{"id":4608,"date":"2017-03-27T13:15:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/?p=4608"},"modified":"2017-03-27T13:15:50","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:15:50","slug":"a-brief-history-of-the-volkswagen-gti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/gearheads\/a-brief-history-of-the-volkswagen-gti\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of the Volkswagen GTI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The original hot hatch still\u00a0sizzles<\/h2>\n

The venerable Jeremy Clarkson once said the Volkswagen GTI<\/span> is \u201call things, to all men.\u201d And there\u2019s really no better summary of the car. It\u2019s a nice car, yet classless. You\u2019re just as likely to see a businessman behind the wheel as a teenager. It\u2019s sporty, but as comfortable and relaxing to cruise down the highway as any other car. There are enough styling cues to differentiate it from its Golf siblings, but they\u2019re subtle enough that a casual passerby wouldn\u2019t notice the difference.<\/p>\n

A legend is born<\/h3>\n

The original MKI GTI<\/span> was a revolutionary blending of the concepts of a sports car and family car. Something fun to drive, especially in European markets, usually came in the form of a 2-seater roadster. A blast to drive, but not exactly a practical option for a family, or anyone that needs to travel around with more than a briefcase. All that changed in 1976 when Volkswagen engineers cobbled together the first GTI<\/span> with components from the VW\/Audi parts bin. They borrowed a high-revving \u00a08v 1.6L turbo engine from the Audi 80 and stuck it in the Golf\u2019s featherweight 1800 lb. chassis, resulting in a 0-60 time of 9.0 seconds and a top speed of 110 mph, comparable to high-end sedans of the era.<\/p>\n

Losing touch<\/h3>\n

Debuting in 1984, the MKII swelled slightly in proportions and sported an new quad headlight front fascia. The original 8v engine was eventually replaced with a more powerful 16v, but also came with a slightly more buzzy and harsh driving experience. The charm of the original model remained but its luster\u00a0began to fade.<\/p>\n

The MKIII and MKIV generations continued the weight-gain trend, but the powertrains didn\u2019t offer increased performance to match. It almost seemed like the very spirit of the engineers designing the car had been lost. Their suspension was soft, the styling unmemorable, even the gear shifters felt vague. They offered a nicely designed interior compared to the competition, but really that was about it.<\/p>\n

Recapturing the original spirit<\/h3>\n

By the time the MKIV was due for a refresh, someone at VW realized what had gone wrong and set about fixing it for the MKV generation. While modern safety standards and consumer demands required that the MKV be nearly double the weight of the original MKI, the all-new 2.0T power plant also offered about double the horsepower. Featuring bold new styling, funky plaid seats and a chunky flat bottom steering wheel, the styling was daring but still subtle enough to maintain the GTI<\/span>\u2019s ability to transcend class.<\/p>\n

The MKVI generation built on the newfound success of the MKV and refined the formula. The exterior styling was chiseled into a more mature shape than the MKV’s happy-go-lucky appearance, although the hate-\u2019em-or-love-\u2019em plaid seats remained. The interior quality was significantly improved and the GTI began to enjoy the reputation of a \u201cbudget Audi.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest chapter<\/h3>\n

The MKVII generation grew considerably in size from\u00a0the previous platform, but thanks to new manufacturing techniques also managed to shed weight. It also offers a limited-slip front differential for the first time, which mitigates many of the compromises of a front-wheel-drive car. The interior continued its trend of improving quality and passenger comfort, offering significantly more space around the driver. It embodies the original spirit of the MKI\u2019s Jekyll and Hyde nature, a sedate and fairly luxurious family car with ample cargo space that turns into a hair-raising performance car the moment you show it a corner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Search Golf GTIs<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The original hot hatch still\u00a0sizzles The venerable Jeremy Clarkson once said the Volkswagen GTI is \u201call things, to all men.\u201d And there\u2019s really no better summary of the car. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":4610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-4608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gearheads","tag-brief-histories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}