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Hatches have always known to be a practical and convenient choice for the middle class family. But if there's one hatch which enjoys popularity all around the world for being practical and a hoot to drive at the same time it's the VW Golf GTI. With the GTI version initiating production since 1977, it's been all of 32 years since this hot hatch has been storming the streets.
Mk I
The exciting story began with the Mk 1. Launched in UK with a 1.6 litre engine, the Golf pumped out 110 PS and was capable of hitting the ton in 9.0 seconds flat and go on to hit a top speed of a 180 km/h. Now these are pretty impressive figures for a hatch produced in 1977.
Mk II
1984 was when the Golf GTI Mk II was launched. Now sporting a bigger 1.8 litre engine, the Mk II was marginally quicker as well. But it was the 1985 facelifted version which packed in the real punch. With a 139 PS on tap, this baby completed the 0-100 in 7.9 seconds and hit a top whack of 208 km/h. By 1990, VW had already sold 1 lakh Golf's. In 1991 a limited run of 70, left-hand drive GTI G60 Limited with 1.8-litre 16V 210 PS engine were produced. As expected, performance was insane with a 0-100 time of 7.4 seconds and a top speed in excess of 220 km/h.
Mk III
The Mk III was introduced in 1992. The engine capacity was now upped to 2 litres. Subsequently the GTI cabriolet was launched and ABS was made standard across all GTI's. 1997 saw the 1,25,000th Golf GTI rolling of the production line.
Mk IV
It was back to 1.8 litre engines for the Mk IV, which was launched in 1998. The car still sold like hotcakes with the 1,50,000th GTI being sold in 1999. 2001 saw a refreshing change with the first ever diesel engined GTI. Although it was a diesel it fit the GTI lineage to the T with some amazing performance figures. To commemorate the GTI's 25th anniversary, the GTI Anniversary edition was launched with a 1.8 litre turbo engine.
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