Hi-de-hi, GTI
Our discussion of the latest, sixth version of the Volkswagen Golf GTI in last week's column raised some questions about the car. One reader wanted to know what 'GTI' stands for (Grand Tourer or Touring Injection), while others debated the year of the Mark I version's launch.
Volkswagen Hong Kong's sales pamphlets this week date the first GTI from 1976 to 1983, but the marque's history highlights and basic data could settle further pub and DB Plaza debate about this car.
We also hope the photos show how Volkswagen's designers tinkered with the initial GTI's clean, lines as its engineers tweaked faster, more efficient and cleaner engines over the years. And we show how Volkswagen has measured the GTI's carbon-dioxide fug per kilometre since the Mark IV, while many fuddy-duddy local dealers and motoring writers still skip this consumer information, three years after Al Gore's global-warming warnings in Inconvenient Truth.
Golf GTI Mk I - 1977-1984
1975
Original Golf GTI design by, Giorgetto Giugiaro, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
