MK5 GTI on the Cheap

[avenali312]

You need fuel.

 

[doc280]

You need fuel.

Haa...took the picture while I was at the gas station......put the Tiger in my tank.

 

[vwengineer]

View attachment 97748

Ahah congratulations! I am just 6000 miles behind :wink:

 

[doc280]

Ahah congratulations! I am just 6000 miles behind :wink:

Thanks

 

[doc280]

Cam Follower 10,000 Mile Follow-Up.

The cam follower was replaced just prior to me purchasing my GTI. I had purchased a cam follower, which I did not use, and have already added to the Cost / Maintenance of the vehicle. I installed this new cam follower during this follow-up.

Well with 10,000 miles the cam follower showed only slight wear to the center area. Though the black coating was worn in the center of the cam follower, the surface was still smooth and I could not feel any pitting or roughness. So I am feeling very confident in changing my maintenance schedule of the cam follower from 10,000 miles to 20,000 miles.

 

[doc280]

Four Reasons I Know Volkswagen Got The 18 Inch Tyre Size Wrong.

Since purchasing my GTI I have always thought the wheel gap was a little much. Lowering the car is not a option for me, first because I need the ground clearance the stock height provides and second I do not much care for the lowered look, lowering closes the gap on top, but not the sides. Otherwise lowering does not keep the wheel and tire symmetrical within the wheel well and to me, just looks off.

So the other option is to go bigger. So since it was time to replace my tyres I chose to forgo the the factory recommended tyre size of 225/40/18 to one series taller, 225/45/18. Overall diameter, with the larger series, increases by an inch, filling the wheel gap symmetrically by a half an inch and does raise the car a half an inch. The filling of the wheel gap, I think looks great and someone not familiar with the MK5 GTI I doubt would ever notice the increase in height. Overall the GTI looks beefier and would look great with a set of OEM mud flaps, so I am on the lookout for a set, damn pricey things though.

Now The Four Reasons I Know Volkswagen Got The 18 Inch Tyre Size Wrong:

1) Fills in the the wheel gap.
2) Comfort, more cushion between the car and the road.
3) 1/2 inch more of side wall provides more insurance from damaging a wheel.
4) Speedometer is only one mile per hour off verses the four mile per hour it was before, at 75mph.

Now here are a few positive side effects which have occur but I am unsure if they have come from the different tyre size or just the new tires or a combination of both:

1) Better grip in the turns.
2) A reduction in understeer.
3) Much easier to launch, without wheel spin.

Now, one would think, the car would feel less connected with the road and maybe a little slower, but this is not the case.

I am very happy.

 

[Nd272]

Don’t do what I did anyway, bought a 2008 mkv gti for €8.5k and have already put near 3 grand into it, absolute shit heap of a yoke


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[3carmonte]

Low mileage MKV's are getting harder to find

QUOTE=Nd272: "Don’t do what I did anyway, bought a 2008 mkv gti for €8.5k and have already put near 3 grand into it, absolute shit heap of a yoke"

I don't need this car but if I had an extra 7K to blow...
2008 VW GTI. 2.0 Turbo. 6 speed manual. Two owner car in excellent condition. 62,000 miles. $6900.00 OBO
https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/d/2008-vw-gti/6500863738.html

 

[ZiRiS]

QUOTE=Nd272: "Don’t do what I did anyway, bought a 2008 mkv gti for €8.5k and have already put near 3 grand into it, absolute shit heap of a yoke"

I don't need this car but if I had an extra 7K to blow...
2008 VW GTI. 2.0 Turbo. 6 speed manual. Two owner car in excellent condition. 62,000 miles. $6900.00 OBO
https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/d/2008-vw-gti/6500863738.html

You should make your own post 8n the appropriate area for car sales. Jacking someone else's thread for it is a bit rude.

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[3carmonte]

You should make your own post 8n the appropriate area for car sales. Jacking someone else's thread for it is a bit rude.

Excuse me "ZiRiS" but the title of this thread is "MKV GTI on the Cheap" where the discussion is about how much the car is costing them to own. The car I posted as an example is not my car and I am not selling it. It is an example of a GTI that would be cheap (relatively) to own. Low mileage cars in very good condition at a reasonable price are usually far less headache than these 200K mile, amature modified basket cases. JMHO.

 

[ZiRiS]

You should make your own post 8n the appropriate area for car sales. Jacking someone else's thread for it is a bit rude.

Excuse me "ZiRiS" but the title of this thread is "MKV GTI on the Cheap" where the discussion is about how much the car is costing them to own. The car I posted as an example is not my car and I am not selling it. It is an example of a GTI that would be cheap (relatively) to own. Low mileage cars in very good condition at a reasonable price are usually far less headache than these 200K mile, amature modified basket cases. JMHO.

My mistake. I apologize for the confusion.

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[3carmonte]

We're good.

 

[doc280]

Excuse me "ZiRiS" but the title of this thread is "MKV GTI on the Cheap" where the discussion is about how much the car is costing them to own. The car I posted as an example is not my car and I am not selling it. It is an example of a GTI that would be cheap (relatively) to own. Low mileage cars in very good condition at a reasonable price are usually far less headache than these 200K mile, amature modified basket cases. JMHO.

You maybe very much correct in your opinion that this 62,000 mile 2008 white GTI is a better bet in coming out to be the cheapest ride. But without a history of the car there are a few things to consider.

First these cars are are past or soon to pass the 10 year mark and the mileage is never going to provide the full story of a car.

Since we are at the ten year mark I would say most, if not all, the maintenance I have performed to my GTI, would need to be performed to this one.

The options which I added to my GTI, such as auto headlights, navigation, garage door button and etc, would cost the same, so add them to the purchase price.

If you look at the armrest of the white GTI the material is letting go and I would bet the headliner is not far behind or has already let go (no pictures). So even though low mileage, not getting away from this one either. Crap material, but this may make us feel a little better, Porsches of the same time period used the same crap material and their headliners fall to.

And we can not forget the price of the white GTI is $3200 more than I paid for mine.

So since we don't know the history of the white GTI and knowing the history of the car may save some bucks, let's just go without it. Going without it lets say we do the same maintenance and add the same options, we add $2150.95 to the purchase price and we have $9050.95.

Without adding anything to the cost, we would have to drive the white GTI 90,509.5 miles and my GTI 58509.5 miles, to get them to 10 cent per mile.

So if it makes it over 200,000 mile mark, as mine has done (and there is no reason it should not), the white GTI may very well be the better and the cheaper GTI.

But since I have less money invested and if things were to go all wrong, I have less at risk and this is something.

So am feeling good, my amateurish modified ( I would call it "amateurish maintained" ) basket case has not gave up the fight and I have a 10,000 mile head start.

 

[avenali312]

Agree with the above. My 2006 had most of its problems in the first 50k miles (new long block and dual-mass flywheel being the big ones). After that it was pretty solid overall to 143k. So, just mileage doesn't tell all.

 

[vwengineer]

I would actually say it's quite the opposite. A 200k miles car which is 10 years old has done 20k per year on average, implies probably mostly highway driving. It means probably much less gear changes (per mile), less suspension stress, engine almost always at running temperature and probably well serviced. While your 10 years 62k miles might have been driving exclusively in the city on short trips (it did on average 17 miles/day, so that would be 8.5 each way), thus rarely at ideal temperature, with lots of stress on the engine and suspension due to the frequent stop/start. In my opinion you don't really get any insurance of having less problems by paying a 4000$ premium.