newbie

[typersteve]

hi all
im new to the site, i havent got a golf at the mo, but im thinking of buying one very soon. i have a honda civic type r at the mo, which is supercharged running 290bhp with all the bits to go with it.

im very interested in buying a mk5 golf gti, but as im a jap owner im not very clued up about the dub scene. if poss i would like some info.
e.g
are they reliable?
wots the best one to go for manual or dsg?
wot type of mods r needed to get around 300bhp
would a car with 60,000 mile plus be ok?
and anything else really i would need to know when buying one

sorry for all the questions but would like to know these before i sell the civic and move over to the dub scene.
thanks steve.

[Dandan]

Welcome!

I'll do my best and try to answer your questions:

1. Ofc VWs are reliable! They are made in germany! 

2. Like many others here have said, you'll have to try both. DSG is an outstanding piece of work (don't know why Im driving a manual  )

3. With the k04 (e.g. edition 30) I think all you need is a remap (stage 1) and you'd be around the 280 bhp (correct me if Im wrong) with the standard k03 GTI getting there you'd need stage 2+ remap wich requires a new intake, 3" catpipe, fuel pump, cooler?... so yeah that would cost you a little more.

4. IMO 60k is nothing if the car is well looked after.

5. Prepare to never go back to your civic! 

-Dan

[Moschops]

Hi and Welcome...

^^^^^What he said..

[CAPTAIN BRITAIN]

Hi,
I love the Civic but standard one's only i love the shape, i was once considering an 2.2i Diesel,   

[Mandy]

Welcome Steve! 

So what's your reason for changing over from your civic??

I'm sure you'll love the gti if you get one. 

[Janner_Sy]

as said above,

if you buy a normal GTI(K03 TFSI engine) with 197Hp/207Ibft,

you would require to a performance downpipe, performance intake, performance intercooler, uprated fuel pump and a good stage 2+ remap to make yourself reach 280Hp/330Ibft.  to hit 300Hp you would require water methanol injection or nitrous really, or a go on superchips dyno for some free horsepower   the above would cost around £2000.  but searching second hand you can massively reduce thatoutlay.

if you were to buy a golf GTI ED30, leon cupra or S3,  a remap alone (£500) will see you at 280-300Hp.  add an exhaust, intake and stage 2 remap and you'll hit 330Hp, add a fuel pump and you'll be pushing upto 360Hp/360Ibft  for the same price as the std GTI.

in short,

£2000 of mods on a k03 TFSI will gain you an additional 70-80Hp and 100-130ibft.
£2000 of mods on a k04 TFSI will gain you an additional 100-130Hpand 100-130ibft.

the k04 engine is pretty much untouchable for tuning poential in this price range.  even the focus RS when fully tuned with identical mods wil struggle to keep up with a k04 VAG, and thats considering it started at 300Hp as well

[typersteve]

thanks for the help. reason i wanna sell the civic is just really cos im bored of it and fancy a change, dont get me wrong its got all the right mods, is very fast, does a 12.8 1/4 mile at santa pod and does really well on track. just really like the mk5 golf and the dub scene. mite not be able to push to a edition 30, so id just get the normal one, but with dsg. 
i really fancy a grey one with dsg, leather, lower it alittle and a nice set of bbs splits. and of course some good engine mod to get around the 300 mark.
Im going nurberg again next may so really wanna get one before then.

thanks steve

[Janner_Sy]

there is the option of a putting the turbo from a K04 TFSI onto the k03 engine.  thhis will give you upto 330hp.  quite a few guys have done it, and gone from 270-280 at k03 stage 2+ all the way upto 320Hp+. 

others have dropped ed30 engines into their GTIs.  the whole engine can be picked up for about £1500 if your lucky, and it would pretty much be a straight swap bar a little play with he ECU

[JPC]

Welcomes!

[Greeners]

Welcome chap! 

Any pics of the Civic?

I'd say the Golf will not be as reliable as the Civic and they are far from faultless. Build quality and residuals however will be far better! 

[stealthwolf]

Hi and welcome!

DSG v manual - take each version of the GTI for a test drive to get a feel for it.

Mods - depends on how much money you spend on it. As above, ED30 won't need as much to hit 300bhp but then commands a higher price in the first place.