I’ve been playing with the idea of getting a really old VW as a daily driver. Specifically a MK1 Golf GTI. I’ve always had VW’s and enjoy fettling with them, but the one thing that worries me is scrotes trying to nick it all the time. I’d be relying on this car daily for work so really don’t want the hassle of it always going missing. Anyone have experience with this?
A somewhat late response to this @jambourgie. I run a Mk2 GTi as a daily – I also have a VR6 Corrado – and it actually works pretty well. For starters, the mechanicals are basic compared to modern cars so you can fix it yourself and pretty much any fault that happens has already happened to someone else and is documented on the interweb. Spares are cheap and easy to access. Smaller wheels mean cheaper tyres. It’s also really good fun to drive in a slightly primitive, basic, connected sort of way. Practical too with the hatchback and fold down seats. Mine’s been mostly pretty reliable bar a broken clutch cable and a driveshaft that broke and fell off on the A6. That’s over a decade or more. I also dinged a wheel and various bits on the Hardknott in my previous Mk2, but that was me and a huge pot-hole rather than being the car’s fault.
Downsides? Sound ones at any sort of reasonable price are increasingly hard to find, ditto ones that haven’t been bastardised by eejits. They are old cars, so occasionally things just wear out, perish, die etc, but as above, spares are easy to source – VW Heritage are good, but there are plenty of other options. They are not secure cars, pretty much all Mk1 and Mk2 Golfs have been subjected to pry-ins on the front door handles, hence the security plates you sometimes find on them. And they are not safe by modern standards.
As far as theft goes, so far – touch wood – I’ve not had an issue with that. But then even ‘expensive’ early Golfs are still worth a lot less than some dull repmobile or family hatchback / SUV. I’m more concerned about dings from braindead shoppers in supermarket car parks tbh.
I think the central issue is that any Mk1 Golf sound enough to be a reliable daily is also likely to be too expensive and too nice to use as a daily. A Mk2 is probably a better call, but they’re also going up in price. I suspect you’d end up keeping the Golf for weekends and buying something cheap and cheerful for daily use. Oh, whatever you do, don’t bother with a Mk3 GTi, just a dull, gutless thing that should never have had a GTi badge. I owned one for 18 months or so and it was a bit rubbish.
Golf GTi composite 2 by bin lid[/url], on Flickr