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Tag: GLI

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1988 Volkswagen Jetta GLi VR6 Syncro

Dan’s recent acquisition and post about the new GCFSB Project GLi got me thinking about GLis again. Truth be told, I’m firmly in “Camp Golf”, but I had a few friends with nice GLis growing up and they were always great looking and fun. One in particular was a very clean black 91 model, correct with the original BBS wheels. One day my friend came to me and asked if I wanted to buy it; I did, but it was pretty far outside of my price range at that point, so I watched it disappear to some distant land and new owner. That seems to be the story with many GLis and German car fans; everyone seems to know someone who had one at some point and now misses it. I have a feeling that today’s owner is someone who will miss this particular GLi very much, as likely will be all of his friends – who probably like me want it very much but can’t swing buying it right now. But unlike my friend’s clean 1991 2.0 GLi, today’s example shares very little in common with most GLis at all. A bunch of runs to the Volkswagen parts bag have yielded a pretty unique GLi – a VR6-swapped, Syncro-swapped sleeper. Yes, please!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Volkswagen Jetta GLi VR6 Syncro on Phoenix Craigslist

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1989 Volkswagen GLi 16v Project Car Part 1

Introducing the first official GCFSB project car! I’m going to encourage the guys to start blogging their rides too, but since this one fell into my lap when I needed a cheap daily driver, I’ll start first.

1989 Volkswagen Jetta GLi

This car isn’t a perfect fit for our site as it has it’s share of bumps and bruises. Overall it’s a bit of a kid’s car in it’s current state and we obviously prefer to feature the cream on this site: examples that are worthy of the attention of well informed enthusiasts. But that’s exactly what led me to buy this car.

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1989 Volkswagen Jetta GLi 16V Helios Edition

If yesterday’s 1987 Jetta GLi didn’t spark your interest, perhaps one of the most sought-after GLis made will. The 1989-only “Helios Edition” Jetta GLi took the already good economy sports sedan from Volkswagen and followed the “more is better” rule, adding better BBS RA color-coded wheels and awesomely striped and hugely supportive Recaro seats. It was the prototype for what would become the standard GLi in 1990, but this car was decidedly the best GLi we had seen to that point. Only 1500 were made and they infrequently come up for sale, so while today’s isn’t in as good of shape as the 1987 from yesterday, it’s still a bit of an event to see one:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Volkswagen Jetta GLi 16V Helios Edition on eBay

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1987 Volkswagen Jetta GLi

Nearly as rare to see as the 1984 Jetta GLi is the model that replaced it, the 1985-1987 8V Jetta GLi. While I’ve lamented several times that we didn’t receive the 4 door GTi until just recently, the reality is that for all intents and purposes, through 1992 the GLi was a 4 door GTi with a trunk. They shared nearly all of their running gear, styling and performance; the only difference was the non-folding seats and the trunk. Despite this the GTi was the more popular option for most, and the GLis that were sold suffered from rust and heavy use. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw a fairly clean early A2 GLi for sale; but here’s a pretty good example today!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Volkswagen Jetta GLi on eBay

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2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDi Cup Edition

2014 will reportedly introduce to the U.S. a car that many Volkswagen fans have been eagerly awaiting – the Golf “GTD” TDi. Basically a GTi with the turbo diesel in place of the 2.0T, the GTD looks great, drives wonderfully and gets some fantastic mileage. But go back a few years and we basically already had the prototype here; the short lived 2010 Jetta TDi Cup Edition. What you got for your hard earned bucks was a basically a Jetta GLi with it’s heart yanked out and replaced by the thrifty and torque-laden turbo diesel. But this wasn’t just a styling exercise for Volkswagen – they had actively engaged in racing the Jetta TDi in the “TDi Cup” to help promote the TDi brand, so this car has some racing heritage as well. Only 1,500 were produced in black, white, blue, or today’s Salsa Red:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDi Cup Edition on eBay

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