Ah, memories. I bought one of the very first '83 Rabbit GTI's to hit the ground in California in November of '82. White over blue interior. All the car mags had written their reviews ahead of the launch, so before they were even on dealer lots, I knew I had to have one, and put a deposit down so that I could have one of the first to arrive at my local dealership. Only 90 hp, and 0-60 time of about 9.7 seconds (!), but sublime steering and handling, great fuel economy, and that little 1.8-liter 8-valve motor ran like a top.
I kept it for about 2 years and put 64k miles on it in that short time, as I was traveling in it for work at the time. By the time it was a year old, it had so many squeaks, creaks & rattles that it sounded like a 10-year-old car. Build quality was truly abysmal. But the driving experience was always superb. I wound up trading it on on a new '85 GTI when they came out.. the 2nd of 5 new GTI's, plus an R32 and now the Golf R, that I would buy over the next several decades.