And now for something completely different; no, that's not right, I should have written, “And now for something completely the same”.

Welcome to the fascinating Volkswagen Citi Golf. A special model from Volkswagen South Africa, it has a story of longevity that will appeal to all VW lovers. Indeed, it's also a quirky piece of automotive history that will be enjoyed by all who love cars.

Unlike the Volkswagen Beetle, which changed its styling significantly over the years, albeit with a good resemblance in shape from model to model, the VW Citi Golf remained true to its heritage right to the end.

And the end of the interesting little Volkswagen didn’t take place until 25 years after its 1984 introduction. That's right, the VW Citi outlasted not only the Golf Mk2 that was supposed to supersede it – but also saw off the third, fourth and fifth generation Golf models as these came, had their few years in the sun, then disappeared again.

The original plan for the Citi Golf was a remarkably simple one. When the first Golf was replaced by Golf Mk2 in 1984, VW South Africa decided to keep building the Mark 1 cars in its factory for a few more years. The aim was to sell the Citi as a minimum-spec car to provide a low-cost model to those who simply couldn’t afford to buy the new model Volkswagen Golf 2.

Though the price was kept down, the Citi Golf didn’t achieve its huge success for economic reasons, but rather due to the fact that it became an ultra-trendy car backed up by some very innovative marketing using bright colours and numerous themes. It was continuously refreshed throughout its 25 years of life by using many specials and limited editions, with interesting titles such as the Designa, CTI, Deco, Sonic, Wolf, Bafana Bafana, R Line, Xcite, Billabong and GTS.

Not only was the car a simple one, so was the assembly line. There was a lot of manual operation in order to provide employment as well as to keep the price down. The latter was particularly important after apartheid came to an end and Volkswagen struggled through the difficult years of keeping the local industry alive and efficient.

Many workers within the Volkswagen factory spent almost all their entire careers building the Citi Golf and actually decided to retire at the same time as the Citi when the final models rolled down the line in 2009.

During our tour of the VW facilities at Uitenhage in South Africa we had the chance to road test a Citi Golf. This was a rare occasion for a road tester. I've often wondered how a car that felt great 25 or 30 years ago would compare with the latest generation of the same model. This is generally impossible because the 25 year old car is just that, a car with 25 years under its tyres and all that means in the way of wear and tear. So a fair comparison is normally not on.

Yet here I was at the wheel of a brand new car that was designed over 30 years ago. And at the wheel the first thing I noticed was that there was no power steering. I have forgotten over the years just how convenient power steering can be. Yet, surprisingly the Citi really didn’t need it as it's relatively light. Only at very low speeds does it demand a fair bit of muscle power. Once on the move I barely noticed any difference in the steering effort required.

Other differences between an old Golf and the new Golf 6 are less marked. Performance is nimble, mainly due to the fact that the engines have been updated over the years. Ride and handling in the Citi aren’t too bad, though neither displays the subtlety of the modern car. Noise, vibration and harshness in the Citi were noticeable worse than in the latest generation Golf. Yet the character given by the sounds of the Citi were such that you simply don’t find in many everyday cars in these early years of the 21st century.

ewan@marque.com.au