Back for it's second title bout.. the car that put "hot" in hot hatch. The one, the only, the VW rabbit/Golf MK 1
(thanks to BAT for the pic!)
In the Black Corner.. the Contender (in almost every way) the Dodge Omni
Found in the wild as either a 3 door or a 5 door hatch, the Omni was very much running in the same tyre tracks as the Rabbit. One of it's engines was even built by VW.
The availible engines in the Omni ranged from 1.6 sourced from peugeot, a 1.7 from VW, and a home grown 2.2 and a 2.2 turbo. Even Shelby had a hand in development, producing the GLH and GLHS (after the omni was phased out)
One of the cars that saved Chrysler, lets see how it does against the progenitor of the Hot Hatch movement...
FIGHT!
I'd prefer being punched in the face to owning either of those.
OMNI...
When you throw out the GLHS.. or even just allow the GLH... Not even a contest...
The GTI could never deliver the same kind of smiles per hour..
Base to base, Rabbit wins over the Omni.
Performance model to performance model, GTI wins over GLH.
mad_machine wrote:
...Found in the wild as either a 3 door or a 5 door hatch, the Omni was very much running in the same tyre tracks as the Rabbit. One of it's engines was even built by VW.
I'm pretty sure there was never a 3 door Omni.
Omni and its many variants.
theenico wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
...Found in the wild as either a 3 door or a 5 door hatch, the Omni was very much running in the same tyre tracks as the Rabbit. One of it's engines was even built by VW.
I'm pretty sure there was never a 3 door Omni.
There wasn't. In Europe, I think you might have been able to get a 3-door Talbot Horizon.
And back to the original question...base to base, Rabbit by a mile. GTI vs. GLH, slight edge to the GTI. GLH turbo or GLHS over any thing Wolfsburg put out in the 80's.
GLH/GLHS. Base car to base car Rabbit.
GLH over GTI any day. GLHS even more so. They are hilarious.
They feel like tin cans and are such pieces of E36 M3, but with that torquey turbo motor at full tilt, your brain has a hard time trying to balance fear of death and exhilaration. 
xflowgolf wrote:
GTI!! The OG
Sorry. Simca 1100Ti had it beat by two years...but VW arguably got it "right", even if they weren't first. How many Simca 1100's have you seen on the road?
VW Golf Mk.1 Grand Touring Injected.
