Personally I never thought it was great but it's light hearted fun that makes you laugh and definitely can't be beaten by any other rubbish on at the same time on a Sunday evening.

Everyone has an opinion I guess but surely watching it then complaining about it is a little daft when the following week your back watching it again, get the car started up and go for a Sunday night spin for an hour instead, that's definitely always going to be fun and make you smile

 

Well mine had been timed at 4.4s. Is a 2.4s to 60 car not much quicker? ;-)

 

You must of had an uprated dv to hit 4.4 secs to 60 in a golf gti.
2.6s to 60 quicker than a mini metro????????





















No!!

 

The Golf GTI was quicker than the SRI and about the same as a GTE on paper. I hardly think any of the cars on the programme were good examples of their marques, the Golf for instance had covered 172K

The Golf GTIs sat in the middle of that lot performance figure wise and were better handling cars than all of them apart from the 205s

As I said I think you had to be there to rememebr it clearly! I ate, slept and breathed hot hatches in the 80s, had my first in 1983 and owned several throughout the decade and with my mates we owned nearly all the classics. The only ones we look back on today with any fondness are the RS Turbo, the 205 and the Golf!

 

agree with the above

but would probably put the R5 GT Turbo in there as well

they where proper quick

it seemed to me that by the time the 1.9 205 and GT Turbo came out - the Golf was well into MK2 guise and going for a slightly different (day I say mature) market

 

Think it was being aimed at those new breed of people, the Yuppies!

 

In the what's to come bit at the start of Top Gear looked like some pretty nice cars to be tested

Did I see a glimpse of an Alfa 4C? Like the look of those

 

I meant my M135i; it was just an example. 2s quicker to 60 is a big difference!



















No!![/QUOTE]

 

I had 3 Astra GTE's back in the 80's and blimey they were quick..........I'd get back home and another one had gone LOL

I'd love to have another one

Shaun

 

Was it just 3 door hot hatches that they were comparing ?

I'd like to have seen a few cars like the Nissan Pulsar GTi-R and a Sunbeam Lotus representing the hot hatches of the past, the Integrale Evo would have blown them all away but that was a 4 door, 4 wheel drive hot hatch, still a hot hatch tho

 

The Golf was the only one that still looked great today as a design. I had a red MkII 16v in the early 90s and it was taut and quick. One of the best cars I've ever owned. It would be on my list if I was in the market for a hot hatch today and they were still making it.

The TG episode was very silly but still entertaining - especially the supermarket laps.

 

Nothing wrong with my mechanical skills, it was the only thing keeping these cars on the road. If you think that a Golf GTi is the best hot hatch shows you have a total lack of imagination. Chevette HSR, Lotus Talbot Sunbeam are far more fun. If you like dull than maybe the Golf is the right car for you. I like something with a bit more character

 

MG metros were great! In that the brakes, inlet manifold, Su carbs etc were a direct fit on my Mini

 

It was a yuppie mobile, for the people who didn't want get their hands dirty
The kind of person who could afford British Gas shares and would tread on anybody to get to the top. A true child of the Thatcher generation

 

although the production runs of the above may have overlapped slighty with the Golf - they were in fact cars from two different eras

the Golf - modern design looking forward to the 80's and 90's

Chevette HSR, Lotus Talbot Sunbeam - aging designs looking back to the 60's

but I am sure they were fun

 

They certainly were, I couldn't afford new car

I had Talbot ( possibly Chrysler ) avenger, ten years old. Capri before that, also ten years old

 

The VW Golf was released in 1974 the Talbot didn't come out till 1977 so they are comparable! (dated designs are beside the point). The best FWD hot hatch has to be the 205 GTi and even better if you can get your hands on the the 205 t16!

 

In my opinion and when it worked,pound for pound the best 80s hot hatch was the R5 turbo for out n out acceleration,handling.
The only car that ever beat my 197bhp gt tuned r5 was a pulsar, so I sold the r5 and bought a gtir lol. A Nissan sunny touched by the devil.
Loved my little 5 though,had character.

 

Yet you say they were unreliable.....hmmmm

Yes, you like sh1theaps and I like proper cars. Probably why I drive an AMG now and you still drive a Japanese sh1tbox that is long past its sell-by date

 

i would say its a toss up between a 205 gti or a astra gte 16v

golfs were and still are very boring cars

fords back then were ok-the xr2 was a laugh but anything else they did lacked the grin factor

remember a hot-hatch isnt just about speed its about fun and how the car makes you smile etc

one of the best hot hatches of the last decade i think is the honda civic type r ep3 shape,it is a right laugh when you go hooning past old duffers @ 8500rpm

like f1 said-lotus talbot sunbeam was a pocket rocket and rare so i can imagine people feeling very happy in it

i know people slate vauxhalls but back then their cars could be driven to work and back and then spanked around a track without missing a beat

 

Mercedes - the pinnacle of well engineered cars (maybe 40 years ago). I bet your C180 with AMG wheels really shifts!

If you don't like Subarus why are being such a sad ******* and staying on this site. Why don't you go on the Mercedes forum with the rest of the tiny *****

 

A lot of German cars are on the verge of behind labelled 'sh1tboxes', Mercedes included. They used to be well engineered but now the manufacturers are resting on reputations of old and cutting corners like never before. Out of the Subarus, Mercedes, VWs it was the German cars that gave me the most problems and I will be leaving German crap behind and looking for a well engineered Japanese car (2.5 Subarus aside).

 

Like shooting fish in a barrel

 

There aren't any Jap cars that really excite me now.

Obviously the GTR I suppose but it's not in my price range.

There are too many generic hatches like Civics.

Meh.

 

+1 I really dont understand why some people are on here goin on about Impreza's being ****boxes and trying to persuade us in thinking that the cars we drive are ****boxes and that the car they drive are so much more superior than Impreza's. I would never get pleasure in being on another car forum e.g Vauxhall, Ford or Mercedes etc and go on and on about their cars being ****e. Impreza owners drive and like their cars for various reasons and maybe thats why their on this site called ScoobyNet .

 

Crikey I have a double bite Look I love Imprezas, have owned 5 over 17 years, but I don't like fools so just thought I'd wind him up a bit.... was a bit too easy to be frank!

 

Wind your neck in and go buy a crappy Saab Estate to join your fleet of bangers

 

Keep going you buffoon as with a bit of luck you'll burst a blood vessel.

 

Nothing wrong with SAAB's I'll have you know, they could show Subaru a thing or two when it comes to comfort.

 

He's an easy one to get a bite from.
As soon as he learns to use paragraphs and work out swearing just posts as **** . we will be able to understand his replys.