There’s just something about a small German hatchback that makes me happy. It  could be the clean, straight lines that epitomize the 80’s econobox, or the simple, honest fun of driving an underpowered car to its limits and beyond. Around here, we call it slow car fast, and as we all know, slow car fast is fun to da max. Let’s take a look at this example, shall we? Unlike so many, many Craigslisters, this guy is doing it right. Plenty of details good and bad, good shots of the interior, and no fluff. Keep reading and see if you don’t agree. From the ad:

1986 VW golf diesel 5 speed runs and drives good. Gets 45-50 miles per gallon depending on how you drive, has around 170k miles on it. body and paint are in really good shape for a 28 year old car. Has new half shaft and wheel bearing on passenger side front.has had struts and shocks replaced approximately 30k miles ago also all hoses and belts including timing belt were replaced around the same time. oil and filter 2,500 miles ago, tires are good. if you want a good commuter that will save you a lot of gas money this is it.

The bad windshield is cracked needs replaced is safe to drive but the crack dose cross field of view, ac is not working (but do have brand new evaporator coil in the trunk just needs installed and system recharged and ac will work again), stereo is not working , headliner is sagging , cruise control is not working , odometer stopped at 152000 mi (but the speedometer dose still work) The good Paint is in good shape car is very clean runs and drives good

Just look at that glorious, spartan interior. There’s plenty of room to stretch out and relax while you wait for the RPM’s to gently climb between shifts. Since the radio isn’t working and the odometer is on strike, you won’t be distracted, leaving you to focus 100% on driving. I always appreciate seeing an original, unmolested car. From everything I can see in the pictures, this Golf has survived decades of commuting with aplomb. With the price of gas still climbing around here, and the nature of my job changing (I run between three sites now in the Bellevue-Redmond area), I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking to retire my F-150 from commuting duty. It’s a workhorse, and does everything I ask of it, but a steady 15 mpg is really eating into my play money. (rippling my mileage to 45 mpg sounds awfully good, if the seller is right. How about you? What do you make of this soon to be classic German fun machine? let us know in the comments. [Source: Seattle Craigslist]