We just love a hot hatch, there you go, it’s out there! There’s no point beating about the bush and anyone who has visited us will know that we don’t hide our enthusiasm for a good old fashioned GTi. Be it a 205, Clio Williams or the daddy of them all the MK1 Golf GTi, we just love them to bits.
So having recently taken delivery of the smallest and latest GTi that VW has deemed worthy to wear the famous moniker, we thought we would share a few pictures of the elder statesman and the latest new arrival to the family.
Much has been written about the new UP GTi with VW going to great lengths to draw comparisons to the original. Who can blame them given the game changing effect the MK1 had. Its lightness, agility, performance, reliability and practicality simply placed it in a different universe to the competitors and pretty much launched a new sector which it still dominates 40 odd years later.
It’s a little unfair to place that pressure on the little UP. Truth is that it doesn’t really come close to the fun of the MK1 but in a new car market that is pretty dreary and dull, we think it’s a pretty good effort by VW to inject a little fun into our lives at a very affordable price. Having waited nearly 10 months for ours to arrive and with order books closed just weeks after launch, VW certainly must be licking their lips with the response from the buying public and motoring press alike.
We hope you enjoy some of the photos below as much as we did taking them. The most fascinating thing for us was comparing the size of the two cars when sitting next to each other and the changes in design philosophy over the past 4 decades. See if you can spot how many design references the VW marketing department has tried to eke out and lifted from the MK1. There’s quite a few.
Oh, and thanks to the guys and girls at Citygate VW for the cake. A lovely touch at the handover and a real life example of having our cake and eating it!”