hal@aesat.UUCP (Hal Patnaik) (08/17/84)
I am very interested in buying an '85 Golf when it comes out
(preferably a GTi). However, information on the car has been
scarce. The following is the culmination of several "months"
(:->) of in depth research.
I've seen several articles in different car magazines (ie Car and
Driver, Road and Track, Motortrend, etc.), and I also read an
article in Business week which even had some colour pictures.
So, here goes:
1) All Golf's will be manufactured in Westmoreland,
Pennslyvania
1) The cars (supposedly) will begin to be made at the end of
this month (August)
1) The cars have been available in Germany for a few months and
according to VW, they have already sold over 265,000 of them
in Europe.
1) The car is bigger all around, and more rounded. Legroom has
increased dramatically in the rear, and the car features a
more ergonomic dash layout, and better front seats. I think
the car is much better looking than previous models,
however, it still looks very much like a rabbit.
1) As far as the engine is concerned, the diesel and turbo-
diesel engines are unchanged, making 54, and 68 hp
respectively. The '85 gasoline engine is a modified version
of last years 1.8L 90-hp GTi engine making 80-hp, and as for
the GTi itself, I have heard of two conflicting reports: a
4-valve per cyliner engine making 145-hp, and a high
compression version of last years engine making about 100-
hp. The most reliable version, (and the latest) is the high
compression engine, with the 4-valve jobbie going into the
new Scirocco. However, I aint gonna complain if VW decides
to put the 4-valve engine in the GTi as well.
1) The GTi gets 4 wheel disc brakes with ventilated rotors in
front, all other golfs get front discs, and drums in the
back. There has been some talk of adding anti-locking
brakes to the GTi, but I don't see this as happening all to
quickly because of various legal issues.
1) Again, to several conflicting reports, a variety of options
have been added to the list:
- power sunroof - rear seat headrests
- power windows - power door locks
- analog digital instrumentation (oh no!)
So that about sums it up, the car is not expected to jump more
than about 5% in price, so it is still a good buy, now that VW
has fixed most of their reliability problems, although VW will
have a lot of trouble trying to convince the buying public to
spend ~10G (Cdn) for a dolled up rabbit, when there are lots of
other cars to choose from with fierce competition from the
Japanese (and the Koreans here in Canada).
As I have not yet seen a car (I cannot bring myself to order one
without seeing it first) I cannot say for sure what is going to
happen. The above information is the closest to what the car
will actually be like in North America as far as I can tell from
my forays into the local library (and my Volkswagen dealer).
If anyone knows anything else about the car (or if any of my
information is outdated or wrong ) please mail me and I will post
a summary to the net.
Thanx,
Hal Patnaikhaapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) (08/20/84)
.
Some further info on the '85 Golf:
1) All Golfs will come from Westmoreland. The Convertible will
retain the old body for '85 and be built in Germany.
2) The production begun mid-August, according to Automotive News.
3) In Europe, the Golf has had the highest sales for any new VW
ever.
4) The standard Golf engine will be the detuned 1.8.
The GTI will have a higher-performance version of this engine.
However, it will have 2 valves/cylinder. The 4-valve version
will debut in Europe in the winter, and we'll probaby get it
for '86, in both the GTI and the Scirocco.
5) In Europe, a split rear seat is optional; it'll be standard
here. Power windows/sunroof are expected. VW generally
abhors any type of digital gauges (they got rid of them in
the Audi Quattro, too..)
6) We'll probaby have to be content with the 14" wheels and
185/60HR14s. However, the 4-valve version should have 15"
wheels and 195/50VR15s. These are optional in Europe.
Tom Haapanen
{allegra,decvax,ihnp4}!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
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Contrary to popular opinion, it's GTI with a big 'I'...tierney@fortune.UUCP (08/23/84)
#R:aesat:-20400:fortune:1500046:000:75 fortune!tierney Aug 23 09:17:00 1984 That's RIGHT! I own a Volkswagen GTI NOT a BMW GTi !! -:) Charlie
jjd@bbncca.ARPA (James J. Dempsey) (09/05/84)
[ This information especially for Tom Happanen (..!watmath!watdcsu!happanen)
but will probably be of general interest ]
I just called Volkswagen Of America customer service and got this
information about the 1985 Golf GTI:
There will be some '85 Golfs in the showrooms in late October.
These will be mainly for display purposes.
At that time, you can place an order for a car which will be
manufactured sometime in January.
The Golf GTI will have an engine with "in excess of 90hp, most
probably 105hp".
I wonder what the current story on the 16 valve engine is?
--Jim Dempsey--
jjd@BBN-UNIX.ARPA (ARPANET)
..!{decvax,wjh12, linus, ima}!bbncca!jjd (USENET)
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