Golf 2 Shipments to Australia

[syncro]

Does anyone have any information on how many Golf 2 GTI shipments came to Australia? As far as I know there was a shipment in 1990 and a later one in 1990 or maybe 1991. Most of the Golfs that I have seen are 1990s of which some were not sold until 1992.

Are there anything other than 1990 GTIs here?

[Satanstoenail]

I've been wondering that myself, I've been told it was 250, someone else told me 200, and last week I was told 120 (Mk 2's sent here). Dunno how many shipments though. I'd like to know which (if any) of these figures is right...

[alex g]

i have heard the magic 250 number as well but i am sure there is way more, i still see gti's i havent seen before on the road

[Tim]

yeah they cant be that rare. I see heaps of Mk2 GTIs getting about melbourne. I have seen 1 or two non GTIs. not sure if they were locally delivered cars or not tho. I think there were a couple non GTIs werent there?

[alex g]

yer gl s are much rarer

[syncro]

yeah they cant be that rare. I see heaps of Mk2 GTIs getting about melbourne. I have seen 1 or two non GTIs. not sure if they were locally delivered cars or not tho. I think there were a couple non GTIs werent there?

All were GTIs. 1990 or maybe 1991 model.

[Golf Loon]

All were GTIs. 1990 or maybe 1991 model.

Yeah but they had 5 doors and came from South Africa. I think they were just getting rid of runout stock before the Mk3 came in. The Aussie GTIs are lower spec that the UK cars. I think they are rebaged gls or ryders rather than true GTIs. (sorry)

I have heard 300 cars from a few sources and 2 shipments I think.

I also see heaps of private imports about and there must have been a company bringing them from South Africa in the 80s cos there are lots of them.

[syncro]

Yeah but they had 5 doors and came from South Africa. I think they were just getting rid of runout stock before the Mk3 came in. The Aussie GTIs are lower spec that the UK cars. I think they are rebaged gls or ryders rather than true GTIs. (sorry)

I have heard 300 cars from a few sources and 2 shipments I think.

I also see heaps of private imports about and there must have been a company bringing them from South Africa in the 80s cos there are lots of them.

All of the GTIs sold here were made in Germany.
Definately less than 300 were brought in. I have an idea there may have been 150.
A lot of immigrants came from South Africa in the early 90s and they brought their cars with them. (They probably heard that we had the gutless ones here!)
I wouldn't say that they were lower spec than the UK cars, just lower performance. The UK/Euro spec engine did not meet our pollution laws.
The insurance here was definately GTI. Maybe they would have sold more of them if they called them GLIs?

How about some replies from Aussie Golf 2 owners with your build date?
It is on the firewall on a small plate not the compliance plate

[Golf Loon]

Even Vin Numbers if anyone has em and then we can tell what factory they came out of.

I have owned 3 Mk2s in Oz and they were all South African!

[joshyd-mk2gti]

my build date is 06/90, complied in 10/90 and first registered in 1991.

does anyone have the website where you type in the vin number and it tells you where it was made? i think i remember mine being built in Wolfburg.

[Satanstoenail]

My build date is 08/90, compliance plate says 01/92, so I'd gather it was registered around then?

[moto]

Mine is build 1991 (from memory July) registered January 1992.
I used to buy a few VWs in those days and often used to shoot the breeze with the dealer about cars in general and VW in particular. He told me the number 150 also. I read subsequently (might have been in Wheels) the number 200. My information is from conversations I had then with the dealer.

There weren't many GTIs imported. They were brought in at the time when the importers changed and the new importer was anxious to reposition the brand in preparation for a relaunch of the Golf. The GTI legend had reached these shores even though for some years we'd only been getting VW vans. The new importer also had distribution contracts for VW in SE Asia and the cars we got here were Japanese spec. Mine is German build and I thought they all were. In fact, the model was a dog. It couldn't be sold and the last 50 or so in Sydney were registered by dealers and cleared as second hand cars. The automags all agreed the car handled as sweetly as any GTI but the engine mods killed it. Next off the rank was the Mk1 cabriolet

Our cars had the RV engine. It was modified to run on low octane fuel and to run as a clean engine. The mods were dreadful. Even when new it was rough, rattly at idle and it would just choke to death between 3500 rpm and 4000 rpm. It wouldn't redline in any gear. With its close ratio gearbox and high first gear my wife at the time considered it an undrivable slug. In recognition of the problems, our cars had a different camshaft intended to give more torque lower down.
Most of the detox mods were in the exhaust area. They started with a different exhaust manifold and they got worse after that. I was told the problem VW needed to solve was to get the catalytic converter temperature up to the necessary level from a cold start within a delay dictated by the ADRs, without spending any money. They achieved that by choking the gasses after they left the head using bits cobbled from the parts bin.
In my experience, reversing the detoxing by changing the exhaust, transforms the car. At one time I bought a new GTI camshaft from a dealer in France and tried it in the de-detoxed car. In my view the Australian one is a beauty. The one in the local car lets the engine spin every bit as hard, but it has lots more low down and mid range torque, so it spins the speedo round much quicker with less drama. The local camshaft get 5.4 litres/100 on country run and 6.3 around town and can run away from 6 cylinder Holdens and Fords all day long. With the European camshaft the car isn't quicker but fuel consumption varies between just under 8 and just under 10 litres/100. Matters quite a bit these days.
Cheers

[brackie]

Thrifty as a diesel?

The local camshaft get 5.4 litres/100 on country run and 6.3 around town and can run away from 6 cylinder Holdens and Fords all day long. Cheers

Man... these are diesel figures! Are you sure???

[syncro]

Even Vin Numbers if anyone has em and then we can tell what factory they came out of.

I have owned 3 Mk2s in Oz and they were all South African!

You had proper ones, not Australian imports.

WVWzzz19zGW348378

WVW=VW Germany Passenger car
19=Early Golf 2 Type 19 (Later Golf 2 was 1G)
G=1986 model (L=1990 model)
W=Made in Wolfsburg Germany (U=Uitenhage South Africa)
348378=serial number

[moto]

Man... these are diesel figures! Are you sure???

Isn't everyone getting numbers like these?