Mk3 Golf Gti's ? curse word or not

[omegod]

Considering venturing into VAG territory for the first time and the Mk3 2.0 GTI golf of 1996 flavour is starting to grow on me, they don't look to flabby anymore but this one is on circa 170k. Are these tough engines ? any good to drive?

[heathrobinson]

I really dislike them. You might get on with it to start with, but then one day you might get a go in a mk1 or 2 gti, and that would ruin it. I find them a bloated uninspiring lump of grey drivel, a wheezing old bulldog where the first two were like an excited terrier on a parquet floor.
I think I got disenchanted by them watching my mate rinse a guy with a 4-door mk3 gti repeatedly round Cornish lanes. It literally couldn't keep up and said mate was driving a bog standard 1l micra...

[mertzman]

If you're really set on a MKIII then avoid the 8v. It's pretty dire for a GTi.

[Dez]

as noted above, the simple answer is 'not as good as a mk2'.

its about 60% the same car, but in a much lardier package. its the same platform so the same suspension setup as a mk2 (yeah, i know a GTi will be widetrack, but meh, its the same).
but it doesnt have the same sprightliness of a mk2 because of the larger, heavier body and interior setup, which they tried to compensate for by sticking heavier engines in, which only make it worse.

tbh I'm not sure how they managed to make the mk3 so heavy. it gains around 350kg on a mk2, the kerb weight for a 2L mk3 is the same as for a 2L b4 passat (both 1200kgs give or take), i think the passat is the better car, as the wheelbase is a bit longer which improves the handling.

[86mike]

I had a test drive of one when they were new and I found it uninspiring. As people have already said the MK2 is a far better GTI.

[Deleted]

I left an 8v behind on some twisty roads with my 55 horsepower 1.2 kadett C that has uprated suspension. I like the look of the 2 door mk3's tho, especially with the Vento\Jetta front end

[retroade]

As above, it's no mk1 / mk2. If you want grunt in a mk3 sniff out a VR6.

However they are cheap, very cheap. I bought an L plate 8v GTi with 2 owners and low miles for £250. It was a shocking colour (aubergine) and had been keyed but it was a road legal GTi and mechanically very good and the interior looked like new. I flipped it on the Bay of Evil and doubled my money so a monkey on the Bay of Evil will secure you a half decent car.

Watch the rear hatch for rust, I think there must have been a design flaw in the drain aways round the rear hatch as this is a mk3 rust hot spot. Other than that it's all the usual rules, perhaps the biggest tip is there's loads of these out there so don't jump on the first one you see and if you have any doubts walk away and find another.

Driving wise I only had the car a week or so but despite feeling heavy there was some GTi-ness in there. There is no cheaper route to driving a GTi badge.

[stew]

I'd go with not. I've owned several along with several Mk1 and Mk2's.

Yes it isn't as good as a mk2, but again imho that wasn't anywhere near as good as a mk1. The mk3 is heavier than a mk2 but that isn't as much as some make out, the additional weight is a result of more refinement, the mk3 is a better designed car than a mk2 but this comes at the expense of the diving experience.

Personally I think the values of these have bottomed out and are now on their way up, EAMA's classic auction yesterday featured a high mileage 3 door 16V anniversary in silver, reasonably tidy but it had been tarted up with pattern wings and some paint. The estimate was around £2.5k which personally I think was a bit steep but I haven't seem the results yet.

[bababoom]

My wife had mk4 8 valve gti (same engine)it wasn't that old at the time and had only done around 40k
Its was gutless, One of the most disappointing cars ive driven.
Also used a fair bit of engine oil over couple k and want great on petrol either

[allthingsauto]

I have not owned a MK3 GTi but I have had 2 Seat Ibiza Cupra GTi's that have the same engine.Great cars.Do consider a Ibiza as there faster cheaper to insure and not as common.The 8v engine is not fast for a 2ltr engine.Only around 115BHP but is fun in the Seat.

[jaykay]

I would go with what everyone else says and say they are terrible, ive owned a few mk2's and ten times a better car.
i would also go out on a limb and say avoid vr6 personally, great to drive, but its going to break. At around 120k its gonna break its camchain tensioner, and its expensive and wibblepoo to fix.

[Dez]

I'm not a fan of the vr6, on any platform. they feel massively nose-heavy to drive.

[Imperial]

Having worked for vw when these came out I can safely say it wasn't there finest hour. Imho it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction the the Eco/ safety brigade and it suffered because of it.
There not bad cars but they aren't great either

[steveo3002]

not the greatest of cars , if you want retro find a clean mk2 or if you want a bit of modern rust free(ish) motoring then get a mk4

[DarrenW]

We've got a few racing with us in the VWDRC, the VRs are a popular weapon because they are cheap, reliable and easy to get more power out of via a bottle of nitrous.

Plus they sound fantastic in full flight


VW Golf VR6 - VWDRC - photo by Retro-Motoring


VW Golf Mk3 VR6 N670WDO - Dave Lea - VWDRC - photo by Retro-Motoring


We won our class at Bug Jam 2012 in a £200 VR6 with a bit of MOT left. Prize money was more than the purchase price. Winner


Silver VW Golf Mk3 VR6 - Abi Tether - VWDRC - photo by Retro-Motoring

[Thrasher]

I quite like them - and ive had MK1's MK2's MK3's and a MK4.

If you compare a mk3 to the previous ones youre setting yourself up for disappointment from the get go.

However - they can be just as much fun if you have reasonable expectations.

I still quite fancy a stripped out 16v for ragging around - I've still got my mk1 if I want to show off. :-D

From the factory they're pretty lardish, but can be made to handle ok - except the vr6 ...which ive been in a passenger of TWO during a crash.....

[LowStandards]

Apr 26, 2015 9:20:25 GMT Thrasher said:

However - they can be just as much fun if you have reasonable expectations.

Ah, just the thing I look for when buying a car




I have no experience of the MK3, other than it looks shi te, but then I think the mk2 looks shi te as well and folks seems to love them, so I'm prob best ignored...

[vitesseefi]

We've had a Mk1, 3 x Mk2 8vs and a Mk3 8v as long term daily drivers. Mk2 is the best all rounder IMO. Fairly civilized mile-muncher, which is still quite chuckable and has some get up and go when needed.

The Mk3 has basically gone to fat. It's a a nice, civilised mile-muncher and feels quite willing when driving normally -but when you hoof it you find you were already using most of what it had! Brakes much better than earlier cars ironically.
The 2.0 8v is a very non-sporty lump and disappointingly thirsty after the mk2 (it's the weight again I guess). We had a few stupid reliabilty/electrical niggles with ours and a didn't feel it was as well screwed together as the Mk2s trimwise. Still alot of car for the money at present.

We replaced ours with a Mk1 Focus 1.6, which feels damn near as fast, has much sharper handling and does more to the gallon....... That's progress maybe?

Nick

[Ryannn]

I had a MK3 cab, apparently the same engine as a GTi. It wasn't slow or gutless and I only sold it because I was forever filling it with fuel!