RE: Spotted: VW Lupo GTI

[Mr. Potato Head]

Bought mine new in 2002, still enjoy it, still not selling it.
Nice too see some familiar faces in this thread.
Shame "the scene" is so st now...

[biggrim]

I've had mine just over a year and I love it! Standard-ish, really nippy and plenty of head room for 6'4" me (and my hair). Thinking of selling in the summer but what to replace it with? I'll get a pic or two up later if I get the chance.

[TTOBES]

.... and it would seem chaps and chapesses that decent examples go within about three days of being posted for sale!

(I've looked into it seriously since the start of this story, and even got a quote for my car from We Buy Any Car).

[Bjam99]

For YEARS I have been searching for a Blue one that has been looked after and not mod'd in anyway. The ones that do come up are 6k+

Im just going to have work a bit harder and save some more. GAH!

[TTOBES]

Hi Bjam, the Raven blue GTIs are very good looking, I agree.

...and.... did you know that for a short while before the GTI production ended, Laser blue (from the then new MK V Golf) was a colour option! It's probably only on about five 05 reg examples!

[pthelazyjourno]

loveice said:

Lupo GTI isn't any hot hatch. VW didn't just put 'big' engine in a small car, far from it. In fact, it was and still is one of the most factory 'modified' hot hatches ever. It has wider tracks both front and rear, aluminum wide wings front and rear, aluminum bonnet, magnesium rear hatch, alumium doors, upgraded brakes all round, 6-speed (rear at that time), different suspensions, smaller passenger side mirror, different head lights' deisgn (not just Xenon, but different design), unique dashboard design... List is endless. The difference between Lupo GTI and the 1.4 Sport is bigger than Focus RS and Focus ST. I don't think car manufactures today would do something like this and only charge 25% over the standard model (the 1.4 sport was around £10k, and GTI was from £12.5k).

Edited by loveice on Thursday 21st February 13:36

Thing is, it needed all those changes, as the standard Lupo was hardly a class benchmark when it came to handling.

Add in all the lightweight panels, wider track, different suspension and a similar era 106 GTi still has it licked for handling and fun.

I'd still like one as a run around as the quality is something else, but you're getting a bit carried away about how special it is. Take your Focus ST - RS example, for instance, and the former is already an absolute corker of a car.

That's why VW needed to make so many changes.

[MattyB_]

TTOBES said:

Hi Bjam, the Raven blue GTIs are very good looking, I agree.

...and.... did you know that for a short while before the GTI production ended, Laser blue (from the then new MK V Golf) was a colour option! It's probably only on about five 05 reg examples!

I had Silver GTi, my sister had a Raven Blue GTi and she's just recently purchased a Red GTi.

But honestly, I think the Anthracite (as per AndyW's) is still the "best" colour. It fits the shape, accentuates the shape without being overly obvious.

Would be my choice if I ever bought another...not that you ever see Anthracite ones for sale!

[AndyWoodall]

MattyB_ said:

But honestly, I think the Anthracite (as per AndyW's) is still the "best" colour. It fits the shape, accentuates the shape without being overly obvious.

Would be my choice if I ever bought another...not that you ever see Anthracite ones for sale!

You're too kind Matthew.

The colour was a bit of a punt, I'd only ever seen one before I ordered it and that was under some dodgy yellow lights in a VW garage in Port Talbot.

With hindsight, its a bugger to keep in a good condition and I partly wish I'd gone for red, almost every panel needs some tlc as the paint has picked up little scratches as its so soft. Some cosmetic repairs and a very good detail should sort the body panels but I fear the front and rear bumper will need complete respray. I've also developed the bubbling spoiler issue which is a pain.

I have a list of things I'll get sorted once the car stops being my daily driver (steering wheel retrim, some interior parts haven't worn so well so will replace, wheels need a refurb). Long term I think I want to take off the KW coilovers as the ride is utterley attrocious for Shropshire roads, I'd rather have the body roll back thats very much (It did sort that to be fair).

[Soupie69uk]

Which KW's you got? Variant 1, 2 or 3.

[AndyWoodall]

Soupie69uk said:

Which KW's you got? Variant 1, 2 or 3.

V1's.

