Your Mk2 GTI 16V will be (never had one, but I had a Jetta GTI 16v). The valvers are a great car, and the only Golf I'd look twice at.

Mk2 and 3 GTI 8V's were pretty uninspiring. I owned both and went back to a Polo or a Mk2 Rocco both times for the fun factor.

The Mk3 16V was quick, but not a patch on it's predecessor for bringing a smile to your face.

Mine had throttlebodies in place of injection system which rails out some of the 16v flatline torque issue. But I've always found the 8v to be surprisingly buzzy around town. No match on fast roads but useful in the right climes.

I despised the mk3 when it landed and killed my boyhood hero though im a little more sympathetic these days. As for those 86c/f Polos, absolute gems even with a 40 hp 1043 up front. pop some CO on the front and they drive amazingly well im looking forward to the lad buying one

I had one of those....great car (mine was in the orange colour) i had the earlier primera egt too.

I had a silver SRi but my mates GT was awesome.

Honda Civic Type R for me because of the engine but the offer me one or a Clio Williams and it would be a very hard decision!

 

One that has not been mentioned yet is the early 1990s Astra GTE. It did not handle but with the 150bhp engine it was pretty rapid.

Didnt the civic type r come out in 2001??  you could get a civic 1.6 vti & crx vti in the 90's. 

Mikey you are right seems so bloodly long ago now :(

Didnt the civic type r come out in 2001?? you could get a civic 1.6 vti & crx vti in the 90's.

Ek9 import civic type r but don't think that counts

Nissan pulsar gti-r...if its not the best it has to be the most mental

Infact my celica had a hatch...not sure if you would class it as a hatch back though, probably a coupe

probably a tie with the Lancia Delta integrale and the NIssan pulsar GTI-R both 4 wheel drive and around 400BHP each.

I had one of those....great car (mine was in the orange colour) i had the earlier primera egt too. 

Im a big Primera gt fan very underated car would still like another one but getting hard to find now in good condition, Over the years I had the egt's gtse's and my last one was the chromeaflare paint work model with a gtr conversion. Still a member of the primera owners club still and go to there meets.

Im a big Primera gt fan very underated car would still like another one but getting hard to find now in good condition, Over the years I had the egt's gtse's and my last one was the chromeaflare paint work model with a gtr conversion. Still a member of the primera owners club still and go to there meets.

A friend of mine had the chromeaflare GT.......it looked ace,i had a egt & a gt,i also had a 1996 sri but i wasnt impressed with that one so it went after 3 months,the gt was the best handling car ive ever had,very reliable too,great cars. 

I had a "Swiss" 260HP Lancia Delta HF integrale Evo in the early '90s. At that time there were very few other hot hatches that could keep up. Unusually for Lancias, it didn't rust but the electrical problems were never ending.

probably a tie with the Lancia Delta integrale and the NIssan pulsar GTI-R both 4 wheel drive and around 400BHP each.

I'd love to know where I could find factory std ones with this power figure a friend has a reasonably modified pulsar and still hasn't broken the 400 bhp barrier. They were around 240 out of the box

Peugeot 205 D turbo - the first diesel "warm" hatch (along with the Golf GTD).  There was also the (rather unfortunately named) 205 STDT, a D turbo engine in a GTi bodyshell but with better looking alloys and silver bumper inserts rather than red.

 

 

Now that's a damn good point. By no means the best hot hatch of the 90's, but a, way ahead of it's time, look at things to come. Seem to remember they were faster than the 1.6 GTI's?

Now that's a damn good point. By no means the best hot hatch of the 90's, but a, way ahead of it's time, look at things to come. Seem to remember they were faster than the 1.6 GTI's?

 

The on-paper figures like the 0-60 time of the 90bhp Dturbo and STDT were fairly unspectacular (about 11 seconds, mainly as it required going right up into third gear), but the torque was phenomenal and once the car got moving, in a real world situation it would be quicker than an early 1.6 GTi (which only had 105 bhp).  The later 87 onwards facelift dashboard version of the 1.6 GTi had 115 bhp and was a fair bit faster than the previous 105 bhp version.

 

Those Dturbo and STDT models were expensive for years, then suddenly they just disappeared overnight.  

Im a big Primera gt fan very underated car would still like another one but getting hard to find now in good condition, Over the years I had the egt's gtse's and my last one was the chromeaflare paint work model with a gtr conversion. Still a member of the primera owners club still and go to there meets.

Only ever went to one NPOC meet and tbh they were helmets. The bad attitudes some of them had online were the same in person. Another primera owner from my town who was also on npoc came with me, drove down in convoy. We were both shocked at the way some of spoke to us( we were both young lads) so we left after an hour

Nobody's mentioned the Mk3 Golf GTi yet 

Loved my vr6, it walked rings round my mk2 octy vrs.

Astra gte 16v

Mk2 golf gti 16v

205 gti 1.9

The list could go on

Not hot, but warm enough to worry the bigger cars if driven correctly.

 

Plus I'll enter my mate's Integra.  Still quick even by today's standards.

 

On another note, I used to sell Nissans back in the 90's in Rotherham.  I can still remember hooning around in the trade in Primera eGT with a massive grin on my face.  As for handling, the GT was amazing, way ahead in the handling stakes.  Made my Octavia vRS look like a wallowy barge, even though they were a good few years apart.

Loved my vr6, it walked rings round my mk2 octy vrs.

 

 

yeah, i always had a soft spot for the vr6 golf, the automatic ones were rubbish, an abolute handful to drive especially in the wet or snow etc, but the manual ones were brilliant

yeah, i always had a soft spot for the vr6 golf, the automatic ones were rubbish, an abolute handful to drive especially in the wet or snow etc, but the manual ones were brilliant

I will have another one day.

Turbo'd or supercharged this time though

Found a old picture of my primera gt still got some more hidden somewhere.

I looked at these a while back but couldn't find a decent one at the time.  Shame as the SR20DE engine is a good un.  I had the 20DET in my 200sx S14 and that was also a cracking car.  Not a hatch though.  More pics of the Primera if you find 'em please.

I still have some around ill dig them out.

I'm old enough to have owned a VW Golf GTI 16v when they were new! An absolutely awesome car in standard form. There were others that were faster (Renault 5 GT Turbo) and some might have handled better (Peugout 205 GTI) but none were as complete a car as the Golf.

Simple.

 

^^^^^^ this.

I had a 306 gti6. Made me smile every single time i drove it.

 

I paid 600 drove it like any 18 year old would for a year and sold it for 600.

 

It handled much better than even my kitted out fabia.