Bought this back in May/June from another forum member. I originally had my heart set on an edition30 GTI, but at the time they were holding too strong money for me having only just finished uni, but I was too fed up wafting about in a diesel passat.
The main thing that sold this car for me was the service history and the fact the common issues had been addressed. I'd looked at a right few before this car and they all either hadn't the common faults (eg cam follower) looked near or had generally been poorly/not maintained. Also nice knowing the last few owners were RMS men.
Standard spec:
DSG
Parking sensors
Heated Leather
Auto everything (lights, wipers, dimming rear mirror)
Dual zone climate control
In terms of mods, the car was completely standard other than having Revo Stage 1 on the engine and gearbox, which was handy as it was something I'd planned to do anyway. The VW Karthoum wheels were also a bit of a marmite feature. Some days I liked the look of them, others I thought they were wick. Eventually bit the bullet and changed them for a set of genuine 18" monzas.
A pet hate of mine is rusty / untidy hubs, so took some time and cleaned/treated all the arches, brakes, hubs etc. Have new heatshields waiting to be fitted also. A crap picture showing this:
Otherwise since buying I've done the below. Nothing major, just trying to keep on top of things.
- Private reg transferred on
- Serviced with all genuine parts
- New wipers
- Osram night breakers dipped beam, yellow mains
- New center caps
- Replaced a few dodgy bits of trim
- Polish wax etc etc
Buffed headlights
New set of GTI mats
Also with winter approaching, I bought a set of hankook winter tyres (currently fitted) along with a set of michelin pilot sport 3s for when the weather improves.
A friend was selling a set of FK Highsport coilovers that I knew had had an easy life, so snapped them up and fitted them at the weekend along with genuine topmounts for good measure while I was there.
Car's driving stupidly well at this height with no rubbing or any of that crap. The Highsport's give as good a ride on coilovers as I've ever had.
As far as plans for the future are concerned, chances are it won't be anything too stupid as I'm saving to start building a house in the new year, but I'm sure there will be more along the way. Would like to go stage 2+ and upgrade to R32/S3 brakes if funds allow.
To anyone who might be considering a MK5 GTI, they make for fantastic all round cars. Fast, practical, good looking, and still capable of 40+mpg comfortably. I haven't really been too fussed or urgent about modifying this car, purely because of how nice to drive / live with it is as standard, albeit with the Revo software. Also DSG is a real treat. Can be a bit clunky when cold, but otherwise its a brilliant gearbox. Genuinely my favourite car I've ever owned by a massive margin.
In terms of negatives, the only issues I've found so far have been a cracked weld on the cat's heatshield which gave a strange rattle at certain RPM's and a brake light switch needing replaced. Otherwise, the car's been faultless.
Cheers for reading.
Ian
