Mk1 or Mk2 VW Golf owners?

am thinking of buying and restoring a Mk1 or 2 VW Golf. Am choosing between either the cabriolet (convertible) or the standard hardtop. I prefer a convertible unless it is possible to fit 2 full sus mountain bikes in the hatch of the hardtop. Was maybe thinking of doing a bike tray just like those van builds, in the back if it would fit, Even if I have to remove both the front and rear wheels. Just wondering if anyone has put a mountain bike or 2 in the back of one of these cars.

One of these

I’ve had a MK3 Golf and managed to get a 26er in with the front wheel off, not sure how well it would work with bigger wheels. It should be easy enough with both wheels removed.

I’d go for a MK2, as it’s better built and less rust prone than the MK1 It’s also bigger. I’ve not owned a MK2 Golf, but have owed 2 MK2 Jettas, and really liked them.

Have you considered a Scirocco?

You won’t get a modern big bike in the back of a Mk2 without taking both wheels off. At least.

The cabriolet is the same car for both the Mk1 & 2. VW added a body kit for the later models, around 89-90, when they did the facelift Mk2. Big bumpers on the GTI and GL and one piece windows in the front doors.

Agree that the Mk1 rusted, nowhere near as bad as the same period Fords. Vauxhall’s or the French. The Mk2 was a better car and will be easier to get a decent one without a silly price tag.

I run a Mk2 Golf. It can carry two bikes with the rear seats folded down and the wheels off with some judicious arrangement of padding etc. You can also, if you need to, take the rear seats out easily enough by undoing two bolts, which frees up a bit more space for epic missions to, erm, Mountain Mayhem or whatever. Without the rear seats down, there’s just room in the boot for a couple of large duffles and some random bags, you won’t get a bike in there without sawing it into bits…

More generally, it’s getting increasingly hard to find a rot-free Mk1 and prices for those are astronomical. And the Mk2 is going the same way, but there are a lot more of them around and they seem to be more rot resistant depending on age. The Club GTi forum is a good resource for technical information on common problems plus used parts / cars etc, but there’s a lot of rubbish around.

There is, or used to be, a half-decent Mk2 buyers’ guide at http://www.matey-matey.com/golf_buying_guide.shtml

Stuff to be aware of beyond all the obvious includes potential rust spots at the point where the wiper hole would be on a LH drive Golf – the depression is still there and it collects water and behind the filler cap where gunk accumulates and eventually leads to rust – repair panels commonly available, but a pain in the butt. The headlights benefit from an uprated wiring loom. Leaks can be an issue but mostly are either the gasket around the heater blower air intake failing combined with the drain channels getting blocked with debris or the waterproof membrane behind the door cards failing.

On the engine front, there’s a myth that the 8v is torquier, but in reality the 16v is quicker throughout, but doesn’t feel that way because of the shape of the power/torque curve. A really well converted Mk2 VR6 would be awesome, but you’d want something that had been properly done with uprated suspension, brakes and sorted electrics.

Anyway, they’re still a blast to drive. More direct and visceral than most modern cars. Easy to work on. Parts are mostly affordable.

I don’t know much about the cabriolet except that it’s based mostly on the Mk1 and the lack of roof reduces the overall rigidity. It’s also less secure, which is saying something given that all you need do to break into a Mk2 is stick a screwdriver through the door-skin just under the handle and waggle it around for a second…

HTH

Last time I had a Mk2 my bikes are all 26″, but went in easy enough. Last one was a real tidy Driver, but changed it because bikes going in and out all the time were starting to mark it up.

Standard brakes aren’t great, especially if coming from something newer (although my Octavia has similarly unconvincing brakes, VAG thing maybe) and boot lid edge is also rust prone.

Wouldn’t dismiss a Jetta, friend had a few and the boots are pretty cavernous.

I’ve got a MK2 16v small bumper.

Just about fit 2 bikes in the back with the seats down and wheels off.

It’s an awesome car, recently replaced the stock, 30 year old springs and struts with a nice Kone/Eibach kit and it handles beautifully. Not fast by modern standards, but great fun to drive.

A friend’s selling a Mk1 Caddy like that one up there – ’87 plate with the 1.6l Scirocco engine, completely refurbed flat bed. Would make a fantastic bike carrier.

