Si_XSI's Car History - Clio to GTI

[si_xsi]

Was going through some old photos of my cars and thought I would start a thread of my car History from 17 to 28. Here goes...Please excuse the first 2 pics are of photos of photos..

Back in 2003, I just passed my test and got myself a clean 1993 L reg white Clio 'Be-bop', 1.2 litres of raw power. Nothing spectacular to drive, but it allowed me to do plenty of road trips to Cornwall on my year out and visit my then girlfriend at Uni.

I brought it for £1100, it cost about the same to insure 3rd party and I remember spending £350 getting it through the MOT only for some dosey old chuffer to smash into the side of it, writing it off in the process. I received an £850 payout from insurers which enabled me to get the next car.



Sticking with the French theme, I plumped for what appeared to be a clean 1993 L reg Pegeuot 106 'Roland Garros' with comedy white half leather seats and madame whiplash red seatbelts. £875 was exchanged, it had about 8 owners and 117K on the clock! What could possible go wrong. Being a 1.4i I was revelling in the extra poke, but not the amount of blue smoke pouring out the back. The head gasket was about to go and water temp high so I decided to quickly punt it on. I managed to flog it just before I started uni for £950 which promptly went on beer.



Moving on to 2005, I had been without a car for a whole 9 months at Uni and was really missing it. So, cue part time job in Revolution, and exchange of £670 for a rather tired looking 1992 K reg red Pug 106 XSI - about the same time as I joined Pistonheads! Weighed about as much as a fart in a paper bag - 100bhp and 900kgs. It had 4 owners, about 73k on the clock and cost me a fortune to keep on the road. Upon viewing, I should have walked away, but my heart was saying yes and that was all that mattered...The paintwork was a mess, the owners cat used the roof as a place to sleep, trim was hanging off but on the test drive it was so much fun to drive. It made a rorty little sound above 3500rpm too, handled like it was on rails and always brought a smile to my face. I replaced, both driveshafts and had the gearbox reconditioned, alternator, battery, ignition module.. It did many trips between Liverpool uni and Surrey (home), I kept it for 2 years and did about 20,000 miles in it. Sold for £650.







On to 2007 now, finished uni, just about to start my 1st proper job as a surveyor so needed something that was frugal, still nippy but reliable. I parted with £5300 and got this 83k mile W reg Golf GT TDI 115 pd form a local farmer who had it from new. The mid range torque this thing had was amazing and saw a regular 53 mpg. I had this for 2.5 years and sold it at 132,000 miles for £2850. I just kept on top of usual maintenance items, had it serviced every 10k and it never let me down. It needed 2 new front suspension springs, window regulator - nothing else! Full VW history.





In 2010 I decided I wanted something more fun and after a ride in a mates Mini Cooper S I was sold. It took me a while to find a good one.. but stumbled across this astro black example in Leeds with 2 previous owners, LSD, HK sound system, sat nav, Bluetooth, 18 in john cooper works lightweight alloys, xenons. Was £10,950 with 26,000 miles on clock, sold for £6250 in 2013 with 66k. It ate the horrible run flat tyres which were £180 each!! But it is the best handling car I have ever driven. I fitted a Playmini cat-back exhaust which induced even more pops and crackles. Miss this car a lot. Had a slight issue with the water pump failing and a timing chain tensioner failing but luckily caught it just in time. Mini did a pressure test and all was ok. Phew. I remember one or two hoons up to Sunday services with a lot of faster more expensive machines, and this thing just kept up in the bends on A&B roads.

I sold it because I felt it was about to cost me a lot of money - 4 new tyres, possible suspension bits and new discs and pads. I had to change it anyway because my company car allowance didn't permit anything over 6 years old. It was also not very good as a daily commuter, uncomfortable and quite thirsty









Fast forward to the present car, a 3dr 2008 Mk 5 Golf GTI in tornado red. Its a cliché, but this really does cover most bases, quick enough, very comfortable, good breaks, decent handling and 35 mpg. The seats are amazing. Stereo is rubbish. Bought for £11,250 at 36,000 miles in Dec 12, currently at 63,000 miles. I need to sell it on at the end of the year for the same reason as the mini - no idea what to replace it with - Mk6 Gti? Its had a new aerial as the old one perished, uprated Diverter valve from an S3 and new tyres. It likes a litre of oil every 3000 miles but not as bad as some. I'm hoping its reliability will continue over the summer when me and my fiancé go on a road trip to the south of France, alps and Route Napoleon. Famous last words I may do a separate thread for this.

