Mk3 GTis - utter pants or is it just me? Alternatives?

[Mystic Rado 0]

Like the title says, are Mk3 8-valve GTis complete pants or is it just me? I bought one as a daily a few months back and I'm beginning to loathe it with a cold, belligerent fury. Since I've had it, it's eaten a radiator, a gearbox - replaced with the one out of my scrapped Mk2 thank feck - the rear dampers, a pair of front tyres, turned out to have a mis-timed distributor rotor arm so it ran into a brick wall at 5,000rpm and even managed to hide its locking wheel-nut key somewhere... Oh, and the previous owner had drilled the airbox with the smallest drill bit in the world so it looked like a cheese grater on one side and fitted the world's shonkiest oiled-foam filter element ...

 

... which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have all the panache and driving appeal of a rotting sheep carcasse. Engine has feck all top end, it handles like a fat, sluggish thing, though since it got new Bilsteins out back, it no longer bounces around bumpy corners like a pogo stick at least.

 

There are good things about it, erm, drive it gently, which you might as well cos there's no joy in driving it hard, and it'll give high 30s mpg, I hate it so much that I don't worry about the cosmetics / cleaning / pimping at all and wouldn't bat an eyelid if it simply imploded leaving a big hole in the road outside my house and a pool of molten metal. And when I drive the 'rado it's just utter bliss and joy by comparison.

 

I ran a tweaked Mk2 for ages and loved that car, I didn't think the Mk3 would come anywhere near it and I sort of rationalised that I really didn't care, but I just don't think I have it in me to drive such an utter crock of shite regularly. It's a rolling insult to the GTi badge, I think I might even take it off.

 

So.... either it's going to be replaced with a sound Mk2 that I can stick the TSR engine and other bits from my old Golf into or I'll flog it and run the Corrado more regularly, though I'm reluctant to do that as I do a lot of mountain biking and Cs and bikes don't seem to sit happily together :-(

 

Or am I just being a picky, spoiled brat? :scratch:

[GlosterOx 0]

If I remember right, magazine road tests were pretty scathing of it at the time. Compared to a MK2 8V, it had put on about 150Kgs in weight, which blunted the performance and it wallowed around bends due to the suspension - It no longer deserved the GTI title and was more of a cruiser instead, due to the stiffer bodyshell.

 

Ian

[Mystic Rado 0]

Yeah, I knew that before I bought it. I think the thing of it is, that I thought I could cope with that in exchange for some day-to-day civility and decent fuel economy, but not only is it dull as ditchwater to drive, but it seems to be terminally unreliable as well. The combination sort of irks me. I'll take all sorts of crap off the 'rado, but then the pay-off is that it's ace to drive, but the Mk3 seems to have all the downsides without any positives...

 

Anyone want to swap for a sound Mk2 8-valve :? Possibly once with a blown engine...

[dirtytorque 0]

make good daily imo.

slow a feck as u say but high mpg.

Had a few small issues with mine,but those were the issues that probably got the owner to sell in the 1st place.

alot of people sell cars when things start going wrong.

Don't think mine was ever diligently service.

all ok since i ironed out these kinks.

[Mystic Rado 0]

I guess that after years of motorbikes, the Mk2, the 'rado and loads of mountain bikes, I sort of expect anything with wheels on to be entertaining. Perhaps I just need to recalibrate my expectations. The annoying thing is that it starts off feeling quite torquey and strong, then as soon as the revs get up, it just sort of slumps into a pool of mediocrity...

 

So yeah, answering my own question, I guess I am a spoilt brat after all :D

 

To be fair to it, when it's working, it is a practical thing to drive around in and I guess now the main issues have been sorted - touch wood - it should just potter around economically. :sleeping:

[jaded2882 0]

I had on before my G60 and agree with most of what you said apart from the unreliabilty. It had 185,000 on the clock, had been badly neglected in the past, but was still very reliable. I had one issue where it concked out in the summer floods a few times, but for a half hour or so. I sold it to a mate and it's still going, must be a fair bit over 200,000 now!

 

And although I now realise it was slow, I had upgraded from a Rover 114 so it seemed quite nippy then :roll:

[Sonicriot13 0]

I'm not interested in any mk3 that doesn't have at least an ABF in it.

[coullstar 0]

Mk3 needs a VR to feel quick as standard although tweeked ABF is nice however mpg is then in VR range. Imagine how bad a Mk4 2l feels then.

[Sonicriot13 0]

Imagine how bad a Mk4 2l feels then.

 

God yeah. Now that's a car that doesn't deserve a gti badge!!!!