Golf GTi is not a slow car, fairly boring and middle class in hot hatch terms yes, not slow though.

Exactly as I would sum it up.

Not comparable in any way. Not even in the same planet. Over any road much much faster, particularly in the wet, believe me and more fun, more flair. A car you'd take out early on a Sunday morning just for the hell if it and find challenging roads to enjoy. Not as comfortable, not as reliable, not as safe and not quite as practical although it was a five door hatch. A real "Q" car, no silly spoilers or wheel arch extensions to speak of, just a hump in the bonnet, a different grille and wheels and twin exhausts, and even those weren't silly false ones such as are fitted to the latest VRS.

But a quarter of a century old! Modern safety legislation would never allow such cars these days, mores the pity.

But the thing I remember most about time I had the car ? A high speed dash into to the local maternity hospital when my wife went into labour with our first child! Now 24 with a first class degree from Edinburgh university....tempus fugit!

Sorry to disagree - the Lancia was fast back in the day. It's not any more and most modern hatches will keep up with one. I ran a modified evo1 several years ago and a standard grale would get whooped dry or wet by a gti mk7 or indeed a remapped mk2 Octavia.

Which is cooler car... Grale of course