Here is a pic along side the neighbours Mk7.







The fiancés motor. I've not driven this much, but the quality seems to have improved a lot since my little French beauties. No rattles, handles well and has all the toys. Its a 1.6vti so needs thrashing to get its full potential, but I don't do that...



Thanks for reading, welcome the comments good and bad....estate agents mini, hairdresser etc lol

Edited by si_xsi on Sunday 2nd March 15:55

[aspirated]

Nice selection you've had there, thought about trying something RWD next?

[si_xsi]

Not sure. Part of me fancies a change from a hot hatch but i'm always drawn back to their all round abilities - a nice 6 pot BMW coupe of some sort could be a possibility, or perhaps an S3. The R32 threads are not helping me distain from wanting one but I could not live with the fuel - I do 20,000 miles a year.

[lewisf182]

20k miles a year? ouch.

I'd be looking at a 123d coupe if wanting to try a RWD bmw coupe. Faster than the Gti, not too bad for a diesel and a remap will see it fly. Should easily get mid 40's on a run too.

Nice progression you have there! Been looking at cooper S's recently myself too, seems to be some proper bargains about with 2008 cars now hitting £7k.

[si_xsi]

^^^
I have always liked the 123d and a mapped one could be an idea.

Small update, took the GTI on track a few weeks ago at the Silverstone Pistonheads Sunday Service, great fun - tyres were fine, breaks less so





[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/LvHYRvY9[/url

Looking ahead to a possible replacement, I went to test drove a Mk6 Golf Gti dsg - sorry forgot to get pics. Very impressed with how quick and smooth the gear changes were, although it made some strange choice of downshifts when flooring in comfort mode. In 5th gear at 40mph, boot it and it goes to 4th upto 65ish 4000rpm - at this point I was expecting it to stay in 4th and change up to 5th, but it then went down to 3rd for circa last 1000rpm of rev range! Cheeky little parps between gears, reminded me of my Cooper S. It has confirmed my inclination to go auto next due to my horrendous Oxford commute and stop-start traffic jams. Am I turning into an old man at 28?

[Lynch91]

Nice car history there. The GTI looks nice, I also like the idea of getting an auto next, especially with how good the auto boxes seem to be now.

[si_xsi]

Little update, im now up to 66,000 miles (30,000 covered in my ownership in the last 17 months) and the GTI was overdue a service so I booked it in to my local independent VAG specialist.

The rear brakes were squeaking after my first track day so whilst it was in I asked the mechanic to take a look.

On fist inspection, the pads looked ok, so they were just going to take them apart, grease up and re-assemble. When apart, the inside of the pads were shot, so a new set went on. There are no sensors on the rear breaks to warn you they are low so the first you would know about it is the sound of scraping metal on the discs! Luckily all of my discs and front pads are fine. She is now squeak free and pulls up nicely and because its mostly motorway miles that I do, the suspension still feels fresh.

I was also concerned about the temperature gauge. Sometimes when the car is up to temperature, the dial goes a couple of clicks below the 90c mid way point - normally if you are cruising at 60mph or when under little load, i.e going down a hill and no gas. The mechanic said it was normal - the air entering the intercooler sometimes makes the sensors give 'untrue readings' in these situations. I will be keeping an eye on it though, he said if it drops to like 50c you obviously have a problem!

The service and pads came to £250 all in. I've also ordered a new dip-stick as the plastic pull out end is cracking and close to falling apart, don't want that in my sump.

Really looking forward to our 2000 mile road to South of France in a few months - its such a comfortable long distance cruiser, and the Route Napoleon is on the cards for the way back..

[va1o]

Looks like a really tidy GTI you have there, remember seeing it at the Silverstone Sunday Service last month

I recently bought one myself (Black 5dr DSG) and absolutely love it. First time I've had a car that puts a smile on your face every time without fail. Don't mind spending a bit of money to keep it in tip top condition

[si_xsi]

Thanks Valo, its got a couple of tiny car park dings on the rear wings where inconsiderate assholes have banged their doors against it, and a small scratch on the roof which was there before I bought it, other than that the 1 previous owner before me has really looked after it. I hope to get a mobile dent man / chips away to sort out the above, but may just leave it until I come round to selling.

