VW Golf Mk1 1.9 TDI Drags Ford Mustang GT, Diesel Versus V8 Battle Is Smokin’

Born in 1974, so about a decade later than the pony car trendsetter, the German compact car basically made small family hatchbacks a thing – and has been utterly successful at home in Europe ever since. It is not hard to understand why – solid engineering, reliable looks, easy to park, a great companion for both town and country on the cramped Old Continent roads.

Now, even eight generations later, there are still folks who only have eyes for the original Mk1, even if their views are a bit quirky on the matter. Meanwhile, the Ford Mustang has evolved into a proper sports car contender after first establishing the pony car niche and then constantly dipping its toes into the muscle car territory with the feistier Boss and Shelby variants, among many others.

But why am I talking about the original VW Golf and the current, S550 sixth-gen Ford Mustang at the same time? Well, that is easy to answer, after we remember the good folks over at the Drag Car 4K channel on YouTube are always eager to show us that traditional yet quirky quarter-mile drag racing is also deeply beloved on the Old Continent. Sure, the surfaces may not be as prepped as U.S. aficionados are accustomed to.

But they also know how to compensate with fun quirkiness. Here, let me give you this drag race (uploaded on February 2nd, even though it was filmed last summer somewhere in Hungary) as the tip of the spear for a trio of examples. Not long ago, we saw a derelict yet bonkers VW Golf Mk1 1.9 TDI lay out a cloud of smoke in the path of a 427ci AC Shelby Cobra roadster.

Then, just a few days later, the latter also duked it out with a yellow-and-black Ford Mustang GT on the same foreign soil. Now, it is time to witness the battle of the losers, as both the coal-rolling Golf and the Coyote V8-powered Mustang GT had to declare the Shelby Cobra as the better, quicker ride to the 402-meter (quarter-mile) mark. Anyway, now that you have seen what both could do in separate races, it is time to witness their brawl… albeit only after the cloud of smoke clears.

This time around, I am not going to beat around the bush as it was still pretty clear the Ford Mustang GT got the better of the little red rascal and nailed the victory. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the electronic scoreboard malfunctioned, and it was impossible to tell by how much it beat the tiny VW Golf. But a question arises – does it really matter when you are already laughing out loud at the sight of the hilarious match-up?