Performance Direct are well known for saving Volkswagen drivers money on their VW insurance. In fact we love a nice vee dub here in the office and one of our blog writers, Sean Neylon, is in fact the proud owner of a very orange original Beetle and an enthusiast in the way that only a Beetle owner can be. For him, and others like him, ‘Run to the Sun’ is seen much more as a spiritual event rather than merely a car show. We all love a VW of some sort or another, whether it’s the classic ‘splitty’ Camper Van, the Beetle, or the Golf GTi. This is without even mentioning cars like the Karmann Ghia or the original Scirocco which also have their own hefty fan bases, the latter also includes me as a fan. I think it’s fair to say that most people have a little bit of love for one or other car that Volkswagen have released during their long and prolific history.

The other thing that I love about Volkswagen is their clever use of viral marketing campaigns and adverts. How many people didn’t like the Star Wars based ‘Use the Force’ advert on TV for the Passat? While not advertising a vehicle as iconic as the Camper or the Beetle, it was an absolutely cracking advert. This latest viral campaign for the new Golf GTi see’s two time travellers in the style of ‘Back to the Future’ travelling back in time to see the original Mk1 Golf GTi. Volkswagen released the car in 1976, the first real “Hot Hatch” which spawned it’s own market sector. It took a short while for other manufacturers to catch up with the new trend but once they did we started to see more and more hot hatches on our roads with vehicles released such as the Peugeot 205 GTi, Ford Fiesta XR2 and of course the Renault 5 GT Turbo. This trend has continued onto today with virtually every manufacturer now making a fast hatchback with the battleground between them more fierce than ever.

Although the 1976 Mk I Golf GTi is well sought after, it was really the Mk II GTi 16v that was the pinnacle of the model. The Golf GTi has continued to pile on the pounds ever since and really has gotten further away from the original concept. For example, the Mk4 Golf GTi is 48 percent heavier than the Mk1 which didn’t have airbags, air con, pre-tensioning seat belts, cup holders or anything else that could be considered a luxury.

The recent advert take’s it’s style from ‘Back to the Future’ with the two time travellers going back in time to see the original Golf GTi. I can only hope that the modern VW engineers and designers have also taken the same nostalgic trip back in time and have brought some of the old GTi magic back to the future.

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