Excellent on smooth roads, bloody amazing on twisty German country roads with beautifully smooth tarmac.

On British roads, terrible. Short wheel base compounds the issue perhaps as a fairly vanilla 996 Carrera on the same suspension feels fine to me.

[BlueRSedFly]

AndyWoodall said:

Hi, I have those pics of yours saved on my pc in my big folder full of car pics. And yes, I took some pics at Borth when I first had it.

Never thought I'd keep it so long, it almost went in 2006 and 2010 for a Clio 197 and Boxster respectively, but I just can't part with it, even though I have this strong urge for a Boxster or a Cayman which I have to fufil.

I know there are better cars, but L8LMW is mine. Even if I sold it, I'd want it back. No one else is having it, its mine. End of. So as I refuse to turn it into a nice pot of money for a Cayman, I now I have to wait before I can have something new.

Haha, cool! Took loads of pics of that car. Should have done a bit more with it really, would have been amazing around the Elan valley. Know exactly what you mean about the Boxster/Cayman though, one day... one day

[BlueRSedFly]

ensignia said:

Didn't these have some ridiculous bi-xenon lights that were meant to be the best in the business? And this was all those years ago, on a supermini!

The lights were amazing! I was often getting flashed by other drivers thinking I had main beam on ( Xenons weren't that common then). The dash lighting was great too with the blue instrument lighting and shiny bezels around the dials. Used to love watching the headlamp washers in action too, it was not unheard of for me to get the wife to operate them just to see them working! I used to wonder if they would fail as they looked quite intricate, are people's still working?

[sv]

BlueRSedFly said:

ensignia said:

Didn't these have some ridiculous bi-xenon lights that were meant to be the best in the business? And this was all those years ago, on a supermini!

The lights were amazing! I was often getting flashed by other drivers thinking I had main beam on ( Xenons weren't that common then). The dash lighting was great too with the blue instrument lighting and shiny bezels around the dials. Used to love watching the headlamp washers in action too, it was not unheard of for me to get the wife to operate them just to see them working! I used to wonder if they would fail as they looked quite intricate, are people's still working?

I had a reflex silver 03 plate Lupo GTI for three years - fantastic little car. The headlights were the best on any car I've ever owned (although my current GT86's come close). In fact, when I traded in the Lupo for a B7 RS4 I was amazed at how much worse the headlights were on the RS4 vs. those on the Lupo.

[biggrim]

I think all the glass is GTi specific being 2mm thinner than normal lupos too.

[AndyWoodall]

BlueRSedFly said:

Used to love watching the headlamp washers in action too, it was not unheard of for me to get the wife to operate them just to see them working! I used to wonder if they would fail as they looked quite intricate, are people's still working?

Mine have been faultless until last month when I had a new radiator fitted (obviously requiring removal of the whole front bumper) and ever since the passenger side hasn't worked. Need to get the garage that did the work to fix it but predictably I haven't been back yet.

[SD 80]

Lovely little cars.

I have had a Sport and then a fully loaded Raven blue GTI. Very sorely missed, but will come back to a Lupo in the future. Probably a TDI that i can do bit of a project on...

My sister bought a 55 plate Laser Blue GTI with all the toys last year. She is very happy with it and is looking to keep it for a while.

[s m]

Andy ap said:

Here's mine at oulton,

wish the engine was more powerful though, but a suprising amount of people actually came over and made good comments about it, one MK2 golf driver said it was quite quick....errr.

What a great pic

[BlueRSedFly]

AndyWoodall said:

Mine have been faultless until last month when I had a new radiator fitted (obviously requiring removal of the whole front bumper) and ever since the passenger side hasn't worked. Need to get the garage that did the work to fix it but predictably I haven't been back yet.

Sounds like they are pretty reliable then, hope you get yours sorted soon

[anonymous-user]

with the new up gt for 12k makes a worthy lupo gti replacement.

[Republik1980]

Seriously considered one of these as a replacement for the Golf 16v; seems like the spiritual successor to the Mk1 and Mk2 Gtis.

Very appealing little cars but I just couldn't stomach chucking that much money at one - very little car for the money and at the prices they're commanding a lot more capable metal is within range..