JB111s' 2005 3 Door GTI

[jb111s]

Hi there,

Thought I'd show off my car and wonder if previous owner was on here!

Bought it a month and a half ago for £3650.

It's done 142k, but the original owner was fastidious. I've got every receipt going back since 2005 and a shedload of work done to it. DSG oil services every 2 years, entire air con system (including all pipes) refreshed a couple of years ago & previous owner had just spent a small fortune getting cambelt, tensioner, water pump, follower & full service done.

Mechanincally I knew she was a good one (despite the high mileage) but rest of the car was in a bit of a bad way.

Alloys were ridden with white worm and tyres worn.
Lots of parking dings and dents along both sides :(
Windows had been heavily tinted (not to my taste!)
Cheap aftermarket stereo fitted with awful radio reception
Interior trim heavily worn.

The guy who bought it off the original owner had replaced the original 17"s with 18"s - although afterwards found out they were reps :(

This is how she looked when I bought her:







Thanks to this forum, did my research and realised what I needed to do to make her satisfactory to my OCD. Budgeted a grand spend.

£260 - new steering wheel with mutlifunction
£220 - Alloys refurbed (as reps wanted to spend as little as possible so got them painted)
£160 - Replace cheap aftermarket stereo with one with decent aeriel reception. Planned on RC510 but then came across a bargain with a decent pioneer unit on eBay.
£300 - New tyres (Falken)
£100 - New interior trim/grab handles, new DSG MK6 knob/surround that wasn't shiny
£185 - Dent removal
£80 - Window tint/headlight tint removal

Got £100 on ebay for my old steering wheel and £80 back for selling the aftermarket stereo :)

So, all in total spend was around £4600.

After a good clay and polish she now looks great. Really pleased with the stereo as well. Looks OEM (designed for VW), works with mfsw controls and has full postcode sat nav, just screen is a bit small but as long as it sounds good I'm happy!

[prp74]

Wow, what an improvement you have made. What other plans do you have?

[jb111s]

Wow, what an improvement you have made. What other plans do you have?

Cheers!

That's the end of my work on it. I want to keep the car for a year or two and not lose too much (would like to trade up to a mk6 gti once prices come down a bit). I always make the mistake of being too OCD and spend too much & give the next owner a fantastic bargain. It's my runaround car for when my wife has the main family wagon. I struggle to do 1k a year!

The high mileage will always count against it, but the condition and service history hopefully will be in its favour.

Contemplating maybe getting a de-coke done? It doesn't feel too bad to drive, but thinking it must be quite clogged up after 143k?

[Octoparrot]

Looks much nicer to my eyes at least how you've got it now, congrats!

[OirishGTI]

Hi where did you get the steering wheel for that price?

[jb111s]

Hi where did you get the steering wheel for that price?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OE-GTI-Style-MF-Steering-Wheel-Paddle-Switch-for-VW-Golf-MK5-Jetta-Pirelli-/322440002908?hash=item4b12ebfd5c:g:MQ4AAOSwRQlXe4ur

I had to dye it slightly with dynamix I bought for the seats as the grey was a bit too light (and orange stitching a bit too much).