I will tell you this. The first have of my building was suspension. I did sways and coils and walk etc, getting it to a point I wanted for turn feel. I was stock tune for the longest time because for me, I wanted to feel the car progress in the lateral motion before going fast. My end goal has always been about 400hp or less because of motor building so I never wanted a very powerful fwd car. The lsd is definitely top 5 mods I did to this car. For me, this thing was the perfect blend of snow car, dd, nice interior, with ok twisty ability. It is just this year really that I have cared about fast per say with the k04 swap. 300hp in this car feels great. I think if they sold a non awd golf r from the factory, it may be popular actually. At the end of the day, this car is a perfect fit for me. Not to say I'll never end up in a rwd monster. But I dated this car and slowly fell for it. My wife jokes its my other wife lol. Yeah that mod total is definitely like 12k+ which is alot. But I'm still sub 50k total for this car so I'm pleased in that regard. The gti for me is a good well rounded balance of style, performance, and comfort.
I should mention it was the first car I've owned from the beginning.
Thinking about other cars is natural. I know I do it every day. So I ask you, if money isn't an option, what do you want out of your car? DD, sleeper power, reasonable looks. Then only once you got that you can decide to switch or not.
Now considering money, nothing like a paid off car man.
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Thank You very much for your time in responding, and again apologies if anyone feels I :threadjacked:. I just dont know what to do with my car actually. This GTI though I have had it for almost 5 yrs is the only FWD platform I have had since 2002. So I am used to AWD and a very reliable 4G63 Engine. I never intended on modding the GTI to be honest. I went through a divorce and lost my shorts, and my Evo to pay legal fee's. So I have always been bitter about having to sell my old car. I stepped into the GTI because after my divorce my credit was shot. My folks were kind enough to co sign for me since I had to sell my old car to cover legal fee's, BK fee's due to the divorce it was a bloody nightmare. My parents told me though they didn't want me to get another Evo, STI or anything of the like. My Mom was always afraid I would kill myself in the car, and that was a condition of them co signing for me. I really had to swallow my pride because at that time I was in my late 30's. I needed the help though. Only 3 cars came to mind at the time: WRX, Focus ST and the GTI. After test driving them all the GTI got the nod. My Mom was totally against it saying how horribly reliable German cars were and that I made a mistake. I didn't think so, and to be honest I knew NOTHING about the TSI or the GTI. I just knew the legacy of the GTI and figured it would not have such legacy if it was a crap car. I never modded the car through the years, I was tempted, but I kept having the water pump issues, and just little stupid stuff. I thought to myself crap if this car is having petty issues now stock, how is it going to hold up modded? So I shy'd away from the mods. I also learned allot about mods from over 10 yrs experience modding Evo's. Plus over 10 yrs of modding cars prior to that of what works and what doesn't.
I also realized how anal VW is about modded cars. Maybe not VW as a whole, but the dealerships, well here in SoCal. ANY MODS AT ALL they would red flag your car. So with all the petty issues, I said to myself, better wait till its either paid off, or the warranty is over. VS. What I was used to with Mitsubishi, I had the Mitsubishi Reps drive my Evo around tracks because they liked how my car performed. I mean I would go to Big Willow or Streets with the Evo Club and they would give us Brake pads, tires, all kinds of stuff. So going from that to....VW was a HUGE change.
To make a long story longer, here I am now. My car is paid off, it has 47k miles on it. I have taken very good care of the car and its COMPLETELY stock even down to the paper air filter. Only "Mods" I have done are OEM VW LED Tails, OEM VW Front lip spoiler, some VAGCOM mods since I have VAGCOM and the cable, so I did the switch for the LED's in the rear, Did the Emergency Braking Strobe Light Feature, and the Auto Down for the windows with the Remote control. I have done some data logs too for fun. I have changed the oil every 5k miles with Castrol 0w40 and have used VW OEM parts for anything it needed. At around 30K I changed the Fuel Filter myself, and at 37k had the Dealer do the DSG service.
So now I look at this car. In my head I know living in such a warm climate being in the SoCal low desert that if I up boost in anyway I will need an I/C. Even at stock levels power drops pretty badly in the summer in the 120+ heat. I thought about WMI for a while, but I would need a new intake manifold and not sure what maps out there would be available for that type of mod. I know if I go Stage II I would need a downpipe, but not sure if I should just skip stage I and go straight to II or try I then go II. I am looking at things from a cost perspective too. Don't want to waste money. Brakes would need to be upgraded since they tend to fade even in canyon driving around where I live, and though Coil Overs would help tremendously in the handling dept, I cant afford to lower this car at all. It scrapes around town already with our crappy roads, so I wouldn't want more issues there. I was looking into Bilstien Coil Overs with Nuespeed Sways. Again, not sure.
Then the Wavetrac LSD. Runs $1400 plus install, and the closest place that would be able to install that is about 400 miles from my house. Authorized Installer anyway. Tuning wise I was looking at Unitronic because I like how I can download and install myself from home.
Or, I could just sell the car and get something else. :23:
So I am not sure if I want to hope the car holds up modded and put money in for repairs, or get something turn key and not mod it till its paid off. This car being paid for is a HUGE plus, but not if stuff breaks. I am not sure why but my confidence just isn't in this car. Maybe its all the water pumps I have had replaced, and looking at the plastic I/C, Plastic I/C plumbing, Plastic intake manifold, and thinking, how in the heck is that stuff going to hold boost?
So I come here and read threads like yours to get hope and to think doing mods with the GTI can work out and it will be ok.
Anyway I have blabbed enough, sorry folks. Just picking your brains...
Jeff