GOLF's, I just don't get it!

[pistonpopper]

The Volkswagen Golf, i just don't get it, i don't see the appeal, i don't see why everyone wants one. One of my friends is a Golfer, and he owns a Golf GTi in every generation since the start of the Golf production up until about the fifth generation, he will undoubtedly get the rest of the set as and when they become cheap enough for him to get one. I asked him why he's so keen on them, and his response is that it's because they're great. Well for me, i don't think they're all that, infact i think they're kinda bland! I was in my local newsagents today, a man with possibly the widest variety of magazines in the world and i was just browsing the car section, which incidentally he puts up high on the shelf below the MASSIVE shelf of porn, so that even though you're looking at car magazines, you still look like some kind of deviant with no internet access trying to get your fix of pornography! But back to the plot, i was looking at the car section and i was suddenly aware of just how many of the car magazines had a VW Golf on the front cover. So clearly they're are very popular, but why, and as they're so popular, how do you make your Golf stand out from the crowd?

I was watching, the other day that 'For The Love Of Cars' with that buffoon Philip Glenister, and Ant Anstead. It was the Hot Hatch episode and in it they did up a Golf, and to be honest the story behind getting it all back up to roadworthy status was a lovely story and ended well. But as i sat there watching it two thoughts kept popping into my head, the first one was that i bet Ant Anstead wishes that Philip Glenister would shut the heck up, and just let him get on with it. The second one was, whats so special about the Golf? I mean there were loads of hot hatches at the time, most car manufacturers had some sort of hot hatch in their line up, so why is the Gold singled out?

Now, to be fair i have never owned a Golf, and i am quite ignorant about Golfs. I did once nearly buy a Mk1 Golf cabriolet (i think) at one time, but at the last minute i bought this instead...



As you can see, not a Golf. But at the time i didn't get the Beetle thing either, i couldn't see what all the fuss was about, but i will admit that i thoroughly enjoyed my Beetle ownership, and having owned a Beetle i can see how they get under your skin. I'm guessing that the nearest thing to a Golf i might have owned from the VW/Audi/Skoda stable would be this...



I don't know how close to a Golf this is in the VW family tree, but it was pretty cool, although without the novelty of the pull out rear seats, and removeable rear cover it would've been pretty bland really.

As i said i have never owned a Golf, but i've been in a few, and i find them to be ok, but not particularly special. They look ok, they go ok, they're averagely comfy, y'know, they're just OK. I've been in a few of the rivals to the Golf also, and again, for the most part they are all pretty much ok, although to be fair, in my opinion the Fiat Strada was the best one. My Brother had one with a Twin Cam in it and that was a right little flyer, and i thought that it's quirky looks made it better looking than the Golf, but thats just my opinion.

So then, if you're a Golfer, or an ex Golfer, please post a pic of your Golf and tell me why it's so great, why it's so popular, and why its better than the likes of Renault 5, Fiat Stradas, Peugeot 205, Talbot Horizons, Austin Meastros, Toyota Starlet, Nissan Micra, and all the other hatchbacks of the era. Tell me why it's held in such high regard, and why it's so popular. Incidentally, if you're one of the people who don't like to follow the hot hatch crowd straight into Golf ownership, and regard yourself to be somewhat of an individual and own, or owned a cool hatchback that wasn't a Golf please also post a picture of your NON Golf hatchback of choice, and tell me why you chose not to follow the crowd, and why your NON Golf hatchback is better than a Golf.

[mikeymk]

The Golf was always a solid, well engineered car, and feels it. Their looks have never really done it for me, and from the MK2 they were always a car you sit 'on' instead of 'in' but they're just.. better. At the job. For what they are.

I had a lot of cars before i had a Golf, before i had a VW, and after the Golf everything else was like a biscuit tin.

The only issue is they're not as fun. They're very capable, they do the job well, but they're not the most involved drive - especially from the '92 MK3 onwards.

