The Original Hot Hatch: The 2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI Autobahn

The 2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI.

Thirty-five years ago, a co-worker of mine was dating a very rich man who also knew, liked and had good taste in cars.  Dude could have bought anything on four wheels.  He bought one of the first Volkswagen Rabbit GTIs. 

At a time when BMW 3-series were managing 11-second 0-60 runs and the SAAB 900 Turbo was considered blistering fast at 10 seconds flat, the GTI did it in 10.6, for a fraction of the price (roughly $8,500 at the time).  And it handled like it was on rails.  The GTI was a revelation in 1983.