I, too, had a brand new GTI 16V that I dearly loved. It was an 88.

It started to get serious problems around 2000. Plastic and rubber things starting to degrade and fail. (What is the logic of making shift linkage out of *PLASTIC*?! Argh.) Eventually a head gasket leak, the subsequent repair, and the fact that the car still overheated after the repair, made me trade it in for a new Accord.