Today’s Nice Price or No Dice VW GTI 337 is an anniversary edition that the U.S. received a year after the fact. It’s still kitted with some very desirable accessories, but we’ll have to decide if it’s a day late and a dollar short.
When attempting to sell a car online, a solid strategy is to make it look as appealing as possible. Clean it up and take it somewhere nice for the pictures. Maybe even do so in the late afternoon, the ethereal time known in professional photography circles as “The Magic Hour.” No such effort was made by the seller of yesterday’s 1993 Cadillac Alanté. The ad showed the car in tired condition and seemingly posed in what seemed to be a community storage facility. Altogether, it was a rather lackluster presentation. Fortunately, it was priced accordingly. The $3,950 asking overcame the ad’s self-imposed impediments and, at the same time, generated a solid 65 percent Nice Price win.
Like the subjugated and bedraggled denizens of the Island of Misfit Toys, there’s something sadly endearing about interesting cars that have suffered at the hands of disinterested or resource-limited owners. Yesterday’s Allanté was one example, and today’s 2002 VW GTI 337 appears to be yet another.
This 337 is one of 1500 special edition GTIs VW built for the U.S. market for the 2002 model year. They were a continuation of the 25th Anniversary GTI sold in Europe a year prior and substituted the 337 name as homage to the “EA 337” internal code name given to the original Golf GTI.
Updates over the standard GTI model included unique Recaro seats and special upholstery, a three-spoke steering wheel, and 18-inch BBS alloy wheels. Red-painted brake calipers and bespoke bodywork from the rockers on down add to the party. You could get a 337 in any color you liked, as long as it was metallic silver.
Like yesterday’s Caddy, this GTI has seen better days. The seller admits to some aesthetic issues and documents them in the ad’s pictures. Rather than fix the various dings and chips and replace the partially missing front valance, the owner apparently decided it would be a better strategy to fit the car with $3K worth of stereo equipment. Heck, it might have made sense at the time and could speak to the rest of the car being in solid enough condition that such a gift could reasonably be bestowed upon it.
As an incentive to the sale, the seller notes that this “killer” sound system will come with the car.
Other additions include a column-mounted boost and A-pillar gauges, both intended to keep an eye on the 180-horsepower 1.8 turbo four under the hood. That’s paired with a six-speed stick, the 337 being notable as the first GTI to offer so high a gear count.
Another plus is the replacement of the A/C compressor. On the downside, the BBS wheels are missing their center caps, and the seller claims the car has a vibration from the flywheel, something they claim is common on the cars. That may be a recent affliction as the car has amassed a sizable 171,000 miles on the clock. It’s a single-owner car and comes with a clean title. The price is $4,900.
What’s your take on this slightly bruised but undeniably bemusing GTI and that $4,900 price? Does that seem fair, considering the car’s condition balanced by its rarity? Or is that too much cash, considering all the cosmetics?
You decide!
San Diego, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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