VW Golf Citi - South African Models?

The Pontiac

The only classic car that I ever seriously considered buying was a MK1 VW Golf GTI. I was discussing this car in another thread with someone yesterday and the subject of the South Africian VW Golf Cti came up. This one..

After 31 years and 517,384 Golf Mk1's and Citi Golfs assembled at Volkswagen's South African plant in Uitenhage, the German automaker has decided that it's time to end production of the first-generation Golf that was sold in North America as the Rabbit. The Uitenhage site was the only Volkswagen factory in the world to have continued building the original Golf Mk1 designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro that debuted in 1978 up until today, even after the presentation of five more generations of the model.
To bid farewell to the car, Volkswagen's South African division presented the last run of 1,000 Mk1 Golf's ever to be produced in the world.

Dubbed Citi Mk1, the special edition Golfs will only be available in two colors, Black and Shadow Blue metallic and are fitted with 15-inch gunmetal painted alloy wheels, dark taillights, GT style stripes under the doors, chrome tail pipe, twin headlamps and chrome grille surround.

Inside, the Citi Mk1, which features a different and more modern cockpit design that the original car, gets sport seats partially covered in leather, a retrotastic golf ball gear knob, leather steering wheel, red stitching throughout the interior, specific floor mats and an individual number embossed on the dashboard.

All cars will be equipped with a 1.6-liter engine that delivers an output of 99HP / 74kW at 5,400rpm.

Available exclusively in South Africa (just so you don't get any ideas...), the last 1,000 Citi Mk1 are priced at R 113,500 which comes to around US$ 15,500 or €10,300 at today's exchange rates.

So I was thinking, instead of seeking out a 'classic' Mk1 Golf - that would primarily be only used as a second car - I could import one of these and use it as my main car. A good used example, say a few years old. They only stopped making them last year. The big advantage too is that they're right-hand drive. I never heard of anyone importing a car from South Africa, or ever seen one of these on our roads. I'm aware of the geographical inconvenience of this, but I think it would be worth it. It's not badged a GTI, but what the hell, it looks great and performance wise there wouldn't be much in it.

v300

I know 3 people who lost money and or cars
when dealing with so called honest South African companies.

One guy (I suppose if you do a search you'll find his name easily enough)
lost his substantial deposit on 53 Mercedes (MB) RHD E-class cars.
He eventually ended up with one South African MB in total
and down many many many thousands of Euro's.

It's a great idea and a great car, but the point of origin is the problem.
It's not Japan as regards exports. Consider yourself warned Ollie.

Owen

There was one for sale on donedeal recently

[EDIT]It's still for sale, 156 for tax - not bad! http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1041224

colm_mcm

there's NO way the tax on that CitiGolf is €156, the official emissions are 173g/km which would make them €630 per year to tax.

Also don't buy a CitiGolf expecting it to be a Mk1 GTI, even if it has the 1.6 engine, it's suspension etc aren't tuned the same and it's a step back in many respects.

unkel

colm_mcm wrote: »

there's NO way the tax on that CitiGolf is €156, the official emissions are 173g/km which would make them €630 per year to tax.

Also don't buy a CitiGolf expecting it to be a Mk1 GTI, even if it has the 1.6 engine, it's suspension etc aren't tuned the same and it's a step back in many respects.

+1

The CitiGolf was recently discussed here

colm_mcm

What's funny is that it's the same car and it was €7k then and €10k now


It's also on Adverts.ie!
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=161815&cat=all

mondeo

I would be worried about contacting a legit organization in south africa.....I'd be terrified i'd do my money in....Although I think it would be great to see one on the road over here, really cool actually.

JHMEG

I'd imagine by modern standards that a Mk1 GTI aint that great anyway (even if it was a GTI).

Have to love the interior. Splashes of aluminium make it look modern, but the spec is woeful. Nothing electric and no power steering.

bazz26

JHMEG wrote: »

I'd imagine by modern standards that a Mk1 GTI aint that great anyway (even if it was a GTI).

Have to love the interior. Splashes of aluminium make it look modern, but the spec is woeful. Nothing electric and no power steering.

On a modern VW that may not be such a bad thing.

