1988 Volkswagen Golf Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Brilliant car, pokey 1.8 engine. good cornering, sadly no power steering GRRR! good brakes, could be better. Build quality is phenomenal, only had to replace rear suspension and near side headlight since purchased 6 years ago. Interior is retro but awesome. very simple :) Exterior is very good, more for men than women... Cheap car to buy, but not the best fuel efficiency... GREAT FUN TO DRIVE!Jul 30, 2008

The Golf MK2 1.8 of 1988 was my first car and I still miss her... Extremely reliable (drove uo to 270'000 km before crashing it) and economic in use, it's probably the best car Volkswagen produced. The handling was great though, so the red paint that appeared white on the roof, but when you think of it most cars from 1988 are already gone for a while...Jun 10, 2008

Golf mk2, from 1988. Engine is the non-turbo 1600ccm 4 cylinder diesel. The performance is 54hp(40kW) and 100Nm(about 73,5lbft torque) and has a 5 speed- transmission. The car weighs about 871kg (empty) which is about 1920lbs.. Although it isn't the fastest car around, its still fast enough for me to leave most other cardrive behind me at a traffoc light. Especially if you are the one first of the line.. It pull good from idle upto about 3500 ~ 4000rpm (estimate, I don't have a rev-counter in me car...) .. Higher revving isn't needed, because most power will be gone by then.. Though it does pull to its maximum rpm, you notice thatthe engine loves the lowers revs more than high- rpm, and since its a diesel, that isn't a total surprice. From 0 kph to about 80kph(±50mph) is reasonable quick, but from 80kph and beyond its getting slower. Ofcourse : its runs with 'only' 54hp. Topspeed is about 150kph (± 93mph) indicated depending on the wind (head-windm things like that).. I can get it to 150kph (± 93mph) although it takes a while, but the engine prefers to stay around 120 ~ 130 kph (± 74 to 81mph...). Cornering with the Golf mk2 diesel is good. I have lads of fun with it. At first a very slight skidding of the front-wheels, then skids on the back when driven very hard in corners. But it never runs out of control, unless the driver is getting really careless/reckless/sloppy... Althought suspention can be a bit soft for some, but this doesn't seem to be a disadvantage.. Especially when one lives in the Netherlands like I do, where speed-humps seem to grow and pop-up out of nowhere.. The golf takes 99% of those humps with consumate ease.. Brakes are still very good, considering the age of my Golf, which is from 1988. Though mine doesn't run with ABS and I don't want ABS/ESP etc or anything that might spoil the art & skill of driving and thus : the fun of driving. My Golf doesn't run with luxury, like electric-windows, but that doens't bother me at all. I really don't miss those kind of things in a car. If it already had those luxury items, I don't complain also, I'm pretty open for those things, but wouldn't miss it of a car doesn't run with luxury. Fuel-consumption is good. Some friends that can get 1l to 20km (±47.2mpg (U.S.gallon) with their Golf mk2 diesel, but I get about 1l to 17.5km (41.3mpg (U.S.gallon), but its also because of the way I drive; its quite sporty... :-) When driven really fast, it gets about 1l to 16km (± 38mpg (U.S.Gallon). Futher notes for the diesel is that these engines are very tough and strong.. 300.000km (186.000miles) is no problem, and with good maintenance 500.000km (310.000miles) is achievable. One of my friends has a Golf mk2 diesel, non-turbo which has run about 700.000km!!! (435.000miles!!!) on the orginal engine and still going strong!! Maintenance is the key to this! My Golf diesel 'only' has ±277.000km (±172.000miles) on it... It is save to say that the engine can out-last the rest of the car with ease. Anyway : Power and torque is okay for an old-skool diesel engine this size, but if one want power : go for the 1600 turbo diesel, which runs with 70hp(51kw) & 133Nm (±98lbft) or the 1600 "GTD', the turbo diesel model with the intercooler, which runs with 80hp (59kw) and about 150Nm (110lbft)... Weight of the turbo version is just over 900kg (1982lbs) and performance is very quick for such an 'old-dkool' diesel. Tuning of these turo diesels is also more easy that with a model without a turbo.. The capacity of the injection pump is good enough and leave plenty room for moderate tuning. Maintenance is very easy with a bit of knowledge about cars and/or diesel-technology. Easy-access of all parts that need to be replaced and/or cleaned... Using the right tools helps for about 80%, so to speak. Anyway : that was my review.. I enjoy the Golf mk 2 diesel very much. My next car will be a Golf mk2 diesel again, but it will be the turbo-diesel model then... Greatings from the NetherlandsDec 21, 2006