VW Golf GTI 1.8T
Discussion
After having owned a '98 Peugeot 106 1.1 for two I needed a car that comes with some more, well.... car.
I always liked the look of 3-doors mk4 Golf. Also I have looked at mk4 R32s quite a lot.
But they are too expensive to be a little runaround/learners car.
I have fond memories of my old Lupo GTI and I'm still pleased withe my Audi S4.
I'm no VAG fanboy by any means, but I like some of the cars they built quite a lot.
I know the mk4 GTI has no leg to stand on with the VAG community, but I think they are seriously underrated cars.
So I browsed the net for a cheap 1.8T and have found this:
A late '98 model with 150k miles on the clock.
It comes with new Falken summer tyres and some almost new winter tyres (nexens??).
The brakes (pads+discs) have been redone recently, as have the shock absorbers (sachs).
It comes with a new windscreen and a badly worn drivers seat.
It has automatic climate control (ice cold) and automatic whipers.
I haven't driven the car yet (well, for 10 yards and I checked the clutch).
I was sold the minute I realised the husband of the owner is a mechanic and changed the oil twice a year, allowed the wife only to fill up at certain pump station (because of the quality of the petrol), and was adamant to keep the wifes (and kids!) car mechanically sound. They only sold it because they bought a new Mini One as a replacement.
Fingers crossed it lives up to my expectations!!!
Oh... I'm sure you want to know what I paid for the beauty...
£650
I always liked the look of 3-doors mk4 Golf. Also I have looked at mk4 R32s quite a lot.
But they are too expensive to be a little runaround/learners car.
I have fond memories of my old Lupo GTI and I'm still pleased withe my Audi S4.
I'm no VAG fanboy by any means, but I like some of the cars they built quite a lot.
I know the mk4 GTI has no leg to stand on with the VAG community, but I think they are seriously underrated cars.
So I browsed the net for a cheap 1.8T and have found this:
A late '98 model with 150k miles on the clock.
It comes with new Falken summer tyres and some almost new winter tyres (nexens??).
The brakes (pads+discs) have been redone recently, as have the shock absorbers (sachs).
It comes with a new windscreen and a badly worn drivers seat.
It has automatic climate control (ice cold) and automatic whipers.
I haven't driven the car yet (well, for 10 yards and I checked the clutch).
I was sold the minute I realised the husband of the owner is a mechanic and changed the oil twice a year, allowed the wife only to fill up at certain pump station (because of the quality of the petrol), and was adamant to keep the wifes (and kids!) car mechanically sound. They only sold it because they bought a new Mini One as a replacement.
Fingers crossed it lives up to my expectations!!!
Oh... I'm sure you want to know what I paid for the beauty...
£650
I have the Golf for two weeks now and have driven roughly 500 miles since then.
Here are a couple of impressions:
Together with it's bigger brother, the Audi S4
Last week this happend (note: those are kilometers, not miles!)
The back of the Recaro driver's seat is badly worn
But on ebay I found an other seat that has a worn lower part with the back beeing ok.
A local saddler will take the best parts of each seat and put it together. All the other seats look tip top!
The car came with a horrific after market JVC radio. So I wanted to put back in the old Gamma Radio from my old Lupo GTI. But I forgot to note down the code.... So I bought a new VDO DAB+ Radio (see bellow)
In the meantime I have done a couple of mods I will show you shortly!!
Here are a couple of impressions:
Together with it's bigger brother, the Audi S4
Last week this happend (note: those are kilometers, not miles!)
The back of the Recaro driver's seat is badly worn
But on ebay I found an other seat that has a worn lower part with the back beeing ok.
A local saddler will take the best parts of each seat and put it together. All the other seats look tip top!
The car came with a horrific after market JVC radio. So I wanted to put back in the old Gamma Radio from my old Lupo GTI. But I forgot to note down the code.... So I bought a new VDO DAB+ Radio (see bellow)
In the meantime I have done a couple of mods I will show you shortly!!
I just returned from the weekend away. Traffic has been a nightmare as usual.
But I was thinking, why is everybody driving so slowly? I was doing the indicated speed limit and have always been the fastest.
Also I was thinking the Golf has quite long gear ratios. 120 km/h was about 3800 rpm. Also the fuel consumption isn't far off what the 4.2 V8 in the Audi uses.
Well, on the way home I got flashed by a speed camera. I was doing exactly the indicated 80 km/h. I then verfied the speedo with a GPS speedo on my phone. Guess what....
