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As my screename suggests, yes I am a three time GTI owner. I thought these pics and following information might be interesting for some of the younger members. These are pictures of my 1984 and 1985 Rabbit GTI's. Yes they called them Rabbit GTI's back then. 1983 was the first year for the original GTI. I wanted one bad but couldn't swing it until 1984. As you can see there was a big body change from 1984 to 1985. Of course I had to have the newest thing so I went and traded my 1984 on the 1985. Truthfully I liked the 84 GTI better than the 85. The 85 felt slower and a bit heavier. The 1985 GTI won Motor Trend Magazines Car of the Year award. It competed against some really odd competition by todays standards such as a Buick Electra T Type, Chrysler LeBaron GTS, Cadillac Fleetwood, Chevy Astro van (I am not making any of this up!) Olds Calais, Olds 98, Dodge Lancer ES, Buick Somerset Regal and Pontiac Grand Am SE coupe. No wonder the GTI won! By the way the wheels pictured on my 1985 I installed aftermarket. The stock 1985 wheels were pretty dull and boring looking. But both GTI's were a lot of fun to drive and out handled almost anything available then. These old models were only 90 and 100 HP each but back in the mid 80's that was enough to keep up or out run many cars of that era. I remember racing a guy I knew from my high school in my 1984 GTI. He had a Trans Am with a 301 V8. I got a good car length in front of him from a dead stop and stayed there until we both ran out of road. I remember getting to about 80 mph before we had to let off. Needless to say he was pretty embarrassed. I have a Motor Trend Road test of the 1983 GTI that is very interesting to read and see how it was 'Back Then' I am going to scan the pages and try to post it in another thread. I hope it works. Keep an eye out for it in the next few days.
