What are essential factory fitted options?

[Stupots]

Hi, I'm seeking opinion of what options people look for when they buy a used Golf (or even new)... i.e. what do they deem is maybe too hard to retrofit or too expensive to add later. For me, when I was looking for my car is was 4 wheel drive, dual zone climate, the right colour (either grey, silver or black) and xenon headlights. A sunroof; probably being the hardest option to retrofit, was a nice bonus. I picked these over high mileage (it had done 150K) as I plan on keeping the car for 10 years or so.

I like the fact that because the Mk6 is basically a Mk5, there was ongoing developments that I can take advantage of and that can be retrofitted all the way upto 2013.

So far I've fitted R32 leather interior, Mk6 flat bottom MFSW, PolarFIS, RNS 510+Bluetooth and 18" Audi Rotors. Future improvements are uprated brakes, S3 IC, GTB2260 Turbo+Race injectors and SRE clutch.

I think the Mk5 is one of the nicest shaped Golfs and this is why I'm happy to spend plenty of money making it the car I want, I'll never get my money back on it and by the time I'm finished I could probably have afforded a golf R 

cheers

Stu

[amanda]

Diff a sunroof for me :)

[Juliand]

Interesting this.
I've often wondered how you establish what 'options' a car comes with, and intrigued at what was an option and what was standard. Mine's an 05, so presumably there was some evolution over the production run. Unfortunately I don't have the original invoice, but wondered if the VW dealership might be able to do a print off (barring obvious 'Data protection' - due to the original purchaser???). Any thoughts? Sorry to hijack, but it is related.

[andy7ven]

Here's a copy of the brochure from 2005, you should be able to match things up to your car!!! 

www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/common/pdf/brochures/old-brochure/Golf/Golf-GTI-March-2005.pdf

Also there's also a list of codes on the sticker under boot carpet and in the cars manual which all identify which options your car has got... Enter them into this and it'll show you what they mean! 

http://www.jettamkv.co.uk/tools/option-codes-decoder/

[dronners]

when i bought my golf the only thing i was really set on was xenon headlights and leather seats..    in hindsight i really would of liked highline clocks and multifunction steering wheel although with mine being DSG mutlifunction steering wheel basically plugged straight in

[Stupots]

when i bought my golf the only thing i was really set on was xenon headlights and leather seats..    in hindsight i really would of liked highline clocks and multifunction steering wheel although with mine being DSG mutlifunction steering wheel basically plugged straight in

These are also 2 things I also knew I wanted (mine luckily already had both) but after I purchased and started doing research I realised how cheap and (fairly) simple a MFSW and highline clocks were to retrofit. I just upgraded from Mk5 MFSW to Mk6, but it would have been as easy going from a standard Mk5 SW.

[Andy_GunMetalGolf]

Is the brochure the complete list of extras? Doesn't seem to be many?

[FJ1000]

Here's a copy of the brochure from 2005, you should be able to match things up to your car!!! 

www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/common/pdf/brochures/old-brochure/Golf/Golf-GTI-March-2005.pdf

Also there's also a list of codes on the sticker under boot carpet and in the cars manual which all identify which options your car has got... Enter them into this and it'll show you what they mean! 

http://www.jettamkv.co.uk/tools/option-codes-decoder/

Thanks for posting that! 

I was extremely lucky to find a 5dr GTi DSG that seems to have had all the options ticked!

- Wingback leather bucket seats (as per R32). Heated of course
- Sunroof
- Xenons
- 18" monzas
- Nav
- Parking Sensors
- Folding mirrors
- MF wheel

[Stupots]

@FJ1000 very lucky, great spec!

[Shoduchi]

Having volumetric interior alarm sensors and the tyre pressure sensors were also an option.

In the UK I guess not all cars had an automatic dual-zone AC. Not sure about the light and rain sensor, auto-dimming interior rear-view mirror (I've also seen auto-dimming side rear-view mirrors). The centre arm rest was also an optional there.

I've retrofitted a lot of parts from the mk6 Golf in both my Golfs.

[LondonGT]

I really wanted a sunroof, leather, DSG and dual climate. I couldn't find climate.

Stupots, like you for me this car is a keeper. The one annoyance is not having dual zone but with those eBay knobs it looks ok...still annoying.

Since buying it in 2011 I have done:

Votex lower front valance
ED30 lower valance
Miltek back box
Colour coded the bumpers
Air filter upgrade
Updated DV

Inside:
Cherry hazard switch
Removed top tray for vent
RNS510
High line clocks
MFSW with paddles
Those seat handle insert things
Better floor mats
TPMS
Added some car style switches I have hooked to a garage opener
Swapped the coin tray for an ashtray with 5 switch holes (only option, I miss the tray)
Swapped the heater knobs

I reckon I've taken it from 140 to 160/70hp, not a lot I know but just a few tweaks here and there

It's a great car to fiddle with and easy to DIY

If only I had dual climate....

 

[MC71]

Apart from the Sunroof you can pretty much retro fit everything that came as an option. Mk5/Mk6 platform are great for that.

 

[Stupots]

@MC71 @LondonGT Yeah, I read somewhere before I purchased that the dual zone climate was a real pain to retrofit; it has been done, I just knew that was one thing I would never get around to doing, so it was on my Must list.

LondonGT, you look like you have a nice car there. Yeah, I like VW cars, they're not too bad to work on.

Stu