1986 Volkswagen GTI front three-quarter imageToday's Nice Price or No Dice GTI has a staggering 290,000 miles on the clock. Mitigating those miles, almost all the wear-and-tear bits have been rebuilt or refreshed. While far from perfect, the biggest issue it seems to have is way-overdue registration back payments. Let's see if that kills the deal for its sale.In the Vinland Sagas, the Norse Vikings told tales of a brave explorer, Leif Eriksson, who — around the year 1000 CE — visited hitherto unknown lands lying west of Greenland, logically, North America. Common thought today is that these tales, while steeped in Norse myth, describe actual events and places, even if the archeological evidence of Vikings on the continent is sketchy at best.Centuries after Eriksson's adventures, Swedish carmaker Saab also landed on North American shores. Like the Vikings before it, the company is now little more than history and legend, and eventually, evidence of its presence, such as the 2011 Saab 9-4x we saw last Friday, will be gone. Dealing with a dead marque can be troublesome if bespoke parts are needed, and the 9-4x, while rare and arguably interesting, just wasn't special enough in many of your minds to warrant its $9,988 asking price. When the vote was tallied, that fell in a 66% 'No Dice' loss. Don't mess with success1986 Volkswagen GTI front three-quarter imageVolkswagen didn't invent the idea of the hot hatch. In fact, the first utilitarian family hauler to go rogue came from the French carmaker Simca, in the form of the 1100TI. That was fully three years before VW circled the Golf in red stripes and called it the GTI. Still, when anyone mentions a "hot hatch," most people likely think VW GTI.So successful was the first-generation GTI (sadly for the French, more so than the Simca) that VW attempted to upset the apple cart as little as possible when crafting the car's second generation. That formula of a slightly hotter motor and tauter suspension, mated with grippier tires and seating arrangements, adapted well to the Mark II Golf's improved space and more rigid chassis. In fact, many consider the Mark II GTI to be the best, or at least the purest, expression of the form.This 1986 Volkswagen GTI appears to have been well-loved, given that it has over 290,000 miles on the clock. Not all of the car has made it that far, as the seller lists a litany of replacements, refreshments, and rebuild-ments. Main among those is the two-stage rebuild of the 1.8-liter 110-horsepower SOHC EA827 four under the hood. That saw the bottom end refreshed at 224,000 miles and, more recently, a professionally rebuilt head. The five-speed gearbox has also been resealed, and numerous ancillaries have been refreshed or replaced. Down, but not out1986 Volkswagen GTI engine compartment imageWhile the mechanicals appear to be sorted, the rest of the car looks in need of a little spit and polish. To be fair, it needs more than that, but it does look to be a solid base for a light restoration, making for a fun weekend cruiser. It's mostly all aesthetic, with a paint job, new front bumper, lights, and badging on the to-do list. On the plus side, the body looks to be in solid shape, and the car is drivable in its current condition, so none of that work is really pressing. The aftermarket wheels are somewhat disappointing, something that even the seller admits, but three of the factory snowflakes (the fourth was damaged by a tire shop) will come with the car.CraigslistIt's also amazingly clean and unworn in the cabin. Volkswagen equipped the GTI with sport bucket seats and a fun four-spoke steering wheel, both of which are still present on this car. The driver's seat shows some wear, including a pinhole in the center of the squab, and is missing the lever to unlock the folder, but is otherwise perfectly serviceable. There's no stereo, but that has the benefit of no one having cut holes in the door cards or load space cover for aftermarket speakers. Paying its dues1986 Volkswagen GTI boot area imageThe reason given for the sale is a need to cull the herd, or so says the seller. That herd is apparently pretty onerous to maintain financially, as one of this GTI's noteworthy red flags is the seller's offhand remark that its registration tags are, in their words, "way expired." What does that mean? Months? Years? Decades? Whatever, we should probably add some amount of back fees to the car's $4,500 asking price when considering its worth.What's your opinion on this high-mileage but holding-on GTI with that $4,500 (plus whatever fees) asking price? Does that make you at all interested in this hot hatch? Or does that just make you hot under the collar?You decide!Hat tip to Bill Victor for the hookup!Help me out with Nice Price or No Dice. Hit me up at robemslie@gmail.com and send a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your commenter handle. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
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