VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 3-door coupe ESTIMATED BASE PRICE: $23,000 ENGINE TYPE: turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum Attractive cabrio variant of the huge Golf range is good looking and good to drive There’s never been a genuine Golf GTI Cabriolet before: the 1980s MkI had a GTI variant, but only in the UK The biggest is that any 2.0t TSI GTI, starting with the Mk6 in 2010 and continuing all the way up to the current Mk7 and Mk7.5 GTI, are known to have a weak clutch from the factory. While it’s not really a problem on a stock car, if you modify your GTI with a performance ECU tune from a company like Unitronic , chances are the clutch will The Volkswagen Golf GTI came back with a bang in 2005 and is one of the best modern classics today. Powered by a turbocharged 200hp 2.0T FSI engine, it’s smooth, refined and pleasingly quick to drive plus there’s a choice of the standard six-speed manual or an optional semi-automatic DSG gearbox. On the road the Mk5 GTI is simply superb 2.5s are some of the most reliable engines VW has made recently in my opinion. I have owned a mk4 2.0 and also a mk3 2.0 before that. Both of those cars ended up having multiple problems although they were both higher milage. Ive owned my 2.5 with 32k on it and just about to roll over to 104k. The Mark 1 Golf is as close as you can come to an objectively good car; light, reliable and fun to drive. Styled by Italdesign and launching in 1974, it was incredibly successful. The iconic GTI took this a step further and started one of the greatest segments on the market, specifically, the hot hatchback. The 306 GTI-6 is regarded as one of the hot hatch greats, easily outclassing the equivalent Golf GTIs of its era. This time, Volkswagen and Peugeot are much more closely matched. The 308 benefits from an impressively low weight – at 1205kg it’s 146kg lighter than the Golf – helping it cover the 0-62mph sprint 0.3 seconds quicker. Like the previous generation R32, the Mk5 came with a Haldex four-wheel drive system and all of the top-of-the-line features that one would expect from Volkswagen’s flagship Golf. To help tame the powerful engine, the R32 Mk5 came with larger 345 mm (13.58 inch) discs at the front and 310 mm (12.2 inch) discs at the rear that were clamped by Onf0ri.