RIP 3-door VW Golf and GTI

MadScientistMatt wrote:

ProDarwin wrote: Huh. I much prefer the 4 door golf over the 2 door. I pretty much hate any 2 door variant of a car that is also 4 doors but the chassis is unchanged. Except the Integra, and I can't quite pinpoint why.

The Integra looks as if it was drawn to be a 2 door and the styling department found out they were supposed to deliver a 4 door variant at 2 PM the day before their deadline.

Yeah, kinda. Much better than the opposite where they just delete the rear door and make the front door longer.

I used to love two door cars. Now that i have a family, I look at 2 door 4+ seat vehicles as impractical and pointless. If its a two door, it should have two seats. I really like the current gen GTI, every time I drive one I come away impressed. Golf R is high on my want list for a comfy daily.....4 door of course. exclusions apply for cars like Mustang, Camaro, and other cars that primary purpose is to have fun rather than act as transportation. These can be indentified as two door 4 seat cars that have rear seats good only for double amputee's

Slightly on/off topic.

I've been shopping them hard off and on for a number of months now. There's plenty of MkVI for under $10K, but everything I've read claims the MkVII is so much more car, unfortunately they're not that cheap yet, and of course I want the LSD, and red GTI badges.

Looks like everything above S trim on the '17s gets the "Performance Pack" now, instead of it being an option. Make mine an SE, I don't hate the tartan cloth, but I much prefer leather, even if it's leatherette.

Searching for used MkVIIs with Performance Pack on Cars.com is tedious, there aren't many to choose from, and none of the sellers go to the trouble to list it as an option.

I suppose this minimalist strategy doesn't bode well for them bringing the Golf R Sportwagen here. Sigh.

The article I read seemed to indicate that this is the result of a segment-wide ("3-door" hatches) tanking of sales in recent years. So while it may be probably the most 'iconic' 3-door to get the axe, VW is far from alone in putting this configuration on the chopping block.

Didn't realize they made a 2-door Golf. But then again, I don't pay attention to German cars.

It always amazes me whenever the Four door thing comes up how many people actually like them, and prefer them You people should feel terrible about yourselves. You are the reason we can't have good looking cars anymore.

sedans yes.. those look best in 4 door trim (though some of the older big 2 door sedans looked great!) but smaller coupe's and hatches need to be 2 door

I thought we couldn't have nice looking cars because of global markets and pedestrian crash standards. Oh, wait, there are plenty of good looking two door cars. Most of them just have two seats. As it should be.

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: It always amazes me whenever the Four door thing comes up how many people actually like them, and prefer them You people should feel terrible about yourselves. You are the reason we can't have good looking cars anymore.

We're talking about a midsized car, here, two door midsize is ridiculous.

Not as bad as a two door fullsize, but still silly.

And if you want to use a small car as a hatchback, you're gonna want rear doors so you can access the cargo area from a second angle. TIL that a Honda Fit front door won't fit through the hatch aperture but it fits just fine through the rear doors. If it were a 2 door car, it wouldn't have worked to any degree. Might as well be a Smart for all the usefulness it wouldn't have.

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: It always amazes me whenever the Four door thing comes up how many people actually like them, and prefer them You people should feel terrible about yourselves. You are the reason we can't have good looking cars anymore.

I have a wife, 2 kids and a dog. 2 doors - no thanks - and I don't feel terrible at all.

However, I can't say I have never had one, but this is not a DD:

As someone permanently with no kids, I have no desire for 4 doors.

In reply to Brian:

I'm also permanently with no kids. Cars should have a door per row of seats, period, for access reasons. Aesthetically, four door sedans and large hatches look a lot more balanced. Practically, four door vehicles allow you to open any given door to a wider angle in a parking lot, which allows you to get in and out a lot more easily.

I mean, I can SEE liking two-door cars, if you are a contortionist, prefer vehicles with a lot of visual whitespace, or enjoy giving other people door dings.

