I have been trolling this forum for a while and decided to post my pride and joy.
I have been searching high and low for a '03/04 MK4 GTI since I received my first pay check, lol, ok maybe not that long, but it felt that long (close to 7 and a half years). It always turned out that there was either something majorly wrong with the car (engine needs overhaul, whole interior need to be re-done, etc) or the deal just never happened. As a daily, that would never have been possible. I eventually decided that I'm giving up completely (only like 2-3 months ago). I then decided after a month or so that if I can't get my dream car, I will settle for the baby, 9N3 Polo GTI (same engine as the MK4 GTI). Then this beaut crossed my path.
On Wednesday (03/04/2013) I went to Autohaus Centurion (VW Dealer close to my house) to collect some styling bits I ordered for my previous car, a Polo Vivo (scaled down version of the 9N3 and also a replacement for the MK1 Golf in SA). I walked over to the Mastercars dealer and spoke to the one salesman (Maxwell Lanre - Very helpful guy. He is totally focused on customer service. Something that is very rare in our country). I told him what I was looking for and I s*%t you not, the following morning he called me. Took extended lunch and went to take the car for a test drive. I fell in love instantly, even though the car was a bit lazy, I still loved everything and felt at home in the car. Last time I felt like that was the day I purchased my black 05 bug-eye 74kW TDI.
So one thing lead to another and I recently (06/04/2013) took delivery of this beaut of a car. This 07 has been well looked after and she is in very VERY good nick. I firstly had a look around for some others these past couple of months, but none of them was what I wanted. Some were really strong, and some were really weak, some were looked after and some were not looked after, then others that were just horrible (gives VW as a brand a bad name) but none of them made me feel like I felt in this one.
So, from what we can fathom, I am the third owner of the car (we think), but still, one of the best looked after PGTI's I have come across, seriously.
On to some specs (not much to list):
Year of first registration was back in 2007
Model: 9N3
Mileage: +-80,000km on the clock
Color: Candy White (B4B4)
Service History: FSH with VW
Interior Trim: Interlagos Anthracite
Sunroof: None (For some reason I dislike sunroofs)
Sound System: Factory HU, with factory fitted speakers (yep still stock speakers, saw it when I wanted to try and fix my elec mirrors, which are sorted now, replaced the relay), but replaced the radio with a Pioneer DVH-855AVBT.
Wheels: Had some cheap looking wheels on that suited the car, but not my style, so it received some BBS love.
Mods:
From what we could see, the TIP, DP and everything still looks stock. I know for a fact that the car still has a cat. We connected the Vag-Com equipment and picked up that the cat is very restrictive (most probably blocked) hence the reason the car was a bit sluggish on the test drive, but after driving hard a bit, the performance increased a bit. I have no idea what the previous owner has done to the car, so I do not know if there are any hidden mods or software loaded that one cannot see, but I can honestly say she feels really strong now after driving around a bit. It may be because on paper I went from 63kW /132nm (N/A car) - this one) on the fly to 110kW/220nm on the fly, that may be the case, but the car really feels strong now.
Me and a friend did a short run to see what the power differences are between the GTI and his modded 1.9TDI (Freeflow, PD160 uprated turbo, chip). We were kind of equal, but I honestly think he will kill me if he can manage to find traction.
Ok, on to some picthas.....I still need to take some more better quality pics, so excuse the poor quality pics, will let someone take proper pics when I have detailed the car.
This was the Saturday morning I took delivery:
Exterior:
The car has a few dings here and there, but nothing that's in your face.
Interior:
The interior is also very very clean. No marks on the seats, no marks on the roof lining, nothing. Everything in the car still looks and feels brand new, except the passenger front door card. Some scuff marks on the plastic, but I can live with that.
The car looked quite funky with the black wheels, but they were not my style, so I arranged and got some BBS love for her. This is the result:
Now onto the engine bay:
Cover on
Cover off
The dealer did not even clean the engine underneath the cover, but that will be sorted very soon.
Ok so this past weekend, after having the car for about a week, I got up early to fit my cupra lip and decided while I'm busy, I'll fit my new Pioneer radio as well. Only issue I have is the radio's face is a bit thick, so it sticks out a lot from the dash, but other than that, we managed to get everything sorted. Still need to fit the mic for bluetooth calling and also connect the park cable in order to view video while parked.
Positioning of the lip before test fitting
Lip fitted. It's not perfect, but you have to really look to see where it's not perfect
And now a few pics of the radio.
First up we have the view from the back seats
And a close-up of the radio
I have a couple of things planned for this car aesthetically, but all I can say now, WATCH THIS SPACE.
Your comments are welcome.
EDIT: I forgot to add the following:
Planning to fit some coilies soon, but have to save up a bit.