I will look out for yours at future Sunday services. If I stick with VAG i'm definitely up for a DSG box next.

[si_xsi]

I noticed the same fog light I replaced about 12 months ago had cracked again - there was a hole where a stone must of gone though,so it was off to GSF car parts to order a replacement. The part was 33 including delivery. I also ordered a new dipstick at 10

Really easy to fit the foglight, undo 1 screw holding the honeycombe plastic cover, carefully remove making sure not to damage the clips which also hold it in, then undo 3 further screws holding the fog light fitting on to a bracket. Pull out, turn bulb to release from fitting, fit new fitting.

I heard an annoying rattle coming from the rear of the car which turned out to be a stone which had caught within the rear sub-frame. It was a pig to get out without the use of ramps but I managed it in the end.

I love it when you can do simple fixes yourself.

I will be getting the car professionally detailed in a few weeks time, it needs it, lots of swirls and whilst the red doesn't fade like some, it does loose its shine when exposed to direct sunlight for lengthy periods (as my parking space is).

Couple of shots, please excuse the rubbish phone quality








Thinking ahead to the end of the year I am considering a change to the following:

Mk 6 Golf GTI - 2011 plate facelift onwards, possibly followed by a cheeky stage 1 map to give it the power it should have come with
Renaultsport Megane - 250
Latest Ford Focus ST (mk 3?)
Some sort of quick (sub 7 to 60) but reasonably economical BMW (35mpg)

Any owners on here gone from a Mk5 gti to any of the above, thoughts welcome!

[Leon19841]

106 XSI!!! They were such a giggle enjoyed all the old car pics!

Get a 130i.. The NA 3.0 is just a brilliant engine

[si_xsi]

Thanks, the 106 XSIs are getting very thin on the ground these days - they did a 1.6 version but it offered very little difference in performance. It was so much fun to drive when it wasn't broken down!I always wanted the GTI but could never afford the insurance at the time.

Love the 130i but unfortunately too old to comply with my annoying age restriction for work car allowance.

[Metty53]

I've just upgraded to a MkVI GTI from a MkV and I have to say I'm not particularly pleased with it, you may have seen my other post. It looks more up to date and has a better stereo but it doesn't do anything the MkV can't and in my view lacks its character. If you try one see what you think about the noise and general fun factor - it seems they overly refined it and made it a bit bland. It also doesn't feel as we'll built as the 5, but this may just be my experience.

It's tough to know what to replace a MkV with, but of all the cars on your list I'd go for the BMW option as it's different to the Golf. I've been tempted by a Fiesta ST given the rave reviews but it's got a bit of a chav factor and not sure how I'd feel turning up to work meetings in one. I've still got the MkV in the shed and pretty sure I'm just going to keep it now.

[darren9]

We have pretty si ilar car taste.

II had a 106xsi. Mine was the 1.6 8v version. Was a great little car and a good introduction to something a little quicker.

The wife currently has a Mini Cooper S and it's a cracking little car. Loads of fun. Ours has the LSD too and not a lot can live with it when the road gets tight and twisty.

I really like the MKV golf too - I keep considering a 5dr one as a sort of jack of all trades car.

[si_xsi]

UPDATE: Roadtrip from Oxfordshire to South of France.

Having recently returned from this amazing 10 day roadtrip in the GTI, I thought I’d share the journey and a few photos. Some stats to start off:

Total mileage: 1867
6 tanks of super unleaded
Av MPG over whole trip 30.1
Av speed of 50mph
Total driving time 39hrs 57 mins.
£140 in tolls.

The journey started at 5.30am on Friday 13th June and my fiancé and I made our way to catch the 8.15am ferry from Dover.



Of course I hadn’t planned the holiday to coincide with Le Mans at all, but we spotted a stickered up RS6 and A6 TDI at the services on route, amougst other exotica on the Ferry.



Our first stop was with family friends to the South of Paris, taking the usual autoroutes and hell that is the Paris Periphery ring road. The latter being the only snag on this leg of the trip, we crawled for 2 hours in 32c heat, thankfully the air con worked without fault for the whole trip - I am aware the compressors are a weak point on GTI.

