A boxy little car with 110 horsepower under the bonnet and a badge with the suffix GTI — viewed with hindsight, it doesn’t sound very special.
Thirty years ago, this combination was enough to launch a whole raft of nimble, sporting saloons; indeed, it heralded a completely new class of car — the hot hatchback.
Sales caught Europe’s biggest car maker Volkswagen (VW) by surprise since hotted-up versions of compact saloons were nothing new. The Wolfsburg-based makers never imagined that the GTI would become the best-loved and best-known representative of the breed.
The car was devised by a small team of engineers more or less in their spare time. A VW staff member by the name of Alfons Loewenberg is credited with having been the first to shoehorn a 100-horsepower engine into the humble Golf.
It took a while before the ambitious project was ready to roll into the showrooms and by then it had acquired the engine from the Audi 80 GTE, a potent four-cylinder unit turning out 110 horsepower. The engine was fitted with fuel injection — the I in the name GTI stands for it — and by installing the power plant in the basic three-door Golf, which weighed a mere 900kg, the performance obtained was astonishing.
In the 1970s, a typical Opel Rekord or Ford Granada saloon could manage a top speed of 160kph — the GTI was good for 180kph and could sprint from zero to 100kph in just 10 seconds.
Despite the impressive specification, top managers at VW initially refused to believe they had a potential sales success on their hands. The past had shown that such sporting saloons tended to be of limited interest, they argued, and initial production was limited to 5 000 units.
Other manufacturers had tried their luck with similar models and with varying degrees of success. In 1973, Ford unveiled the RS2000 version of its Escort, which boasted a powerful two-litre motor and a package of garish bodywork modifications.
Opel’s Manta GT/E and Kadett C GT/E were in the same vein, with striking yellow and black paint schemes designed to underscore their performance credentials, while BMW offered several of its compact saloons with powerful engines and optical highlights such as front and rear spoilers.
The Golf GTI was noticeably more restrained in appearance both inside and out, but when it appeared in 1976, the car seemed to be just what the market wanted. Most of the cars were sold by the time they reached the dealers’ forecourts and the rest is history. These days, 90% of Europeans associate the letter combination ”GTI” with the firm of Volkswagen.
With its turbocharged two-litre engine, the current Golf GTI is still a hot hatchback and a special one at that. Like the original, though, it has a host of competitors to deal with. Manufacturers were quick to copy the concept three decades ago and as early as 1977 French carmaker Citroën even used the same suffix for a version of its futuristic CX limousine, the 2400 Gti.
Opel replaced the GT/E with the GSi. Ford snazzed up the Fiesta and called it an XR2 while the Escort became the XR3 — all inspired by the Wolfsburg product. The GTI was undoubtedly the first of its kind, but it did not remain unique for long. — Sapa-dpa