Tag: GTi

The Golf GTI’s secret Northern Irish ancestry

The town of Ballymena sits more or less in the dead centre of Northern Ireland. Halfway between Belfast and Derry, it’s a typical country market town, built around an old town square that’s been modernised with a shopping centre. Mostly, it’s famous for being the hometown of Liam Neeson but for one brief moment, Ballymena […]

The Peugeot 309 GTI – Why it outclassed its more famous brother

If you apply the successful siblings’ theory to a pair of classic French hot hatches – then the Peugeot 205 GTI (1.9-litre of course) would be Michael Schumacher in his pomp, and its less successful brother, the 309 GTI would sadly be Ralf Schumacher. In other words, less famous and living in a considerable shadow. […]

Power to the people’s car: Volkswagen Up and Polo GTI

GTI header

It’s 1976. Volkswagen launches a car with no precedent. The Golf GTI creates a new sector, the hot hatchback. Credited as partly responsible for the demise of the traditional two-seater sports car in the 1970s, it was immediately a hit, and 42 years later it’s an icon which is still with us. Knowing it was […]

Nissan Pulsar GTI-R. Godzilla’s little brother

Pulsar

The early nineties were actually something of a high point for fans of Nissan. Quite apart from the fact that expanding production at Nissan’s Sunderland plant meant that you could buy one and remain patriotic, the decade of Britpop and Cool Britannia was also a bit of a Nissan purple patch. Well, it was if […]

Peugeot 205 GTi

Slim, svelte, slender and hot: the Peugeot 205 Gti set the standard….