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Okay, $22,000 is a lot for an old hot hatch, even if it’s the ‘original’. When I was perusing some cars to consider, I noticed that there was a point where Mk.2, 3, 4 and 5 prices were all pretty equivalent. In fact, you can just about buy all four of these cars shown below for the same price as that Kamei X1 GTI. It raises an interesting question; what generation is the one to get at this price point? Certainly a lot depends on priorities – if, for example, you really want a fun daily driver or you’re looking for more of a weekend warrior show car. But let’s look at this group and see which has potential:
We don’t feature a lot of new cars on this site and one reason for this is that Germany is holding back when it comes to some of its newest and most interesting products. It was just announced that VW is pulling the plug on the two-door GTI. Never has there been a better time for Volkswagen to bring back over the Scirocco than now. While the company claimed the Portuguese-built coupe would be too expensive for the market here, another big reason was fear of cannibalizing GTI sales. A sports coupe is what Volkswagen could use right now to rejuvenate its lineup in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. Will they listen to the enthusiasts cries? Probably not. So in the meantime, have a gander at what we can’t have in the US, this 2013 Scirocco 1.4 TSI 6-speed manual. It might not be the fastest version of the Scirocco, but it’s certainly capable and a good choice for those looking to spice up their daily drive.
To call the TireRack sponsored “One Lap of America” anything other than a grueling competition would be a disservice to the event. On par with some of the greatest endurance races in the world, the 7-day, 3,200 mile trek around the United States has an added twist – you have to drive your race car between stages. Now, that’s something that occurs in the World Rally Championship – but they cover far fewer miles and have pro teams, pit crews and major automotive manufacturers backing them up. To say that the One Lap is a amateur-only event would also be misleading, but it is far from a strictly professional series – and where else would you see a Honda Odyssey win at anything? Combining several different classes of cars, you get the spectrum from classic performance muscle cars through modern super GTs. The winner of class “SSGT2 SB” in 2014 was a Volkswagen GTi – one of a trio of cars prepared to dominate the event. When you consider that the cars that ranked above them were super GT royalty – Corvette ZR-1s, Viper SRT-10s, Boss 302s and a plethora of Nissan GT-Rs – the level of performance from the GTis is drawn into perspective. Now the builders are moving on, leaving these seriously potent track weapons available at a fraction of their build cost:
It’s hard to believe, but it’s approaching two decades that the “New” Beetle has been with us. What debuted as the Concept 1 at the 1994 North American International Auto Show begat the New Beetle for the 1998 model year. This revival of an entry-level motoring classic was offered with a 2.0 liter inline-4 or a 1.9 liter TDI engine initially, with a hotter 1.8 liter turbocharged petrol unit arriving shortly thereafter. Everyone from college kids to retirees began snapping these up in their quest for a little bit of nostalgia. These were not the most reliable of Volkswagens, suffering a lot of the same trim and electrical glitches that plagued the car they were based on, the MkIV Golf. A few years on, you could buy one for a song on the used market, and demand for new ones started to wane.
Enter the A5 based Beetle which debuted in 2011 for the 2012 model year. This was a larger, more powerful and feature laden car than its predecessor. Its appearance was meant to ape a bit of the cues from the original Beetle, with a modified roofline and available steel wheels with chromed trim rings and hubcaps. We’re a few years now into the current generation of Beetles, and this 6-speed manual example with low miles comes to us by way of our friends at Euro Automotion in Happy Valley, Oregon.