Yeah, the brakes aren’t brilliant. Actually they’re not that bad, but they’re not over-servoed like modern stuff and, my experience is that if the pads / rotors are worn, the effect feels more marked than with a more modern car. With everything in good nick they’re okay, you just sort of recalibrate. You can upgrade the brakes with bigger rotors / different calipers and 16v models have slightly better brakes as stock.

You do get used to simply applying more force. If you want to try really bad brakes, you should try a Mk2 Polo… horrific brakes with a rod-based crossover linkage that would barely stop a go-kart.

So it sounds like id being going with a Mk2 hardtop as my best option. I am totally ok with folding the rear seats down, and maybe even taking them out, or finding some after market seats since I will not being keeping the car stock. I do plan on doing an engine swap on it and maybe in the later future do an awd conversion on it. So it sounds like if I take both wheels off (I do ride 29ers) then both bikes could fit side by side standing up. I was thinking maybe it could be a cool idea to do a sliding rack in the back to make it more secure, but modify the rack some how to make if fold up with the rear seats, anyone else think this may be possible? https://faroutride.com/slide-out-bike-rack/

https://faroutride.com/slide-out-bike-rack/

similar to this rack except for the fact that both wheels will be coming off

having had a Mk 1 1.6 GLS, a Mk1 1.8 Gti a Mk 2 small bumper 8v Gti and a Mk2 16v Jetta I’d say that the best option would be the Mk2 Golf, although the Jetta was by far the nicest to drive if I remember you can’t fold the seats down although boot was huge.

brakes on the Mk 1s required fairly constant fettling to keep feel as outlined above. Both had drums on the rear whilst the Mk2 Gti’s have discs all round.

a mate had a cabriolet. Not as nice to drive and heavily compromised carrying capacity for people and stuff

I do plan on doing an engine swap on it and maybe in the later future do an awd conversion on it. So it sounds like if I take both wheels off (I do ride 29ers) then both bikes could fit side by side standing up.

Not sure you’ll fit any bike without wheels standing up tbh, I suspect they’ll simply be too long. I generally just lay the frames diagonally on their sides with some padding in between. Maybe without the rear seats in, but I’ve never tried. The way the rear seats fold down isn’t particularly space efficient fwiw. none of this new-fangled flat load space nonsense 😉 You need to remember that a Mk2 Golf is smaller than, say, a modern Polo.

If you’re serious about an AWD conversion, you might be better off looking for a Mk2 Rallye in the first place, though they’re rare and expensive. One of these. I guess it depends on your budget.

Is length the problem for standing bikes up in the back or would height be more of an issue… I’m assuming the 5 door golfs would also have more space for bikes…

Yes it definitely will not be right away but I would love to do an awd conversion. Just to make it more fun to drive in the snow here in Canada

I think height would be okay with a lowered seatpost anyway, but length would be the issue. I currently have a 3-door, but used to own a 5-door GTi and the internal space is, as far as I can tell, identical. The problem is that the rear seats fold in such a way that they limit the available space lengthways.

I think the only way your idea might work would be if you were to remove the rear seats completely and maybe plate over the rear passenger foot-wells. I’ve though about doing that myself, but we have a T5 as well, so it seems a bit pointless.

Well I think I may be going with the hardtop golf and take the rear seats out and see if I can make it fit… otherwise I will just go with a hitch carrier.

Could anyone send a picture of the rear seats folded in a golf?

Floorpan of 3 and 5 doors is same length. Just the two door had comedy long barn doors that looked ‘right’ but seriously affected your ability to get out of the car in a narrow carpark space 😂😂

A disappointing lack of photos of early Golfs.

I had a 1988 MK2 GTI but during a period where I didn’t ride bikes. It had a sub and accoustic shelf so wouldn’t have got a bike in anyway.

It’s a while since I’ve had one but I drove Mk2 GTIs for 12 years and had nearly 240k out of the second one (first one got pinched).

I think you’d struggle to get bikes upright with wheels off unless 26” with seat post out  and you’re still riding 100mm forks. NB I could get a 19” (26” wheel) race hardtail frame/forks cross ways in the boot, just.

Yea I’ll have to see when I get one I guess I’m guessing my bike wont fit 29er 150mm travel XL frame 😂

Serial Scirocco owner and now in a Mk7 GTi. I have roof rack.

Yea I have a roof rack on my current car (chevy cruze) the only thing about it is it’s a lot noisier, much worse on gas, and at least out here my bike gets covered in bugs