- Approximately 7735 examples of the VW Golf Country were built over two model years.
- The Country is based on a concept car, but Steyr-Daimler-Puch put it into limited production.
- It was imported to the U.S. in 2022.
Take a normal passenger car (rather than an SUV or pickup), jack up the ride height, and people go a little nutty. Both the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato sold out nearly immediately, and the history of “safari” 911s goes way back. If you don’t have a six-figure stash to blow on a lifted supercar, perhaps this 1991 VW Golf Country will scratch that itch.
This 1991 Volkswagen Golf Country is currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer (which, like C/D, is a vassal state of the Hearst Autos empire). According to the listing, approximately 7735 of these lifted Golf hatchbacks were built. The idea started out as a concept at the 1990 Geneva auto show, but after the public went full bat guano for it, VW sent some of its four-wheel-drive Golfs to Steyr-Daimler-Puch for subsequent modification.
The modifications involve more than shoving some bricks between the springs and the shock mounts. Steyr-Daimler-Puch installed tubular subframes, brush guards, skid plates, fender flares, and a sweet trunk-mounted spare tire. The result looks like something from a new-wave zombie movie. There’s even a fun little decal on the side, not that the public needs reminding about this vehicle’s off-roading aspirations. All told, the Golf Country rides nearly five inches higher than the standard four-door hatchback, and it carries some 438 unique parts, according to a VW press release.
Inside, the cabin is nearly as fun as the exterior. The seats and door panels are wrapped in patterned gray cloth, and the interior barely looks used. The dashboard houses some slick VDO gauges, and the odometer is showing a smidge under 100,000 miles. Don’t expect to go anywhere in a hurry; the Country’s 1.8-liter engine only makes 97 horsepower.
It’s pretty safe to say you won’t see a Golf Country roll through Bring a Trailer very often, so if you want an unconventional off-roader, you have until November 3 to swing through with a bid.
Senior Editor
Cars are Andrew Krok’s jam, along with boysenberry. After graduating with a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009, Andrew cut his teeth writing freelance magazine features, and now he has a decade of full-time review experience under his belt. A Chicagoan by birth, he has been a Detroit resident since 2015. Maybe one day he’ll do something about that half-finished engineering degree.
