They're evocative little letters, G and T and I, and I'm quite familiar them because not only are they my initials but they also belong with a story that will get many drinks flowing as you regale the yobs with tales of that trio of squiggles.
Sufficient to say I was strapped in the very first VW Golf GTi, that iconic little 82kW groundbreaker. It could be argued that the 24-hour enduro I was party to was history in the making but then everything is: a second passes... it's history.
Just like that day in 1983 at the East London race track when a gaggle of Golf 1 GTi's driven by chaps with names such as Jochen Mass were trying to break a one-day driving endurance record.
The GTi succeeded in misty rain, the track being near the beach and it being summer in the sub-tropics. Flat out in fourth (proper fifth then still the relative preserve of the likes of Alfa). Fifth was an overdrive so no speed was to be gained, just traction lost and that can be the demise of even the foot-flat bravest ("giri" needle in the red) through Potters and Rifle.
Biggest letdown back then, the brakes: discs up front, drums at the blunt end. When colleague Robin Ross-Thompson presented me with the GTi at 2am for my last couple of hours, he casually remarked: "No brakes..."
Everything is different with the latest GTI, the Polo, and so it should be as we've advanced somewhat these 20-odd years. Today, for example, the "i" in GTi has been upper-cased; the tiny rubber-clad brake pedal is now drilled aluminium and the brakes are ventilated discs up front, nearly a foot in diameter, echoed by undrilled platters at the rear.
It can go pretty quickly but the Polo GTI can now stop in very good time, too. There's also the benefit of electronics such as any-fool-can-stop anti-lock and electronic pressure control. Simply, the 205-45 rubber that needs to be stopped gets the "manager's" attention.
Has the Polo the neck to wear the letters GTI proudly? Can one compare a Golf 1 with a Polo? In stature, certainly, Golf 5 is a far bigger car; in performance, way ahead, and a stratospheric quarter of a million versus a definitely more atmospheric R188 700.
Mmm, then yes, I suppose we can scale down that comparison, but with the efforts of a force-fed, 1781cc 20-valve twin-cam head versus an eight-valver with identical displacement - and a quarter of a century in between - even that's going a bit too far.
GTi 1 was good for 82kW, I think; VW might have upped that by three kW at some stage. Still, the single-cam unit of yore had a fair bundle of grunt but has definitely been overtaken by the turbo'd Polo GTI.
Sub-eight in ideal conditions
A piece of paper tells me the unit now puts out 110kW at 5800rpm, which is apt, considering that turbos do their best work in the mid-range, but with 220Nm of torque from 1950rpm through to the mid-fours. The lower figure seems optimistic.
My experience at the three-spoked steering wheel shows the engine really twisting - and shouting through a too-stifled twin tailpipe - from two-and-a-half. Academic, really.
In ideal conditions - such as in Durban's thick sea air - you can get under eight seconds off the mark to 100km/h and it'll run to 180.
And it handles like the semi-sporty thing it is. It's precise, very predictable and instills confidence that it can do far more than you're asking before the electronics save the day.
Electronic tricks
One complaint: sticky gear change. With under three-thou on the clock, perhaps it needed to loosen up, but then it is crisply German, which can be quite annoying.
The car will also remain relatively unthirsty if you don't hurry it, about 10 litres/100km. You can monitor fuel consumption on the car's very accurate trip data computer while fiddling with the classy front-loading radio/CD in the brushed silver, matt black console.
The Germanness is carried through after you've used the remote central-locking to open the doors - that close with a VW-familar thud - and sit on firm, body-hugging cloth seats with all the electronic tricks at hand.
Personally, I'd prefer a sportier two-door body and a little more flash than only the GTI'd grille and conservative alloys to let the Philistines know that this is a hatch that means business.