Yep, the speedo in the golf underreads quite substantially!!!!
I was doing 92 instead of 80!!!
A quick play with a gear calculator shows that the 3800 rpms I was doing most of the time equals to 140km/h instead of 120km/h!!!
The last two weeks I had the impression I got flashed once or twice, but since I never have been speeding I thought nothing of it.
The good thing is the Golf is more economical than I thought and it sits at a much more comfortable 3200rpm/120km/h.
But you can guess how i feel right now....
But I was thinking, why is everybody driving so slowly? I was doing the indicated speed limit and have always been the fastest.
Also I was thinking the Golf has quite long gear ratios. 120 km/h was about 3800 rpm. Also the fuel consumption isn't far off what the 4.2 V8 in the Audi uses.
Well, on the way home I got flashed by a speed camera. I was doing exactly the indicated 80 km/h. I then verfied the speedo with a GPS speedo on my phone. Guess what....
Yep, the speedo in the golf underreads quite substantially!!!!
I was doing 92 instead of 80!!!
A quick play with a gear calculator shows that the 3800 rpms I was doing most of the time equals to 140km/h instead of 120km/h!!!
The last two weeks I had the impression I got flashed once or twice, but since I never have been speeding I thought nothing of it.
The good thing is the Golf is more economical than I thought and it sits at a much more comfortable 3200rpm/120km/h.
But you can guess how i feel right now....
VF7 said:
I just returned from the weekend away. Traffic has been a nightmare as usual.
But I was thinking, why is everybody driving so slowly? I was doing the indicated speed limit and have always been the fastest.
Also I was thinking the Golf has quite long gear ratios. 120 km/h was about 3800 rpm. Also the fuel consumption isn't far off what the 4.2 V8 in the Audi uses.
Well, on the way home I got flashed by a speed camera. I was doing exactly the indicated 80 km/h. I then verfied the speedo with a GPS speedo on my phone. Guess what....
Yep, the speedo in the golf underreads quite substantially!!!!
I was doing 92 instead of 80!!!
A quick play with a gear calculator shows that the 3800 rpms I was doing most of the time equals to 140km/h instead of 120km/h!!!
The last two weeks I had the impression I got flashed once or twice, but since I never have been speeding I thought nothing of it.
The good thing is the Golf is more economical than I thought and it sits at a much more comfortable 3200rpm/120km/h.
But you can guess how i feel right now....
Oh no. Wrong tyres, or wrong gearbox fitted at some stage?But I was thinking, why is everybody driving so slowly? I was doing the indicated speed limit and have always been the fastest.
Also I was thinking the Golf has quite long gear ratios. 120 km/h was about 3800 rpm. Also the fuel consumption isn't far off what the 4.2 V8 in the Audi uses.
Well, on the way home I got flashed by a speed camera. I was doing exactly the indicated 80 km/h. I then verfied the speedo with a GPS speedo on my phone. Guess what....
Yep, the speedo in the golf underreads quite substantially!!!!
I was doing 92 instead of 80!!!
A quick play with a gear calculator shows that the 3800 rpms I was doing most of the time equals to 140km/h instead of 120km/h!!!
The last two weeks I had the impression I got flashed once or twice, but since I never have been speeding I thought nothing of it.
The good thing is the Golf is more economical than I thought and it sits at a much more comfortable 3200rpm/120km/h.
But you can guess how i feel right now....
mwstewart said:
Oh no. Wrong tyres, or wrong gearbox fitted at some stage?
The tyres are the correct size (205/55/16). Haven't thought about the gearbox. Should be a "DBZ" gearbox according to the blurb.But I suspect a wrong speedo has been fitted at some point.
Very annoying indeed
And I keep remembering more and more speed cameras I passed in the last couple of days...
I have booked it for a speedo testing at the local "MOT" center tomorrow. Just in case one of fines turns out to be more than just a ticket...
BTW
I will update you guys shortly with some works I'have carried out.
Like coloring the ceiling black and fitting some new headlights.
As well as a new sports exhaust and some little bits here and there..
Good news everyone!!!
My speedo is working correctly again! Thanks to a great german forum, I found out it was a simple error in coding.
I connected my laptop to the car and thanks to some software I still had from the Lupo GTI, I was able to reprogram the speedo.
It was as simple as inserting the correct code that differed only by one tiny number (a "2" instead of a "3" at the end of the code).
What an expensive, tiny difference it made....
The car accelerates much quicker to 100 too!!!
