Volkswagen Built an Off-Road Golf During the ’90s

The Volkswagen Golf has torn up streets, grabbed groceries and transported people from A to B for almost half a century. For seven generations, the Golf has remained fast, affordable, and reliable. We weren’t aware Volkswagen also added an off-road Golf to its stable for a couple years in the early ’90s. Say hello to the 1990 VW Golf Country Syncro 4×4, a concept turned actual production car that’s a Frankensteined combination of a VW Golf with an off-roading package. It’s the sort of thing we would have drawn in a sketchbook as a kid, and we couldn’t love the sheer ridiculousness of it any more than we do. With only a 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine, it’s not fast… at all. The performance is even worse when you factor in the upgraded suspension, swing-out tire carrier, skid plates and everything else the Golf needed to tackle off-road adventures. And yet, with the “Syncro” all-wheel-drive system that can redirect half of the engine power to the real axle, along with the overall styling, it’s still a cool piece of automotive history.