Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site aesat.UUCP Path: utzoo!aesat!hal From: hal@aesat.UUCP (Hal Patnaik) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: '85 Golf information Message-ID: <204@aesat.UUCP> Date: Fri, 17-Aug-84 10:14:30 EDT Article-I.D.: aesat.204 Posted: Fri Aug 17 10:14:30 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Aug-84 11:13:58 EDT Organization: AES Data Inc., Mississauga Ont., Canada Lines: 74 I am very interested in buying an '85 Golf when it comes out (preferably a GTi). However, information on the car has been scarce. The following is the culmination of several "months" (:->) of in depth research. I've seen several articles in different car magazines (ie Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motortrend, etc.), and I also read an article in Business week which even had some colour pictures. So, here goes: 1) All Golf's will be manufactured in Westmoreland, Pennslyvania 1) The cars (supposedly) will begin to be made at the end of this month (August) 1) The cars have been available in Germany for a few months and according to VW, they have already sold over 265,000 of them in Europe. 1) The car is bigger all around, and more rounded. Legroom has increased dramatically in the rear, and the car features a more ergonomic dash layout, and better front seats. I think the car is much better looking than previous models, however, it still looks very much like a rabbit. 1) As far as the engine is concerned, the diesel and turbo- diesel engines are unchanged, making 54, and 68 hp respectively. The '85 gasoline engine is a modified version of last years 1.8L 90-hp GTi engine making 80-hp, and as for the GTi itself, I have heard of two conflicting reports: a 4-valve per cyliner engine making 145-hp, and a high compression version of last years engine making about 100- hp. The most reliable version, (and the latest) is the high compression engine, with the 4-valve jobbie going into the new Scirocco. However, I aint gonna complain if VW decides to put the 4-valve engine in the GTi as well. 1) The GTi gets 4 wheel disc brakes with ventilated rotors in front, all other golfs get front discs, and drums in the back. There has been some talk of adding anti-locking brakes to the GTi, but I don't see this as happening all to quickly because of various legal issues. 1) Again, to several conflicting reports, a variety of options have been added to the list: - power sunroof - rear seat headrests - power windows - power door locks - analog digital instrumentation (oh no!) So that about sums it up, the car is not expected to jump more than about 5% in price, so it is still a good buy, now that VW has fixed most of their reliability problems, although VW will have a lot of trouble trying to convince the buying public to spend ~10G (Cdn) for a dolled up rabbit, when there are lots of other cars to choose from with fierce competition from the Japanese (and the Koreans here in Canada). As I have not yet seen a car (I cannot bring myself to order one without seeing it first) I cannot say for sure what is going to happen. The above information is the closest to what the car will actually be like in North America as far as I can tell from my forays into the local library (and my Volkswagen dealer). If anyone knows anything else about the car (or if any of my information is outdated or wrong ) please mail me and I will post a summary to the net. Thanx, Hal Patnaik