Doug Drives: The VW Golf MkII G60.

We all have our pet hates don't we? Those annoying little things that other people do which we find irritating, and they're often things that others simply can't understand why we would be bothered by them. For example you might hate it when people walk too slowly, or (and this is a little specific, I'll admit) when you're in London and people fail to stand on the right hand side of the escalator in a tube station. My pet hates are many and varied, but right at the top of my list is people who say things like "Things aren't as good as they used to be."

Bollocks. Things are much better than they used to be. When you left your house this morning you did so with the confidence that you won't come back to it this evening to find that it had been bombed by the Luftwaffe. Nor do you have to worry about contracting Smallpox from anything on your desk at work. This is because whilst it's far from perfect, thanks to the ceaseless march of time, technology and human development, the world is a much nicer place than it used to be.

We see much the same thing in the world of cars. I adore my old E36 BMW, but only a fool would claim that it is demonstrably better than its modern equivalent. So why is it that a great many petrolheads much prefer a car from the bad old days of fascism and diseases to the ones being made today?

When you question car fans on this, they pretty much always come back with exactly the same answer; "Old cars have more character than new ones." But I'll let you in on a little secret, "character" is just a word people with old cars use to explain away all the bits that don't work properly anymore. A starter motor that whirrs uselessly when you turn the key is not characterful, it's just annoying. As is a boot that fills up with water every time that it rains.

Try driving a Lamborghini Huracan and telling me that its howling V10 engine isn't characterful, or that a V8 Mustang leaves you cold when you hit the 'Line Lock' button. As far as I can see there are a great many cars offered for sale today which are brimmed full of personality. Some, like the Mercedes C63, even have two. It's an accountant by day, that car. Discreet and subtle, but when you let it off the leash its a barely constrained psychopath in a Tom Ford suit.

Q: What looks like a GTI, feels like a GTI, but isn't a GTI? A: The Golf G60.

Q: What looks like a GTI, feels like a GTI, but isn't a GTI? A: The Golf G60.

However, there is one sector of the car market that I am a little concerned about. The full-size hot hatch. They all seem to be treading the same path when it comes to design and engineering that you do sort of get the impression that it won't be long before they all look and feel exactly the same. The standard recipe for a full-fat hot hatch in 2018 is a four-pot engine of about two-litres, forced induction a twin clutch gearbox, and often a VW badge on the boot. The reasons for this are clear, the need to keep the speed up and the emissions down means that turbo's and paddle-shifts are here to stay. Not that there is anything wrong with this system, it's resulted in some truly excellent performance cars, but compared to the huge amount of choice in engines and layouts offered in the days of yore even I have to admit it seems as though things have become a bit derivative.

That's why when I got the opportunity to spend a brief amount of time with a 1990 Volkswagen Golf G60 I was more than happy to indulge in an afternoon of nostalgia and also to find out if nearly three decades of development have truly improved the breed, or if hot hatches should return to their roots.

Externally there is almost nothing to differentiate this rather rare and pricey variant of the MkII Golf range from its more well-known GTI counterparts. But Golf-spotters will note the little red 'G60' badge on the front grille, fat BBS alloy wheels and the steering wheel on the left of the car. Other than that, it's pretty much standard second-gen GTI and it really is all the better for it. The Golf may have grown in every dimension in its second incarnation but the sporting versions were always handsome, chiselled things to behold.

Recaro seats have enjoyed a long and happy relationship with the fast Golf. G60's tastefully upholstered items are superb.

Recaro seats have enjoyed a long and happy relationship with the fast Golf. G60's tastefully upholstered items are superb.

A pull on the none-more-eighties flimsy looking door handle opens the gateway to a trip back in time. I haven't been in a MkII Golf for many years but despite this it all feels very familiar. The dashboard itself does look amusingly dated, as though it were made from several different shapes and sizes of plastic storage box. The tiny little fairy-light warning lamps and clunky rocker switches don't help matters of modernity, even in 1984 when the Golf II was launched this dash was a little behind the times. The G60 does get some things right though, the leather-rimmed steering wheel is a tactile delight and the Recaro sports seats are an exercise in pew design that some of today's car makers would do well to learn from.

The real differences between the G60 and the standard GTI, and any modern hot hatch for that matter, are to be found under the bonnet. For reasons known solely to themselves (although probably because they were all high celebrating the collapse of the Berlin Wall) VW's engineers decided to fit a supercharger to the 1781cc eight valve engine that powered the standard Golf GTI at the time. This boosted power from 112 to 158 BHP and upped the torque to 166 lbs/ft, this was a significant gain over the standard car but also made the G60 more powerful than the 16 valve GTI that VW had launched in 1987.

