#GTI

We're going back to the VW well today with this two-door 2016 Volkswagen GTI.

Yes, it's a manual.

Volkswagen is giving the Golf a makeover for its 50th birthday, adding an illuminated badge along with some novel LED headlight and taillamps. VW doesn’t like to make aggressive changes to the iconic hatchback, so the alterations made on the Mk8 Golf are fairly subtle. They’re also largely irrelevant because the only version of the model still sold on our market is the sporting GTI. 

The forums I pick the UCOTDs from are littered with project cars on this January Monday. I nearly picked a 1969 Opel Kadett that needed a lot of work -- and I still could for tomorrow if y'all want -- but instead I am bringing you a 1998 Volkswagen GTI VR6 that also needs work, if not quite as much.

Given the hype around AI, this year’s CES soirée in the Las Vegas desert is sure to be awash with such technology – most of which will likely be deployed in strange and perhaps terrifying ways. Arguably falling into the latter category is VW’s decision to present the first vehicles in which the artificial-intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT is integrated into its IDA voice assistant.

Some good news? The feature is only being “considered for the United States” at the moment.

Today's UCOTD is a 2020 Volkswagen GTI that is "tastefully" modified.

Pour one out for yet another sporty car being denuded of its manual transmission. According to reps at Volkswagen, 2024 will be the final year of three-pedal production for the Golf GTI and Golf R.

We're going hatchback today with this 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI.

Volkswagen stopped selling the standard Golf here a few years back, leaving only the GTI and Golf R to carry the hatchback torch in the United States. Though impressive, the current eighth-generation models are not going to make it through the transition to electrification, but a newfound patent application suggests the cars could be reborn as electric models down the road.

Today's UCOTD is an Imola Yellow 2003 Volkswagen GTI 20th Anniversary asking $6,750.

I use a corporate database that shows what's for sale on our forums to highlight each UCOTD, and the pickings were a bit slim today. So this modified 2003 Volkswagen GTI 20th Anniversary car stood out to me.

Especially since the seller wants just $9,000.

In some cases where a product is offered in a series, each successive generation is improved and is greater than the last. In other cases, the maker hits upon relative perfection early and later generations can never quite live up to the legend. In the arts, for example, while Indiana Jones fans can argue the merits of Raiders of the Lost Ark versus The Last Crusade¸ you won’t find any sane person suggesting that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is anything but a dank shadow of the past glories. Similarly, my fanatic daughter tells me that the third book (Prisoner of Azkaban) in the Harry Potter series is the best, and all other editions pale.

We are now looking at the eighth generation of hot hatches from Wolfsburg with this, the 2022 Volkswagen GTI. Is it the greatest GTI ever, or has Indy jumped into a lead-lined refrigerator with this latest redesign?

Just about every automaker has committed itself to going “all-electric” at some point in the next decade, and whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it means that the internal combustion engine (“ICE”, for the purposes of this article) is dead tech walking. Death and discontinuation are usually one-way tickets to the scrap heap for cars – but some cars are different. Some cars are special, and being made rare or obsolete just makes them more appealing.

The Great Jack Baruth once called this The Grand National Problem, and I think there are a few ICE cars out there that will be more appealing to car guys and gals than others in 20- or 30-years’ time. As such, I’ve taken some time to look at the automotive class of 2022 and pick my 5 future ICE Age Classics. Enjoy!

Volkswagen cannot seem to get away from software issues on its newer vehicles. This problem botched the launch of numerous models, including the Mk8 Golf, and seems to have returned now that every single example of the car is being recalled in Europe.

Drivers have been reporting gauge clusters displaying incorrect data, infotainment systems going offline, keys failing, and advanced driving aids that are perpetually on the fritz. The latter issue has also resulted in Golfs engaging in some erratic behavior, like erroneously triggering their own forward collision-warning sensors. This has left more than a few drivers complaining about cars stopping randomly in traffic as the automatic emergency braking system came alive.

If you’re a Volkswagen Golf GTI fan, you were probably worried that Volkswagen would screw it up as they refreshed it for 2022.

Here’s the good news – the company (mostly) didn’t do that. Especially when it comes to the most important part of GTI ownership – on-road driving performance.

For car freaks – and they don’t get any freakier than the B&B – a car is more than just a transportation appliance. We end up involved with our cars. We care for them. We worry about them. Some of us even name them.

My last car, a ‘15 Audi A3 2.0T Quattro, was Mitzi – petite, German, cute, fun … and not very easy to live with. If Mitzi had been a human female, she’d have been a blast in the sack and high-maintenance and kind of clueless the rest of the time. A great mistress and a lousy partner, if you will. The “it’s not you, it’s me” conversation had been coming for a while, and when used car prices went bonkers, it felt like the right time to kiss Mitzi on the forehead and say goodbye.

That’s how I ended up on a car-search journey that took several months and ended with one of the best hard decisions a car freak can be faced with: Choosing between a VW GTI or Jetta GLI. Which one won my heart? Read on.