1982 Volkswagen Golf GTi review from UK and Ireland

Driver's side interior door-pull "came off in my hand" -- this was my fault as I was in a mood at the time. Easily fixed.

The ashtray-surround mounting clip deformed slightly, resulting in the ashtray mounting becoming slightly loose. Fixed at home in less than a minute!

Passenger side window seal has shrunk slightly -- some water ingress occurs during heavy rain (or jet-washing!). Should be a very cheap fix.

Runs hot in traffic.

This car is superb. I am fortunate to have one of the later Mark 1 Golfs that seem to be better protected against rust, and generally better sealed against the elements. If you are considering a Golf GTi of this era, I would recommend against buying an early one: they seem to suffer more from rust-related issues.

The handling of this car is truly astonishing. Its low weight (840kg) and low centre of gravity result in an exhilarating ride along any twisty road. The suspension can become crashy on particularly poorly-surfaced roads, but the chassis very rarely loses composure under these (or indeed any) circumstances. The car is also extremely good in town. I commute into London most days and the small size and agility of the car are major advantages. Things can get a bit noisy on the motorway; this car is certainly able to do long trips, but it's not an ideal motorway car in terms of comfort.

Bottom-end pull is very good in all gears. The torque curve seems smoothly distributed across the rev range of the engine and the power band is usefully situated. It's very good up to about 90mph, but acceleration falls off fairly rapidly above this speed.

If you look after a Mark 1 Golf GTi then it will look after you. It's important to have it regularly serviced -- this seems to be amazingly cheap, probably because the car uses the same parts as a lot of other Volkswagens.

Overall, this is an eager and playful car -- it is a hoot to drive. I get about 35mpg on average; this includes some fast driving and some commuting. I'd thoroughly recommend it as a cheap introduction to performance motoring.