There was a period of time in the late 1980s and early 1990s when automobile manufacturers seemed particularly adventurous. We just featured a Corvette ZR-1, the so-called King of the Hill, which was a bonkers performance car built to beat almost anything Europe could throw at it. In a very similar way in a completely different segment, Volkswagen greenlit the production of a vehicle called the Golf Country, a 4×4-capable off-road rig built by one of the foremost experts in off-road vehicles. It was never imported here, so finding one in Virginia is a treat. Check out this Golf Country here on Facebook Marketplace for $14,500.
The Golf Country was a model that offered tremendous foreshadowing for where the market would eventually go: a compact, lighter-duty vehicle converted into 4WD configuration. Heck, this is the entirety of the Subaru Outback lineup captured years earlier. Except that unlike the wildly popular crossover from Subaru, the Golf Country was beefed up and fortified by none other than Steyr-Daimler-Puch, which is the same company that builds Mercedes-Benz’s battle-tested G Wagen. Riding on a lifted suspension with skid plates and VW Syncro 4WD system, it was absolutely wild for a production vehicle.
Other tweaks included sport seats from a GTI, Speedline wheels, and an externally-mounted spare tire carrier. The Syncro system was not full-time, so it was essentially a lifted, front-wheel drive Golf until conditions demanded it. The long-travel suspension was intended to help a small subset of buyers get up mountain roads and snowy switchbacks to their ski chalet in the Alps. Just over 7,000 examples were made and none of them came to the U.S. Plenty have been lost to abuse and rust over the years, so finding one already stateside in running condition is not exactly easy.
Under the hood is a standard, naturally-aspirated 1.8L gasoline engine, with a 5-speed manual gearbox. This is not a Subaru WRX-type 4WD experience with a turbocharged powerplants making high-speed drifting an instant reality upon purchase. This is an overbuilt, off-road Golf for driving on the sand or through the snow, or better yet, across your rural farm property to check on the cows. However you use it, just keep it stock and fix the small imperfections this one has, as we’re unlikely to see another one come up for sale anytime soon.
Interesting car,due to it being VW authorized.
This would be a cool Winter driver,but would hate driving
it through the crap they coat the roads with here in Virginia.
Looks like it’s been well used,& the price seems high,
but the seller says “Make offer”.
THis would be cool to take to the local Cars & Coffee.
There are a few of these in the US now. Pretty cool Golfs really.
Turbo Diesel powertrain would be cool too!!