One of my favorite periods in car history was the 1980s, specifically, the creations that hit the street as a result of rally homologation. The Lancia Delta Integrale, Audi Ur Quattro, Ford Escort Cosworth and Porsche 959 are some great examples of competition vehicles that transformed the world of performance cars. Some cars, like the Volkswagen Rallye Golf, had a more limited racing career than others, as this car competed for just one year in Group A WRC, in 1990. The Rallye Golf featured Syncro four-wheel drive, the 1.8 G60 engine with the G-lader supercharger, anti-lock brakes, flared fenders and Recaro front seats, among other features. A little over 5,000 examples were built at Volkswagen’s plant in Belgium, but none came to North America. A few are starting to trickle over to our shores, such as this one that is for sale in Ontario, Canada.
1989 Volkswagen Rallye Golf on eBay
1989 Volkswagen Rallye Golf. 1 of 5.000 limited production factory homologation cars built at their factory in Belgium. 103,854 km, OEM condition. Syncro AWD, G60 supercharger, widebody fenders, rally suspension/brakes (all factory). Power mirrors, locks, Factory split leather Recaro seats. leather door cards, sunroof.Outside of Blaupunkt CD, there have been no modifications done to the car. 2nd owner. 1st owner from Zurich, SUI. Car purchaced from Rothbee Autohaus in Nurburg Germany. All service records. Garage stored by both owners. Car has some minor flaws as to be expected from an untouched 23 year old car, but is in solid shape, undercarriage is remarkably clean. Original paint. 4 time 1st place in class show winner, 1 second place, and one best interior in show. Car has been driven once in the last two years, and has some issues related to lack of use. Window regulators are lazy (common problem – standard Corrado parts). Pirelli P6000 tires are estimated at 85%. No time to spend on it, so it needs to go to a VW enthusiast who will appreciate a rare, unmolested piece of VW History. Car is registered, insured, and licensed for the road. Plate stickers are not up to date.
This Rallye Golf won’t be legal in the US for another year and a half, but for the ardent US Volkswagen enthusiast, it may just be the time to scoop one of these up, keep it in storage and register it in 2014. Or, if you live close enough to the border, find an address in Canada to attach this car to (you didn’t hear me say that). A Rallye Golf came up for sale in October of last year for around $20,000. That’s hovering around resale values for some Ur Quattros. With this car’s approximate 64,000 miles, I could see a sale price of around $15,000, maybe a little less, depending on how much interest the seller gets north of the border. With the registration restrictions, this car would only be for the very serious enthusiast willing to either bend the rules or jump through a lot of hoops.
-Paul
I’m torn about these cars. While I appreciate their rarity and what VW was trying to do, the overall execution doesn’t really appeal to me. The G60 was not my favorite motor, the A2 was not my favorite chassis and the M3-ish flared fenders never really seemed to look right to me.
BTW, those don’t look like Recaro seats. They look like the run-of-the-mill VW sport seats found in pretty much everything they made from the late 1970s on.
I’ve seen people describe these as “Sportkaro” Recaro seats. I haven’t seen anyone explain these seats weren’t made by Recaro, but haven’t found anything authoritative. I do like these cars, but imagine the possibilities if the VR6 was employed…
Cool car. I couldn’t find any reviews of them from back in the day. Do these cars suffer much from sitting for a couple of years? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the supercharger needs to be rebuilt around 70K.
Unfortunately, the Rallye Golf didn’t translate as well to the real world as the Lancia Delta Integrale, Audi Ur Quattro, Ford Escort Cosworth and Porsche 959. There’s a reason you can’t touch any of those others with 64K miles for sub-$20K.
The G60 supercharger seemed to have a lot of issues too. Still, if you consider the Rallye Golf as the grandfather to the later R32 and Golf R, it should find some interested parties among the more rabid VW fans.