At the same time programmed the Auto-Lock function, which is nice.
And I replaced the squealing fan belt (quite expensive those OEM fan belts I have to say!!).
Since the last time I have done a couple of modifications to the Golf:
I fitted some OEM Audi TT stainless pedals. Much better now!
The heavily corroded rear wipper was updated to a new one with Bosch AeroTwin
Here you see the original spoiler with the hole for the antenna, I quite like that little feature!
Then I got some new headlights for it. These where the original ones...
black ones, work in progress...
What a difference they made!! The car looks at least ten years younger, too me at least.
the beige/grey ceiling before dying...
Oh, and the new VDO HU with Bluetooth, DAB+, handsfree. Quite a smart (OEM) looking thing.
Have to get it fitting flush with the center console tough...
And I have replaced a missing dark wood trim next to the radio.
The I set to dye the ceiling in black using a kit off ebay.
I had to do it three times and it was quite a mess. Also it took ages to do, lying on the back and working overhead.
I have to do a photograph of the finished result. Although not perfect, a huge difference to what it looked like before!!!
Well worth doing, since it ads to a much more "classy" feel to the cabin! And again, it just makes the car somehow feel more modern. Hard to explain, but to me it does.
I also sprayed all the handles, light cluster, sun blinds, etc black. Again, not perfect but vastly better than before!
Also the drivers seats has been reupholstered with new foam and feels like a new seat. Big improvement!
And the newest modification:
I fitted a new(old) rear bumper as the original had a bad crack in it. Then I fitted the rear lip from a V6 4motion to make room for a new rear end silencer.
I got one from Friedrich Motorsport. I've gone for two 3" tips. They are quite big, not sure if I should have gone for 2.5" (original V6 size) instead, but well...
It sits a bit low, have to see how i can get it an inch or two higher!
The RES is slightly fruitier , without being louder. Or maybe just a bit. Although it makes the car no faster, it adds some more GTI to it somehow, if you know what i mean.
I fitted some OEM Audi TT stainless pedals. Much better now!
The heavily corroded rear wipper was updated to a new one with Bosch AeroTwin
Here you see the original spoiler with the hole for the antenna, I quite like that little feature!
Then I got some new headlights for it. These where the original ones...
black ones, work in progress...
What a difference they made!! The car looks at least ten years younger, too me at least.
the beige/grey ceiling before dying...
Oh, and the new VDO HU with Bluetooth, DAB+, handsfree. Quite a smart (OEM) looking thing.
Have to get it fitting flush with the center console tough...
And I have replaced a missing dark wood trim next to the radio.
The I set to dye the ceiling in black using a kit off ebay.
I had to do it three times and it was quite a mess. Also it took ages to do, lying on the back and working overhead.
I have to do a photograph of the finished result. Although not perfect, a huge difference to what it looked like before!!!
Well worth doing, since it ads to a much more "classy" feel to the cabin! And again, it just makes the car somehow feel more modern. Hard to explain, but to me it does.
I also sprayed all the handles, light cluster, sun blinds, etc black. Again, not perfect but vastly better than before!
Also the drivers seats has been reupholstered with new foam and feels like a new seat. Big improvement!
And the newest modification:
I fitted a new(old) rear bumper as the original had a bad crack in it. Then I fitted the rear lip from a V6 4motion to make room for a new rear end silencer.
I got one from Friedrich Motorsport. I've gone for two 3" tips. They are quite big, not sure if I should have gone for 2.5" (original V6 size) instead, but well...
It sits a bit low, have to see how i can get it an inch or two higher!
The RES is slightly fruitier , without being louder. Or maybe just a bit. Although it makes the car no faster, it adds some more GTI to it somehow, if you know what i mean.
I just sold the Golf!
I got tired of it pretty soon. (And I really didn't needed an other car anyhow..) It has been a great car, despite what a lot of people keep saying about the Golf 4 GTI.
In the end I made roughly 2'000 miles in it and sold it for double of what I originally paid for.
But I have invested even more, so in the end I made losses. Can't be bothered to calculate the exact figures though.
I hope the new owner (who hasn't driven the car before buying it because he already had a drink despite we had a fix appointment a day ahead
) will enjoy it!VF7 said:
My first car was a 1.8T. Still think they are underrated (and mine cost me nothing more than a new battery, basic servicing and 2 new tyres in the 4 years I owned it).
What have you replaced the Golf with? I might see it around when I drive home from work...
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