The Skoda pickup/Felicia shares nothing with the Golf, btw. There's a bit of 3rd gen Polo in there, but even then, not much.

[HmmDK]

i reckon its the round headlights and low price tag of the mk1 and 2`s that does the trick. also the massive ammount of parts theres arround for them xD

[Deleted]

For the mk1, Its roughly the same appeal as mk1 escorts.    All of those are expensive , from a 1100 to a mexico ,. rs etc. Those it was the rally pedigree,  The idea that your dads 1100 could be a rally car.


Mk1 golfs are the same,   the first hot hatch,   even if its not a gti , your part of "that family"


Also theres the build quality. Ive had alot of cars over the years,   vauxhalls,  fords,  french stuff,  and lots of vw's.

I'm not a VW snob by any means,  I'm  a huge fan of soviet era russian tat for example.   But that doesnt stop me buying reliable everyday transport in the shape of a VW.

I have a 83 mk1 3DR in my garage at the mo,  Solid as hell,  I bought it because it was for sale locally.   No other reason.   It was sat for a couple of years,  but its still solid.

Ive had a mk1 fiesta of 81 vintage that was garaged all its life,  But had next to no inner sills left, and the inner rear arches were held together with underseal.




As i said,  I'm not a vw snob,   But some manufacturers build cars as a throwaway item,  Volkswagen DID build cars to last a lifetime.  They got a good reputation for quality, and they still have it.   People like to dig at vw reliability, and say they cant see why people by them , ive had no end of trouble etc.   But when you consider the huge amount of vw's and vw derived  cars on the road,  They must be pretty much the most reliable thing you can buy.

[guz]

the car in the first pic is a golf shell on a beetle chassis aint it ?

[composimmonite]

I've had 2 MKI's (1300GLS & 1500GL auto) as well as a MKII (1800GL auto). After previously driving RWD cars like MKII Escort, Cortina, Capri, Sunbeam and such they are a revelation. The MKI is a far nicer car to drive "spiritedly" than the MKII but both have very strong influence on my opinion of what a good FWD car should feel like.

[79cord]

My Accord, another pseudo Golf competitor when new, though some might not see it that way since it was half a size bigger & looked more like a fattened up Scirocco, but in many markets was similar price or less with more comfort & equipment & a heavier more refined & solid feel to comfort those likely to be downsizing from much larger cars {especially in the USA}, a surprisingly close match dynamically {especially for Japan at the time} with none of the Golfs harsh ride & twitchy handling that father hated in his new '75 Golf 1500LS (he'd had Alfa Guilia Super before that which was much more comfortable/predictable for same w/base), had spun his Golf once or twice & was most unimpressed when frt strut towers deformed when struts bottomed out & Dealer bashed them down again. Eventually he could stand it no longer & went the opposite extreme: Citroen CX!
Mum loved the versatility of the Golfs 5-door body, compact & practical & much faster & more solid than her Renault 4, but also spun it once on mountain roads when dad rotated the tyres frt/rr without checking tyre pressures afterwards.

Shame Honda was too busy building as many as they could for the US market to bother with a "GTI" & kept enlarging it for American appetites before introducing Integra to take its place.

Like the Beetle the Golf had more solid build quality than many European competitors but finally had practicality & handling.

[dbizzle]

May 12, 2015 23:44:53 GMT pistonpopper said:

The Volkswagen Golf, i just don't get it, i don't see the appeal, i don't see why everyone wants one[...] i don't think they're all that, infact i think they're kinda bland!

Incredibly, some people like things that other people don't like.

Imagine how dull the world would be if we all liked the same things. You don't have to 'get it', just let 'em get on with it. Do your own thing.
Diversity and acceptance, that's the key.


Here, some pictures to tantalise and titillate. (Sarcastically large photos, for emphasis)

DSC_1010 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_0873 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1082 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1233 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1060 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_0886 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1134 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1147 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1186 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1211 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1220 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1251 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1261 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1281 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

DSC_1297 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

[retroade]

The Golf, much like the original Mini, is a classless car driven by paupers and princesses alike. It takes more than a clever marketing campaign to win that kind of universal appeal, it takes a very good end product.

