Hello everyone!
This will be my first post on the forum (after scanning through it for quite a bit however) so I thought I'd introduce my 2007 GTI I got last summer. :)
I previously owned two mk1 Seat Leons, a 2001 20VT and 2004 20VT Top Sport. I have a pic of the latter one parked next to another fast and beautiful VAG product.
After the Seats I slipped into a BMW and drove an E91 320d for two years. I've always loved BMW's and will most likely get one some day if I can afford a proper one (that'll be a petrol 6-cylinder one with 2 doors). E91 320d was a great car but just a little too boring for my taste and as currently I only drive about 10k miles a year I thought I'd trade it for a car I always dreamt of: the mk5 GTI.
I started searching for the GTI a year ago. I wanted a tidy example with a manual box that had been serviced every 10k miles, instead of the long-life programme, as I wouldn't want to give up my mint E91 for a worn out VW. Thing is, here in Finland, we don't have too many second hand GTI's to pick from (population is a little over 5 million and cars are 20-30% more expensive than in the UK because of a ridiculous extra tax, on top of 25% VAT, they slam on new cars...). At first I was forced to look up cars from Germany but there I had the opposite problem as there were too many nice ones too choose from, lol.
Luckily after a couple of months of searching a 2007 Tornado Red 2-door manual with 50k miles came on sale in my home country. And on the Finnish scale it was a bargain too: 18k euros (I believe it's about 15k in your money) for a mint example with xenons and 2 sets of 18" alloys with quality tires. On top of all the seller was a certified VW dealer which means I got a 6 months warranty for unexpected problems or breakdowns. The warranty came in handy as just a few weeks after I bought the car the weather turned really hot and I noticed the AC wasn't working. I took the car back to the dealer and it appeared that the aircon compressor was shot: an issue that would cost 2000 euros to sort. In the end I got myself a new aircon without paying a dime.
Enough talk, here's a couple of shots of the car in its current shape. As you can see the other set of wheels that came with the car were 18" OZ Ultraleggeras in race silver. ;) This detail really closed the deal for me as I've always loved these rims.
I'm not huge on modding, but I do not find a GTI with stock suspension aesthetically pleasing so finally after the winter I am getting these fitted next week along with some new front control arm bushings. :)
They are Eibach Sportlines and Bilstein B8 Sprint shocks which I believe are very popular on this forum as well. I am also getting some new Good Year F1 Asymmetric 2 rubber fitted on the Ultraleggeras soon.
Instead of modding I do love detailing my cars and I did a quick 1-step polish with the DAS-6 pro and some Menzerna to my GTI as well. It wasn't in a horrid shape to begin with, but the red always looks that much nicer when machine polished. I'm planning to try out the Scholl polishes with a rotary soon and I will make sure to post you some results too.
I don't actually have any great shots before/after the polishing but in the latter one you can see the just polished red paint come alive as the sun hits it. It's like it's glowing from inside.
Anyways, nice to meet you all and please give me your thoughts and suggestions about the car! :)
Best regards,
Lauri from Finland
edit: Apparently the picture links from Dropbox aren't working properly. I'll try and fix this.
edit2: Switched the links to Photobucket.