And these people aren't even ashamed

The Hoff wrote: Just because the Rabbit and MKII Golf made the company what it is today, no reason to keep that formula going... My guess is that the 4 doors greatly outsell the 2 doors nowadays. Maybe that means the Scirocco is coming to our shores?

When I went to Germany for work a couple years ago, I mentioned to my German neighbor that I was flying to Munich so I could rent a car and drive to Berlin on the autobahn. I said "I'm definitely renting the new Scirocco." He started laughing and said "you know in Germany only girls drive those, right?" Then I asked the rental agent about it at the Munich airport and she said "so, we don't have one here but that's probably good for you because it's not really a manly car." She was perfectly fine with me getting an Audi A4 wagon though

Total meaningless story, but it's all I can think about every time I hear people talking about bringing the Scirocco to the US

A little ditty on 3 doors on Pistonheads;

http://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-features/3-door-hot-hatches-are-dead-tell-me-im-wrong/34935

Well, I'm a 2 door fan. I readily admit that 4 door vehicles are far more practical and 25% of our fleet has 4 doors, but all the sexy vehicles we own have 2 doors...

in all the cars I have owned.. only two were 4 doors.. and only one of those was a true 4 door.. my Volvo 850. The disco is a true 5 door as the rear opening really is a door.

Most of my cars have been sports cars and hatches

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: And these people aren't even ashamed

Because we're in love with practicality.

New car buyers vote with their dollars, and most new car buyers want bigger and better and more. Hence the Mini four door.

I see significantly more four door GTI's and Golfs. Honestly I actually get a bit surprised and excited seeing a 2 door in the wild. Honestly though flipping down front seats to get access to the back gets annoying pretty quickly. Much easier for everyone to just open a door.

In reply to DanyloS:

I guess I don't see that side of it. In the last 16 years I've had more than one other person with me one time. And have only had a passenger just a handful of times. Although, as a kid my family only owned two door cars, it never bothered us kids. If course that was before child's seats were compulsory and I spent most of my time riding on the rear package shelf.

When I see a 4 dr gti I think gt. When I see a 2 dr gti I think gti. Sports cars and ones with sporting intent shouldn't he more than 2 doors. Period.

Out of the many many cars I've owned, only a handful have been 4-doors; a Q45, Audi 100LS, 3 Series, G35, and the ever popular AMC Ambassador. I much prefer 2 door cars, but I do admit if you need actual back seat usage, it does help to have the extra holes in the car.

That said, a GTI is a 2-door hatchback, period. If it has 4-doors, it might be a nice golf, but it needs another name. I actually shopped a GTI recently in my quest to replace the BRZ, but they didn't have any 2-doors on the lot and didn't know when they would get any. Now I see why. Like someone said early, it had nice seats and the interior was pretty high quality materials considering its price and class. I wish I had driven it, but I was waiting on the 2-door. In the end I bought another Cooper S, 2-door of course.

I traded in my RX-8 a year ago when its engine started to fail and I’ve been driving around in my wife’s old 2003 Explorer ever since as there are so few new cars that interest me.

If I had to buy a new car today, it would come down to just four options: Tacoma (TRD extra cab) – Mustang (4 cylinder turbo) - 3 Series BMW (base 2 Door) - Golf (GTI 2 Door). So, this news represents a 25% reduction in my options.

I guess it doesn’t really matter as I didn’t pull the trigger on the GTI when I had the chance…I love the clean, simple, to-the-point styling but the quality / reliability is far below that of the Japanese competitors and yet they sell for around the same price.

When forced to choose between quality that’s styled for an 18 year old or a piece of junk that looks great, I just shrug my shoulders and climb back into my wife’s old Explorer which has delivered 218,000 miles of trouble free service.

2+2 seating – 2 doors – manual transmission –quick but simple – adult styling…I’ll even capitulate and accept wrong wheel drive, somebody, anybody, please just make a fricken modern car that I have a modicum of interest in.

Any of you 2 door fans ever have to strap a kid into a car seat in the back?

Any of you ever tried to sell a 2 door as used car? Resale on a 2 door absolutely sucks!!!