Compared to their peers mk1 and mk2 Golfs were light years ahead in reliability, comfort, they were extremely practical and whilst not the cheap option by a long way they were still affordable. The rich know quality. What car did the rich buy as a runabout? The Golf. To this day a rich pal of mine always keeps a Golf or two on the fleet.

I think as the Golf got older other manufacturers raised their game as the Golf let its game slip slightly until that difference all but disappeared. But the legend lived on. From the mk3 on the Golf lost its edge IMO but the mk1 and to a lesser extent the mk2 are very significant cars in the development of the modern hatchback. All that from a man who's never actually owned one.

[fordperv]

The answer is, it's horses for courses, but a lot of try hard people jumped on the scene bandwagon to become cool, i have only ever owned 1 vw and that was an alpine white 3 door mk2 1.8 golf driver, this was before all the sceneness, i put a set of Koni coilovers on it a set of 15s with sticky tyres, a gti interior and modified the engine quite a bit, later on I fitted big bumpers, blimey that thing was quick, it easily wiped the floor with gti's, it drove great, i drove a mates mk3 golf and was disappointed, would I have another mk2, maybe but I wouldn't fall into the flock of sheeple you usually associate with golf ownership

This is in no way an attack towards golf owners just an observation

[pistonpopper]

May 13, 2015 6:51:44 GMT guz said:

the car in the first pic is a golf shell on a beetle chassis aint it ?

That's correct, it is a Golf body on a Beetle floorpan.

By the way,79cord, your Honda looks awesome... I like that a lot!

May 13, 2015 8:27:53 GMT dbizzle said:

May 12, 2015 23:44:53 GMT pistonpopper said:

The Volkswagen Golf, i just don't get it, i don't see the appeal, i don't see why everyone wants one[...] i don't think they're all that, infact i think they're kinda bland!

Incredibly, some people like things that other people don't like.

Imagine how dull the world would be if we all liked the same things. You don't have to 'get it', just let 'em get on with it. Do your own thing.
Diversity and acceptance, that's the key.

I agree with what both you and ElWoody are saying fellas, it would be a dull old world if we all liked the same thing. But having never owned one I just wanted to know why people are so attracted to them, I've always thought it might just be a badge thing to be honest, you know, Beetles, karmann ghias, and type 2 vans have that cool image, and I wondered if that cool image has just been carried over to all VW products, which, like you suggest ElWoody I suspect it has. But I wanted the Golfers to explain why above all other hatchbacks the Golf is king, because as I said, they always just seem a bit average to me. Of course, this might be because you see Golfs more often than any other retro hatchback. Also, I'd like to hear the opinions of the NON-Golfers, why did they chose their particular brand of hatchback over the ever popular Golf? Incidentally dbizzle, great photos my favourites being the Caddy, the green mk1, and the Wrigleys Gum one, that just looks great to me.

May 13, 2015 8:32:16 GMT retroade said:

The Golf, much like the original Mini, is a classless car driven by paupers and princesses alike. It takes more than a clever marketing campaign to win that kind of universal appeal, it takes a very good end product.

Compared to their peers mk1 and mk2 Golfs were light years ahead in reliability, comfort, they were extremely practical and whilst not the cheap option by a long way they were still affordable. The rich know quality. What car did the rich buy as a runabout? The Golf. To this day a rich pal of mine always keeps a Golf or two on the fleet.

I think as the Golf got older other manufacturers raised their game as the Golf let its game slip slightly until that difference all but disappeared. But the legend lived on. From the mk3 on the Golf lost its edge IMO but the mk1 and to a lesser extent the mk2 are very significant cars in the development of the modern hatchback. All that from a man who's never actually owned one.

