It says a lot about the legacy of the Mk1 Golf GTI that, almost 50 years after its launch, its formula of usable everyday performance is still the yardstick against which every Volkswagen hot hatch is measured. From magazines to marketing material, you’re never far from a nod to the first of the breed when a new generation reaches the road, but Wolfsburg’s engineers arguably never recaptured the Mk1 spirit as effectively as they did with the Lupo GTI.
The fast Golf concept had become complex when the Mk4 arrived in 1997. Newer models had got progressively faster, but not without gaining weight, larger engines, forced induction and (though not until 2002) four-wheel drive and DSG with the R32. By comparison, the Lupo GTI felt like a hedonistic throwback to a simpler time, with its three pedals, four naturally aspirated cylinders and 125 eager horsepower, all tucked in behind that somehow-familiar quad-lamp ‘face’. And there was more to it than just numbers.
This was a Volkswagen born out of the same era of unconstrained engineering fascination as the Phaeton, Passat W8 and hyper-efficient Lupo 3L. Sure the Lupo was the smallest model in the range, but the development budget left room for an aluminium bonnet, doors and wings to nibble the kerb weight down to 978kg and (unlike the mechanically similar Polo GTI) the Golf engine block
