The Volkswagen Golf or Rabbit in the United States is considered as the most
significant Volkswagen ever made. With the decline sales of the Beetle, the entry
of the Rabbit gave the company a revival in the market. The Golf began its production
in 1974 and marketed in the United States in 1976. It featured the water-cooled,
front transverse-engine, front wheel drive. This design was pioneered by Mini,
another automobile company that produces compact cars.
The second generation Golf was released in 1983. It has larger bodyshell and
a wider range of engine options, including a turbo-diesel, a 16-valve version
of the straight-four GTi (as well as the tried and tested 1800 8v GTi), the supercharged
8v "G60" and a homologated variant of this, the "Rallye". The third generation
Golf was lunched in 1991 it lasted up to 1998 when the Gold IV was introduced.
The Golf IV was the heaviest, largest and the slowest version ever existed, nevertheless
it created generous sales in Europe.
The fifth generation VW Golf was out in the public in 2003 with S, SE, Sport,
GT TDI, GT FDI and GTi models. It featured brand new additions fuel stratified
injection and turbo charging that propels from 0-60mph in 7.2 seconds with a top
speed of 146mph for its GTI model. Aside from this, the new VW Golf features a
four-wheel independent suspension front and rear stabilizer bar. The exterior
features include 15 x 6 in. steel rims, P195/65HR15 tires all season tires, full-size
spare tire steel spare wheel, full wheel covers, variable intermittent wipers
rear defogger, and intermittent rear wiper among others.
For the last three decades, the Volkswagen Golf received revolutionized designs
that made it very popular around Europe. As of 2003, the Golf has built more than
22 million units that made it the best selling VW model of all time surpassing
the classic Beetle with 18 million. And although the Golf was sold in the United
States until 1983, Rabbit continues to dominate other market by the name Golf.
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