Getting the G60 up and running involves pulling the ignition key out of its funky plastic holder and firing the 1.8 litre engine into life. The initial sound on start-up sounds erm, like an engine. Something lurking in the murky depths of my memory tells me that the old 16 valver had a fruitier exhaust note than this, but I could have been wearing my rose-tinted ear plugs. There's no "look at me" rumble of thunder like you'd get from something like an RS3 today. The fuel injected engine fires promptly and settles to a subdued, smooth idle.

You'll have to look closely to spot a '60!

You'll have to look closely to spot a '60!

Apart from the fact that you're on the wrong side of the car for British roads, at low speeds there isn't really a great deal to indicate that you're in anything other than a perfectly normal old Golf. The power steering is lower-geared than we've come to expect from modern cars, but aside from a bit more arm-twirling being required, the G60 is as easy to thread through a town centre as any other hatchback. But then so it should be, 28 years is hardly a lifetime ago. So the G60 can do the boring stuff just as well as its modern counterparts, but so far I can't say I've seen much evidence of this character I've heard so much about. Perhaps it'll reveal itself when we get out of town and go for a blast?

In these turbo-crazy times, it's all to easy to forget the fun and games a decent supercharger can provide. When this G60 was new, turbos were laggy and unpredictable things with a penchant for making themselves known either just before or just after you actually want them. There are no such problems here, you plant your right foot and the punch is instant. The official stats are that the G60 will get from 0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds and top out at 134 MPH. If anything, it feels quicker than that. Although it has to be said that those figures aren't that far removed from those logged by the naturally aspirated GTI 16V, and that always felt a bit faster that VW were letting on as well. Either way the performance is still more than respectable today, and its when you try to extract it that you start to see a bit of personality shining through.

Anyone familiar with the first incarnation of the MINI Cooper S will feel at home in a G60. Once you start to pile on the revs the faint whine from the compressor builds and builds to a soulful falsetto peak at about five and a half thousand. The limiter is actually at 6200, but those last few hundred revs provide little in the way of extra momentum. But changing up through the slick five-speed manual gearbox is no hardship, and once you do so you're then right back in the middle of a rich seam of insta-grunt pelting down the road at a rate of knots. When I looked at the figures on paper I'd wondered why VW would have bothered offering this G60 above the multi-valve GTI which seemed to offer such similar performance for less money. But the G60 engine is a totally different proposition when you get acquainted with it. In the old 16V you had to be on it all the time to get the best out of it, whereas this supercharged motor makes the whole business of retro performance almost effortless. On the congested roads of southern England the G60 still makes for a convincing overtaking weapon in 2018.

Cassette holders ahoy! Golf cabin is very 1980's but materials wear well.

Cassette holders ahoy! Golf cabin is very 1980's but materials wear well.

The handling is pretty much standard GTI. There's a hint of vagueness about the steering when you first turn in, but then the whole car seems to tighten up around you and get stuck in. A set of fast flowing bends is where the G60 comes alive and providing you keep it in the right gear, third is usually best, you can utilise that supercharged thrust on the exit to put some surprising distance between you and the new diesel Audi that was right behind you a few seconds before. This G60 feels even more planted than I remember and whilst it will still lift the inside rear wheel, its only when you're really being a hooligan. A chat with some Golf gurus after the event reveals that on quality modern tyres, the MkII is regarded to be a better steer now than when it was new. There's no doubting that this car on a fresh set of Pirelli rubber was the most sure-footed MkII I have ever driven.

It's an interesting car the G60. When you look at it on paper you wonder why VW ever went to all the effort of developing this supercharged Golf when you could buy a normal GTI that went just as quick, and looked just as good. But its when you actually drive the thing hard that it all starts to become clear. Whereas a GTI from the 80's needs to have its throttle pedal hammered and its steering wheel wrenched to get the best from it, the G60 is smooth and unruffled. It's a real precursor to the consummate all-rounder that we know and love in the latest Golf GTI. The way you can get a serious move on in the G60 without breaking a sweat, its the calling card of the latest seventh-generation fast Golf that we all know and love.

It's funny really. I went looking for an antidote to what some might say are the derivative hot hatchbacks of today, and ended up finding a car with an engine of around two litres, forced induction and a VW badge on the boot. This, perhaps more than any other was the car that paved the way for the modern hyper-hatch and you know what? I loved it.

THE VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI G60.

Engine: 1781 cc Petrol, 4 cylinders, Supercharged. Transmission: 5-speed Manual. Power: 158 BHP. Torque: 166 lbs/ft. Driven wheels: Front Wheel Drive. 0-62 MPH: 7.8s. Top Speed: 134 MPH. Economy: 30 MPG Combined. Price: From £15000 today.