Update 7/21/19: This GTI 16V sold for $7,500.
Another GTI 16V?
Yes. And there are good reasons to look at this one!
A few years ago it seemed near impossible to find a clean, original 16V anymore. With prices of nice ones in the basement and most modded to death, it was a really rare treat to find a survivor. But they still weren’t really worth anything, so most nice examples remained tucked away, appreciated by their owners instead of the market. Today, though, the market has very much changed as 80s icons are enjoying celebrity star power once again and cars like today’s ’88 GTI attract as much attention as that new Porsche GTsomenumeral. Don’t believe me? Well, the lightly modded Montana Green Metallic example I just looked at hammered at $12,900 just the other day:
The ’87-89 model years are, to me, not quite as appealing as the later 9A GTIs. But in true hot-hatch form, they retained a strong link to the normal production models while offering sports car performance. Adding 8 more valves in ’87 to the GTI gave it about 20% more power, and that additional grunt was met with new wheels, trim, a deeper spoiler and a revised interior. ’88 saw the change to the “big door” and one-piece glass, along with a new 3-bar grill. We’ve recently seen two ultra-clean Tornado Red ’89s, so let’s take a look at this L90E Alpine White ’88:
