It’s a bit sad that there is such a huge generation gap when it comes to the letter “i”. Teaching college level students, were I to write the lower case letter “i” up on the board and ask the meaning, immediate answers of “iPhone”, “iPod” or “iPad” would pop up. Perhaps some of the more clever individuals would associate it with “intelligent”. Apple has transformed the meaning of the lower case letter “i” for entire generations of people who will grow up not knowing what it means to my generation. For example, were I to write the word “carburetor” on the board and ask the meaning, outside of some motorcycle enthusiasts and perhaps a few into older cars, I’m willing to bet very few would know what the word meant, likely associating it with carbonated beverages before internal combustion engines. But in the 1970s and 1980s, “i” was a magical letter which indicated greater performance and improved reliability. It ranged from exotics like the Ferrari 512BBi right through the 2002tii, and while some of the systems were less dependable than others, by the time we got to Bosch’s continuous injection system, German cars were universally the best running, most dependable cars you could get into. In fact, one could argue that most of the success of the German car industry boils down to not their legendary build quality nor the advanced designs they pioneered, but the dependability of the fuel injection system. “i” meant a higher level of performance, and instead of simply being a necessity for every teen to mindlessly separate from society it was a way to indicate you had arrived, and you had arrived in style thanks to your fuel injected cars. Audis sported “Fuel Injected” badges proudly up through 1985; Mercedes-Benz attached an “e” for Einspritzung to nearly every model, while virtually every BMW sported an “i” badge for several generations, and some still do. But enthusiasts of the Volkswagen front point to one very special “i” which followed the Grand Turismo letters on the Mk.1 Golf chassis as the most classic hot hatch the market has ever seen:
