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I still very much remember the launch of the A3 chassis Volkswagens and being less than impressed at the time. At least in my mind, the second generation GTi with the 2.0 16V was a hard act to follow and the 3rd generation – unless equipped with the sonorous VR6 – seemed downright soft in comparison. They looked a bit chubby, they were equipped with only 14″ wheels when everyone else was sporting 16″ wheels, and the base GTi was equipped with a lowly 2.0 8 valve inline-4. It seemed like Volkswagen was badge engineering a standard Golf just to make money, and in many ways you could argue that’s exactly what had occured. It wouldn’t be until 2007 that I would finally understand the A3 package a bit more. My dismissal of the entire “2.slow” lineup turned out to be very misplaced, as my foray into A3 ownership proved. I picked up a very second-hand but relatively low mile K2 edition 1998 Golf. Effectively, this was a 4-door GTi, with fog lights, air conditioning, heated sport seats and white-faced gauges. Was it a really special car? No. But for basic transportation, it was fantastic fun to drive, easy to maintain, got in excess of 30 m.p.g. no matter what you did with the throttle pedal and started every time I stuck the key in the ignition. Granted, it had typical Mk.3 problems with some electric gremlins and rust had started creeping through. But there isn’t a moment that I regret any part of my Mk.3 ownership other than that for so long I overlooked the 2.0 as a form of entertaining car ownership:
What did you get if you wanted a reasonable German commuter that was no frills but fun to drive and got good mileage in 1997? After a long run of Audis, I was ready for something that was a little less dear to fix considering at the time I was putting around 55,000 miles a year on my cars for work. My mechanic glanced towards a faded but reasonably clean Tornado Red Golf K2 he had in the lot and said “You can have that for $1,500”. Done. I never once regretted it – it was a great little car; it would get 34 m.p.g. in a pinch, the air condition blew cold, the K2 came with heated seats, and even after 3,000 hours of polishing I restored the “Tornado Pink” to red once again. It was also fun to drive – the 8 valve has been given the nickname “2.slow” by enthusiasts, but the reality is that the ABA is more than adequate to motivate the lightweight Golf at speeds the original GTi would be envious of – plus, it had torque. Put sticky tires and a stiffer suspension on it and it was fun in the twisties, and good snow tires let you toss it around in the white stuff with no problems. But the best part of the Golf was its simplicity; it was just basic transportation, but it added character to a daily commute. I loved it, and smile every time I see a clean one like this Memory Red Pearl example with lower miles come up for sale:
The clean Windsor Blue VR6 GTi I featured earlier this month has been updated with some new photos and a new listing. West Coast folks, take note – this sure looks like a great example of what’s increasingly becoming considered another classic from Volkswagen!
I’ve owned and loved modified Volkswagens now for going on twenty years, so I’m certainly not new to the scene. Obviously, being a popular tuning and performance platform since its launch, the GTi has undergone just about every conceivable permutation of modifications. Despite what would seem to be an endless pool of candidates, though, I often find examples lacking a clean, well put together look. I’ve also found as I’ve gotten older that the cars that really stand out to me aren’t the wildly modified cars, but the subtle cars; cars that manage to integrate their modifications well into what already was a good platform. Let’s be honest; modifying cars is a very personal endeavor, so of course there are going to be varied opinions about what looks good. To me, find a clean VR6 Mk.III in close to original spec but with just the right hints of spice to make it stand out and be a little less vanilla, and it’s perfect. Make sure those mods are on one of my favorite colors – Windor Blue – and it’s one of the rare cases where I think the seller got it just right:
I’ve owned and loved modified Volkswagens now for going on twenty years, so I’m certainly not new to the scene. Obviously, being a popular tuning and performance platform since its launch, the GTi has undergone just about every conceivable permutation of modifications. Despite what would seem to be an endless pool of candidates, though, I often find examples lacking a clean, well put together look. I’ve also found as I’ve gotten older that the cars that really stand out to me aren’t the wildly modified cars, but the subtle cars; cars that manage to integrate their modifications well into what already was a good platform. Let’s be honest; modifying cars is a very personal endeavor, so of course there are going to be varied opinions about what looks good. To me, find a clean VR6 Mk.III in close to original spec but with just the right hints of spice to make it stand out and be a little less vanilla, and it’s perfect. Make sure those mods are on one of my favorite colors – Windor Blue – and it’s one of the rare cases where I think the seller got it just right:
It’s not too often that you get excited about an entry-level, no frills car. Take, for example, today’s 4-door 1995 Golf. It’s not the first year of the A3, nor the last. It’s Colorado Red, probably not the color I’d have chosen. It’s got broad, flat and not particularly supportive tan cloth seats. The interior is a sea of plastic, and unlike recent Audi and Volkswagen products, it’s not the pretty and soft kind. It’s not got the fantastic VR6 motor, not even a manual transmission, and to top it off, yes, those are wheel covers. So why is it here, and why did I get excited when I saw it? Well, what makes every unmodified Golf special? In the case of this car, just the fact that it exists at all makes me excited; a low mileage survivor Mk.3 that is completely original? Yes, please!
