Affordable All-Around Car: 3rd Gen VW Golf

The 3rd generation Volkswagen Golf is a very good vehicle from a number of different standpoints. It's a good economy car, it can be somewhat luxurious if you get the right trim level, and it can be modified to compete on both asphalt and dirt. Golfs do very well at rallycross events.

I swear I want to make a headlight cover for the LS400 that turns the lights into two round ones. Moving on...

Ofcourse, most of us know that the good ones have the 2.8l VR6 motor which is a 6 cylinder, obviously. Its figures aren't staggering but the car is 'quick' as I like to say, especially for the 90s when this car came out.

What is a VR6 engine? Well, it's kind of like a V6 but the angle of the cylinders is greatly reduced so the top of the 'V' is very narrow. The angle is about 10.5° while a normal V6 is 60°.

The real potential now is turbocharging these engines. There are VR6 Golfs driving around with 600hp. This is part of why these cars are so versatile. You can also keep it stock, take the back seat and everything out, and do very well rally crossing in stock class.

I like the feel of the clutch and shifter. It's an easy car to drive. As a daily driver, it's reliable as long as you just maintain it. That's the obvious key but people are just lazy, I suppose.

I consider this a very good car for the above stated reasons. They also come in many different setups. You can get a two-door Golf, a four-door, a hatchback, and I think there's something else that is slipping my mind. I might just be thinking of the Cabrio which is "kind of" a Golf. It's a little fruity too... But hey. I won't judge you.

I will say that these cars are very minimalist if you get them with no options. It's a good thing for racing because a lawnmower battery will power it. Boom - weight savings. Just take out the radio.

Parts are endless and service is cheap so what more can I say? The 3rd generation Volkswagen Golf is a very good car and if I was to do it, I would give it 4 out of 5 unicorns overall. To reiterate, it's a good economy car (especially if you get a 4-cylinder), it's reliable and easy to work on, and also has a big tuning aftermarket.

Now you can pick these up for $500 sometimes. If you have $3,000 for just the car, you can definitely get a very nice, lower mileage Golf. The earlier 4th generation Golfs are also in this range but that is a different article.

Dear readers, I have a small announcement. First, Happy Holidays - I hope that they truly are happy. Let's show some love for each other. The announcement is simply that articles will not be coming out as often until this is over but they will be coming. Thanks! The website will have new stuff every two or three days again after all of this.

- Rokas Kirvelis