So it was a game changer, a point of no return in the world of automotive design, and broke new ground. I see, but breaking new ground can also have adverse effects on car sales, but with the Golf it did not. Presumably because of the initial clever marketing campaign, but because of the better build quality, and better reliability this is why the Golf has so many fans, and their are so many still on the road today, all of this is helped of course by the massive aftermarket busnessis supplying parts to be able to keep your Golf alive. Therefore, Golf ownership is perhaps easier than say the ownership of a Fiat Strada, most of which have by now dissolved back into the earth, and with no aftermarket support, keeping something like a Fiat Strada going is a much more involved prospect.

May 13, 2015 8:40:52 GMT @automatik said:

There was a time when nearly everyone was driving a beetle and I bet there were people thinking "Beetles! I just don´t get it!".

As i said earlier, i didn't get the Beetle thing either at one time, i couldn't see what all the fuss was about, but then i bought one, and i must admit that i thoroughly enjoyed my Beetle ownership even though i owned it through the winter, and drove it in all the conditions that the English winter climate could throw at it! Having owned that Beetle i can see how they get under your skin, it was a great car, and i enjoyed it a lot, and i wonder if i ever did get around to buying a Golf whether i would feel the same way about that afterwards. I must say though, i really do fancy owning a Caddy at some point, although due to the popularity of them the prices are pretty high, and i wonder if they are worth the high prices that popularity commands. I guess the only way to find out, is to dive into ownership.

[nofrills]

I had a mk2 golf GTI D792 OUS was the reg, it was silver, it had the bbs wheels, and a lovely stainless exhuast, I had always wanted a Golf GTI, my uncle had a early B plate mk2 GTI and my cousin had a mettalic green big bumper 16 valver that I loved. I was 18 when I got mine and it was so well built even by then it had over 100k on the clock, but no rattles, and felt strong, the suspension felt stiff it was just awesome like a go kart really, it was quick by the standards of my 1.6 cvh orion. after that one I wanted another one and tried to find one but every one I looked at had some issue or another, so i played safe and got a newer orion 1.6 ghia. still wished I had kept my mk2, it was just awesome. i have never owned another VW since... but for the first time in almost 20 years the Golf GTI is back on my shopping list this time a mk4 5 door (its just easier with kids).

I never understood the beetle thing either, but my cousin who is 4 years older than me has owned one since he was 20 he is now 41 his beetle is in bits in his garage now but the rebuild is slowly happening, but I have helped so much on that car and I can understand it exactly now, would I ever own one? no, I wouldn't. But I love looking at them and spannering on them and talking to the owners who are well up for a chat about there pride and joys.

[SmokeEm]

My 1st ever company car back in 1994 was a Golf 1.8 GL Auto. I found it very boring but great at its job. When my time came (AKA, pre Mid-life crisis) to buy a Hot Hatch, I chose a 309GTI - Purely because you got so much grunt for so little ££ )You could've bought 2 x 309GTI for the price of one Golf)

That said, the 309 ate CV joints, leaked like a culender with extra holes and you never quite knew if you would make it to your destination with everything still working. So not like a Golf at all.

[dbizzle]

May 13, 2015 10:47:06 GMT SmokeEm said:

That said, the 309 ate CV joints, leaked like a culender with extra holes and you never quite knew if you would make it to your destination with everything still working. So not like a Golf at all.

That's interesting - I used to have a 309 (not a GTI, a 1.6GL) and it was faultlessly reliable.

[HoTWire]

May 13, 2015 11:06:58 GMT dbizzle said:

That's interesting - I used to have a 309 (not a GTI, a 1.6GL) and it was faultlessly reliable.

Me too!! ... I once drove it through a flood in the Gower the water was up over the bonnet to the bottom of the windows... developed a slight carb fault and if I could have easily found another carb I'd have kept it longer, amazingly reliable car. The VW Golf I owned (mk3) was the least reliable car I've ever had, terrible. I'd still have another one because Golfs are cool.

