1990 Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v review from UK and Ireland

Heater blower packed up at 105k.

Original clutch started to slip at 120k, Impressive for a hard driven 140 bhp hot hatch.

Starter motor became sluggish at 130k.

Gear linkage cup at 140k.

Shocks and minor suspension rebuild at 145k (through choice not absolute necessity)

Nothing before or since.

VW have still not bettered this car in my opinion, apart from maybe the Corrado.

I had a 1.9 205 GTi before this which I adored, but it looked and felt knackered by 50,000 miles. The Golf is still as sweet and smooth at nearly 178,000 miles as it was the day I got it at 31,500. The interior doesn't squeak, the doors still clunk shut, it has no rust, and it handles brilliantly. The suspension work I did at 145,000 miles sharpened everything up almost as new.

It's also a good deal quicker than even the current 1.8 turbo mark 4, and destroys it in every conceivable way as a driving machine. The steering and brakes have oodles more feel, the engine, although peakier, gives better performance and economy, and the build quality is leagues ahead. When pushed, it doesn't plough on like the mk4, but cocks its inside rear wheel and allows you to play with throttle and steering to balance the car in oversteer or drift at your whim. Not quite in the same league as the 205 GTi, but much better than pretty much anything else in its class, including the newer stuff.

When someone comes up with an afforable hot hatch that combines this kind of build quality, fun, driver involvement and performance, I will change the car, but nobody has. I've driven the Civic Type-R (faster, but cheap feeling and worse handling), Focus ST170 (much slower, better handling, not as well made) and the Clio 172 (quicker, appallingly built, doesn't handle as well) I was almost swayed by the Peugeot 306 GTI-6 which was a much better drive than the Golf, but after borrowing one for a week, I realised it had all the same build issues as the old 205. As for the newer Golfs, they just never quite hit the magic all round abililty of the mk2, and the kerbweight of the mk4 is a disgrace.

Looks like I'll be keeping this one until it's done 200k plus. Sad that after 12 years "progress" it's still the king of the hot hatches.