Finally, some love! I've been loving mine since I bought it new in 92 (8v GTI "parts clearance special"..even had drums on the rear). Article was great..but I do want to add one thing.
I can't believe I'm going to say this..but if you live in an area with high traffic density, avoid the big bumper cars. I personally love the look (and my own ride will keep it), but the body kits are getting extremely hard to find. Repros for the F & R bumper covers are available from Europe, but the wheel arch flares have largely dried up over the last three years. Mine's been off the road for a year because I hit a big piece of debris on the Interstate, and destroyed half of the plastic stuff on the nose. Two years previous, I had all the "big bumper" stuff up front replaced (sagging w/old age), used bumpers and side skirts were everywhere, and the 16v fender trim was available new (so that's what we used instead of the smaller 8v flares). By the time I had to do it again (only 2yrs., right?)..everything seemed to have dried up (at least locally-and everybody on Vortex either doesn't answer back, or doesn't want to ship).
And believe the magazine about the 8v..I can go out there after two weeks, reconnect the battery, and it fires right up. 240K, and all it's ever had is valve stem seals (which can be done from the top on an 8v..just add compressed air through the spark plug hole to keep the valves up). You can't get much power out of the 8v, but with regular maintenance, you can't kill one, either. What the magazine says about 2nd-gear synchros seems to be true..mine doesn't have that problem, but my "Trusted Allies" at the shop say that's probably because it's been enthusiast-owned since new. Others I've driven (usually the more plebian trim levels) have this problem. Volkswagens were still economy cars in the 1980s, and many were bought as budget grocery-getters by cilvilians.
I think everybody who's not just dead-set against getting into a wrong-wheel-drive car ought to drive one of these sweet little cars once. It's amazing what a great balance of perfomance, economy and reliability they are. Frankly, taken as a whole, it's the best berkeleying car I've ever owned, and the only reason it's not going to be my DD anymore is because of the bodykit supply problem.
I was actively searching for a "small bumper" car to make a DD out of before I got laid off. Now I'll just settle for the plastic crap, until I'm working again. Anybody got a RF GTI 16v fender trim laying around?
EDIT: pix.
Before:
After (crappy cel photo):
