s your dime, buster.

Treat Yourself:

A much safer choice than most time-weathered Mk 1’s (especially the overpriced and overworked cabriolets), the second gen Golf is a guaranteed classic car of the near future.

By waiting around you are already losing money.

[story by Chris Laverty]