He started with a Mk3 GTI, then moved on to a Mk2 GTI 8v before ending up in a Mk4 GTI 1.8T ... Several weeks later, a set of 16x7.5" front and 16x9" rear hoops arrived at his door.

With three generations of GTI hot hatch production behind it, Volkswagen shed the Golf's square silhouette for a smoother and tighter design with the MK4 GTI. A design that has since grown into a ...

When we were handed the keys to the Mk4 VW Jetta in Eurospec Sport’s parking lot, our hearts weren’t exactly aflutter. With its missing center caps and stock ride height, the sedan was a bit ...

The Mk4 Golf GTI is one of the most maligned cars in history – and for good reason. It besmirched an already iconic name, and while it was the most convincing GTI yet as a daily driver ...

Unsure as to whether buyers really preferred a hot or a merely warm Golf GTI VW decided to hedge its bets with the Mk4 model. So it launched both a normally-aspirated 125hp 1.8-litre car and a ...

The car world remembers the original Volkswagen GTI as a car that created an entirely new segment for cheap, fun, attainable performance. The Mk1 and Mk2 GTIs were light, tossable, and simple in ...

The Mk4 GTI, and the Golf range more generally, completely redefined expectations of quality for compact cars. Here was a car that was ostensibly just a VW Golf, yet one that made you feel a ...

For the last years of the Golf Mk4 production (2001-2003), VW upgraded the GTI with a more powerful version of the same engine producing 177 hp (132 kW / 180 PS), and a six-speed manual gearbox.

Over time VW steadily improved the Mk4 GTI (though we had to wait for the Mk5 Golf before the GTI fully returned to form) but like its predecessor, the most appealing Golf came with six ...