We arrived at about 4pm, had several beers and a nice meal before leaving at 8.30am the next morning.

The next leg was a 5 hour schlep from Paris down to Provence - our destination a small village called La Baume de Transit. We took the autoroutes again which were uncrowded and stuck to about 90-95mph all the way, only stopping for fuel and refreshments. I only saw 2 gendarmes on the whole 10 day trip. We found the villa no problem and met up with our friends who had flown down to Marseille from London and hired a car (where’s the fun in that!!).


We spent a week at the villa chilling by the pool, visiting vineyards, Orange and the ampetheatre, Avignon for shopping, Valreas, Vaison La Rommaine to watch England loose at Football and drove up Mount Ventoux (1hr from the villa) which was 2000m up.










The climb up Mt Ventoux. Filling up before the long climb, air con on, 4 up, think I averaged 22mpg that day, it was really interesting to see how much the altitude sucked power the further we climbed. The views from the top were breath taking, although not for one of our friends who suffered from vertigo. There were cyclists at the top who had done the gruelling climb opening champagne, I was surprised to see one Irishman we got chatting to prompty light up a fag after getting off his saddle, saying he’d been looking forward to that from the bottom, fair play.














Checking the oil and fluids before our next leg of our journey, the bit I’d been looking forward to the most. We took some amazing D and N roads from Provence to Gap, where we then headed north on the top half of the Route Napoleon to our overnight stop in Annecy. This was brilliant fun, the road surface smooth, plenty of safe places to overtake slower cars and wonderful scenery. I recall one funny moment following a fully loaded Toyota Aygo with 3 bikes and large lads in it, I think it was from Holland, anyway it was being ragged from an inch of its life on these steep, twisty roads, no breaking, it was hilarious to watch from behind as this thing just understeered into every corner, eventually I passed with a friendly wave. This was a long day of driving, about 7 hours in total.











We were in Annecy for one night which was beautiful, similar to Venice or the Italian Lakes, I hadn’t realised the weekend I’d booked was hosting The main music festival for France, so plenty of live music on every street corner and a really good atmosphere.

Lowered 20mm at the rear on Cotes du Rhone, Chateau Neuf Du Pape and Kronembourg.


We left at midday to continue north to our second return leg overnight stop, Reims. We picked up more N roads before eventually taking the autoroute, total drive time that day was about 6 hours. We Stopped at Maccys for a drink and parked next to an RS clio and British A4 3.2 vert.

We came across a tasty, rare BMW Z8.




Reims was ok, nothing spectacular.

We are now Monday 23rd June and it was time to make our way back to Calais, a 3 hour blast from Reims, however disaster, 60 miles from Calais and travelling at a fair old lick, I suddenly hear the most awful sound like I’d just run over something massive and made of metal, I quickly scan around, no lorries or anything infront of me, no cars even, then my fiancé points to a 2.5 inch circular indent on my windscreen on the offside. A huge rock, presumably from the opposite carriageway had badly damaged the windscreen, and I pull over at the next rest stop to check. It has taken a very small amount of paint from the roof when it went over the car, but barely noticeable. No exaggeration, no longer than 10 mins after setting off again, another stone hit the screen on my side this time, creating a 1ft crack from the edge of the screen to my line of sight


Apart from that, the trip was a success, I got out from every drive feeling as fresh as when I got in, I did all of the driving, the seats are so comfortable.
Thanks for reading, if anyone is considering a similar trip and has any questions I’d be happy to answer them.



edit spelling

Edited by si_xsi on Sunday 13th July 13:07

[va1o]

Nice writeup and top photos (but shame about the windscreen!)

You should try taking it to Le Mans next time if you haven't been before.

Reminds me I must get one of these threads up for my GTI, probably once the alloys have been refurbed...

[matt21]

Keep the golf.

It will be 2015 before you get a bking at work.

Or put a private plate on it and no one will ever know.

[jc84]

Loved reading about the road trip!

And no you are not alone. I am 29 and also considering dsg for my next car. Best of both worlds really.

[alangtt]

Great trip thanks for posting.
I had a golf gti - didn't get on with it. Glad you like yours

[0llie]

Nice write up OP, good to see you're enjoying your GTI.

Love the R53, I've been meaning to buy a late one since 2011 but keep end up buying other stuff