Hi
Just signed up to the forum as it seems after lots of lurking you lot know your stuff regarding the mk5 GTI - which is what I'm currently in the market for.
I've always been into VW/Audis, and owned a few: '89 Audi Coupe 2.2, '96 A4 1.8T Sport, 2001 mk4 GTTI, '93 Audi Coupe 16v, etc. I've been active on a few forums over the years too, mainly over on ukmkivs, as I kept the Golf for 6 years!
I've decided that I unfortunately need to move on from my current car, the '93 16v Coupe, as I just don't have the time and space any more to be knee deep in modification work - the plan was to tidy it up (even though it's already very tidy), drop on on KW coils and some deep dish rims, ABF inlet cam, headwork etc, and keep it clean and fresh, but.... after having a ride in a mk5 GTI recently it's safe to say I'm hooked on the idea of a change. As such, the Audi will soon be up for sale (I'm not advertising by the way admin!).
I really don't want to modify the next car as much as I have my past ones, as I don't think the mk5 GTI needs much improving, so I've joined here more to gain an overall idea of what I'm dealing with to ensure I get the best out of mk5 ownership. Also I want to be buying from a dealer so I have some degree of warranty and fallback if things go wrong, and my (surprisingly reasonable) insurance quote was based on a standard car. That said, once I'm out of any warranty period and due an insurance renewal I might just be looking at a few subtle improvements (H&R 35mm, BBS VZ etc). But that's all a long way down the road.
So, I'm updating my Autotrader account constantly, and glued to the web trying to find the perfect car, or as close to it as possible. The boxes I want ticking are: 3dr, leather, manual, any colour except blue or white, and standard. 18s would be great, but I wouldn't turn down the right car with 17s. I don't really want to be looking at older cars; 06/56 on would be better, and also big mileages are a no-no. Anything under 80ish should be fine. I've read something about the BWA being the better engine than the early AXX, but I've also read as much that there's no major advantage or disadvantage to either. I assume the talk of the BWA having more power is a bit of a myth?
So hopefully soon I'll be posting again with some pictures of a nice clean GTI!
In the meantime, here are some pics of some of my old rides:
Cheers