Pdfile

these are literally a mk1 gti or what mechanic changes have they made as im pretty sure a clean shell would be cheap enough... just the R32 lump audi 4wd is the expensive part :rolleyes:

also the citi golf is the gti underneath ? which is the low insurance no frills model ?

alias no.9

Pdfile wrote: »

these are literally a mk1 gti or what mechanic changes have they made as im pretty sure a clean shell would be cheap enough... just the R32 lump audi 4wd is the expensive part :rolleyes:

also the citi golf is the gti underneath ? which is the low insurance no frills model ?

The citi is based on the bog standard Mk1 Golf, most likely cost reduced along the way. It would be foolish to assume you were getting anything remotely like a Mk1 Golf GTi.

Mena

I can't believe anyone would want to buy one of these bangers

I spent 20 years looking at the horrible things on the road, and now you want to import one ... :eek:

Anyway, it's easy to tell the well established organisations from the fly-by-nights (having spent most of my life in SA) so if you need any advice once you've found a couple of companies etc feel free to PM me and if I can help I will.

v300

Mena wrote: »

I can't believe anyone would want to buy one of these bangers

There is a few Mexican refugee Beetles in Ireland too.
Nostalgia is a powerful (and often misguided) emotion....

The Pontiac

colm_mcm wrote: »

there's NO way the tax on that CitiGolf is €156, the official emissions are 173g/km which would make them €630 per year to tax.

Also don't buy a CitiGolf expecting it to be a Mk1 GTI, even if it has the 1.6 engine, it's suspension etc aren't tuned the same and it's a step back in many respects.

If I were to import one of these if would be a used model as production has ceased now. I never buy new cars anyway. So I thought when importing a used car, it falls under the old tax-system i.e. €445 for a 1.6 engine, the same as my Focus. The new VRT system would apply alright - so the VRT due would be based on whatever category the car's emissions fall under.

You maybe correct that these cars would be a step backwards. I must definitely do some more research.

JHMEG wrote: »

I'd imagine by modern standards that a Mk1 GTI aint that great anyway (even if it was a GTI).

Have to love the interior. Splashes of aluminium make it look modern, but the spec is woeful. Nothing electric and no power steering.

It's definitely a drawback that they don't have power steering alright.

bazz26 wrote: »

On a modern VW that may not be such a bad thing.

True also.

Pdfile wrote: »

these are literally a mk1 gti or what mechanic changes have they made as im pretty sure a clean shell would be cheap enough... just the R32 lump audi 4wd is the expensive part :rolleyes:

also the citi golf is the gti underneath ? which is the low insurance no frills model ?

alias no.9 wrote: »

The citi is based on the bog standard Mk1 Golf, most likely cost reduced along the way. It would be foolish to assume you were getting anything remotely like a Mk1 Golf GTi.

I must look into these models a lot more and get some feedback from owners. It would be interesting to hear from anyone that has owned both a Citi and a MK1 Gti to see how these compare.

Mena wrote: »

I can't believe anyone would want to buy one of these bangers

I spent 20 years looking at the horrible things on the road, and now you want to import one ... :eek:

Anyway, it's easy to tell the well established organisations from the fly-by-nights (having spent most of my life in SA) so if you need any advice once you've found a couple of companies etc feel free to PM me and if I can help I will.

Cheers Mena for the offer on advice. I'll definetly look into what kind of money they are going for, and owner feedback etc. and I might get back to you. Thanks a lot!

colm_mcm

The Citi Golf that most compares to the GTI is the VeloCiti, they discontinued it in 07 I think, and emissions on the older ones are even higher. I think they're all 5 door though.

Pdfile

colm_mcm wrote: »

The Citi Golf that most compares to the GTI is the VeloCiti, they discontinued it in 07 I think, and emissions on the older ones are even higher. I think they're all 5 door though.

their popular in brazil also... they do a 1 liter turbo as far as i remember in an attempt to keep fuel costs down but they have some go in them.

mullingar

Pdfile wrote: »

their popular in brazil also... they do a 1 liter turbo as far as i remember in an attempt to keep fuel costs down but they have some go in them.

I believe you are thinking of the VW GOL, yes spelt G.O.L. without the F





wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Gol

colm_mcm

the Turbo is on the old 4 cylinder engine AFAIK, the new ones are 3 cylinder and not turbo


Got a kinda Skoda Felicia look to it. reskinned with an extra side window added