VW Golf GTI Mk2 | PH Auction Block

It’s June already, which means the big endurance events on the European calendar – Le Mans, Spa 24 and N24 – aren’t far away for 2025. The latter should be especially interesting this year, as VW will use the Nurburgring epic to reveal a special edition Golf GTI to the world. It’ll be the version to celebrate 50 years of the nameplate; so while on the one hand it could be just another Golf GTI Anniversary – there have been enough of those over the decades to know the deal there – it could be something a lot more interesting. You’re only 50 once, after all. And the electric Golf GTI is coming. A final swansong for petrol power would seem very appropriate at such a momentous milestone. 

Whatever the 50th turns out to be, there’s going to be some interest. It’s a Golf GTI, after all, and there really aren’t many other fast cars out there with the same kind of heritage and continued relevance. Certainly none that remain as vaguely attainable. It’s hard to imagine the fast car scene in the UK without half a century of Golf GTIs, from the original to the latest. There’s plenty to like about the current 8.5 in fact, righting a few wrongs of the Mk8 GTI, so hopes are high for the 50th. 

It’s the old school we’re celebrating here, however. The nostalgia associated with Golf GTIs in the UK, plus the fact a good few of them were great hot hatches, means the survivors have become covetable classics in recent years. That and the fact that they were built to last, like a lot of German cars from the latter part of the 20th century. You’d much sooner be putting a 150,000-mile Golf GTI to regular use than an equally well-used Escort XR3, surely. 

The staying power of the Golf GTI was evidenced by the Mk1 recently auctioned on PH, complete with more than 200k. This eight-valve Mk2 is some way from that milestone, at a little more than 100,000 miles, or not very many per year given it’s a 1990 car. With four former owners, plenty of history and zero modifications beyond an immobiliser (the late ’90s and early ’00s had to be survived somehow), it looks an excellent example. It even has the original parcel shelf…

And check out the spec: Dark Blue Metallic (very rare), the BBS, the big bumpers. It’s the Golf GTI you always wanted. The interior has aged beautifully, and comes complete with the original speedo that was replaced back in 1995. A proper time capsule, albeit one that could still be put into reasonably regular service, because that’s just what Golf GTIs are great at. 

While this Mk2 is an eight-valve rather than a 16, we’re at the point now with Mk2s – much like with 205 GTIs in fact – that engine spec matters much less than it did. Just having the GTI is important, and all that it represents from days gone by. As well as being the perfect palette cleanser for modern motoring. Don’t be surprised if a few join you in bidding when it kicks off next week…