Volkswagen Golf Mk1 · Articles / Top articles

While manufacturers are obsessed with making everything electric these days, most enthusiasts seem more set than ever on keeping the gasoline dream alive.

We all love a pizza night here at PVW and when Domino’s manager/part-owner, Stephen McClintock contacted us about his mouth-watering Mk1, we just knew we had to have a slice…

Whilst the owner of this stunning Mk1 makes a living out of new technology, he clearly gets his kicks from a more traditional source. Log on and compute the vibe with us…

Serial Mk1 modifier, Stuart Shellard is back with a bang for his sixth PVW feature. With 1.8T power, Harris trim, air and those gorgeous E30 splits, he’s got the ingredients right once again but haven’t we seen this car somewhere before?

With a big-turbo 1.8T, John Nguyen’s nutand-bolt resto Cabby is a daily-driveable family mover with a wild side.

Trimmer by day, road racer by night… Chris Smith’s 300bhp Mk1 Golf is far from subtle, but then we don’t think it was ever meant to be.

Small cabriolets often get tarnished with the same, lame image, but Brandon Quail’s Berg-Cup kitted 300bhp 1.8T example is far from your regular rag top!

When we first featured this iconic Mk1 Golf way back in 1999, it was like nothing we’d ever seen before. Almost a quarter of a century later, amazingly, the car still remains the GOAT. Here’s why…

In the relentless pursuit of power-to-weight saving, Frank Wolkers set out his goal to build a sub-700kg Mk1 track car. Here’s how he did it.

You can make a lot of progress on a project over ten years. Forest Benner has taken his Caddy to the next level…

When Youtube star, Dan Chambers, realised his recently purchased Mk1 Golf GTI Campaign wasn’t going to be the quick fix he had hoped for, he embarked on a full nut and bolt restoration with a 20v turbo twist!

When the owner of high-end trimmers, Carsdream set out to build his vision of the perfect Mk1, we expected it to be the stuff of dreams. It didn’t disappoint…

After the distinctively cheeky character and idiosyncratic mechanicals of the rear-engined aircooled Volkwagens, getting into the firmly-bolstered plaid-clad drivers’ seat of this Golf GTI MkI feels like a total culture shock. Everything is angular, futuristic, hinting at computerised systems and digital precision, created in the same kind of ultra-rational post-oil-crisis idiom that produced things like the Porsche 928 and W126 Mercedes-Benz S-class. Only in-house stylist Herbert Schäfer’s contribution, the gearknob – Schäfer was a keen golfer – hints at any notion of fun. And yet in the Eighties, the Golf GTI would define driving excitement.