[andyw]

I liked the comment about VW Golf's being built to last - early Mk1s were terrible for rust.

I'll admit that there was something about early MK1 Golf and Polos that was cool. My mum drove a MK1 Polo - I learned to drive in it and despite being older than my driving instuctor's Metro it was a far better car. The MK2 Golf is reckoned to be the better car but I always felt it lacked the character of the first one. Then on it was bigger and safer and more staid.

My friend in a Golf man, he owns two both family daily drivers. He owns a mk4 and mk6, the latter he reckons is not a patch on the mk4. He'd love a Mk1.

I feel that VW and Audi are living off the reputation that the early cars made for them and are not as great as their marketing departments make them out to be. I love counting the broken down german metal at the side of the road - especially if I'm driving past in my £100 mazda/ford POS!

[PistonBroker]

May 13, 2015 11:23:53 GMT HoTWire said:

May 13, 2015 11:06:58 GMT dbizzle said:

That's interesting - I used to have a 309 (not a GTI, a 1.6GL) and it was faultlessly reliable.

Me too!! ... I once drove it through a flood in the Gower the water was up over the bonnet to the bottom of the windows... developed a slight carb fault and if I could have easily found another carb I'd have kept it longer, amazingly reliable car. The VW Golf I owned (mk3) was the least reliable car I've ever had, terrible. I'd still have another one because Golfs are cool.

My first car was a 205 Roland Garros. It too needed CV joints not long after I bought it and, near the end of my year with it, developed a hot starting problem to the extent that I took to parking facing downhill wherever I went.

So, I shelved my plan to replace it with a 205 1.6 GTi and bought a lowered Mk2 Golf GTI 8v with 170k up it and an obscenely loud stainless exhaust. Needless to say, that didn't end well either - after 6 months I took it for its MOT and within 5 minutes the tester stopped as the front strut was coming away from the rest of the car!

But, for the short while I had it, I loved it. It was definitely a step up from the 205 - I felt like I was in a proper car whereas I'd been in a Go-Kart before. I'd love a big-bumper 16v and I've had a Mk3 8V GTI, a VR6 and 2 Boras since so G786 AAC clearly left an impression on me.

[SmokeEm]

May 13, 2015 11:06:58 GMT dbizzle said:

May 13, 2015 10:47:06 GMT SmokeEm said:

That said, the 309 ate CV joints, leaked like a culender with extra holes and you never quite knew if you would make it to your destination with everything still working. So not like a Golf at all.

That's interesting - I used to have a 309 (not a GTI, a 1.6GL) and it was faultlessly reliable.

It was my own fault that mine was so unreliable - I had it chipped by a company called 'Pug Performance' in Froxfield. Everything was fine until I had it lowered - 60mm Front, FAR too many turns of the torsion rear. Once that was done, everytime I booted it through the lanes of Frensham and Elstead, it would eat either a Driveshaft or a Cv joint. I must've gone through 10 at least in the year I owned it. Looked cool as though..

[dbizzle]

May 13, 2015 11:44:09 GMT SmokeEm said:

I had it lowered - 60mm Front, FAR too many turns of the torsion rear.

Ha, me too - as low as it could physically go at the rear, it was sitting on the bumpstops.

13-03-2011 16;53;53 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

(And yes, that is a Peco Big Bore 2...!)

[SmokeEm]

May 13, 2015 12:22:35 GMT dbizzle said:

May 13, 2015 11:44:09 GMT SmokeEm said:

I had it lowered - 60mm Front, FAR too many turns of the torsion rear.

Ha, me too - as low as it could physically go at the rear, it was sitting on the bumpstops.

13-03-2011 16;53;53 by dbizzle_, on Flickr

(And yes, that is a Peco Big Bore 2...!)

Lol, my front was about an inch lower than yours but back was exactly the same. I never did find out why the extra 20bhp made it eat CV's and driveshafts. Must've been me! - Mine was black