7) Volkswagen Up! GTI
As much as we love the Mark 7.5 Volkswagen Golf GTI, it’s quite a bit larger and heavier than its original counterparts. Enter the smaller Volkswagen Up!, which harkens back to the original ethos of the GTI: something small, nimble and fun.
The Volkswagen Up! GTI has 114 horsepower under the hood, which puts it about on the same level as the Mark 1 Golf GTI, sold as the Rabbit GTI in the U.S. when it first went on sale here in 1984. It has just a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine, but the upside of its tinyness is that it weighs virtually nothing. It’s a refreshing change to something as massive as, say, a Mini.
