GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk3 => Topic started by: starsky on 24 August 2004, 13:31
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Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know i have bought a mk3 gti 8v, p reg in black, 3 dr. Always wanted one but heard all the bad things about them so i stuck with my mk2 gti until now.
I love it, i dont know what all the fuss is about, yes its grown up and its not as rapid as the mk2 but it holds the road beautifully. I travel from Sheffield to Manchester everyday and its a great car to drive, good performance, looks fantastic, very comfy, handles well in fact its mint. i get loads of respect from other drivers and the chicks love it.
its box standard and i want to keep it that way but the modifying bug is starting to itch. hope i dont start modding it.
let me know what you think of the mk3 gti
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I like them! I'm on my second.
You must be prepared to take some stick for having an 8v, but don't take any of it to heart, they are good cars.
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Yea ya should have got a valver! 16 of em that is. ;)
But Black is cool. ;)
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yeah mk3 8v's rock! upgraded to mine last march, as i had had 3 mk1's and 2 mk2's pervious, and wanted something a little more sophisticated. Bought mine from a posh family who had her from new, with every option on the list ticked! which was a bonus ;) it's real nice having that cream leather from standard too :D
didn't wanna mod mine, as it already had a vr6 spec interior, but i'm afraid since i've had it a few necessery mod's have crept in, such as the mandatory drop of 60mm (h&r cup kit) and a set of anniversary rims (keeping standard VW rims i guess, so perhaps not such a mod ;)) i'd really like to finish off by going colour coded bumpers (vr6 style) and getting rid of the arch spats in favour for a set of painted vr6 side trim too... but i'll see how i feel early next year :)
heres a current pic anyways:
(http://www.8ballracing.co.uk/images/cp_02/lores/IMG_biglog.jpg)
cheers
gosumo!
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that is a sweet ride. If i mod all i want to do is anniversary rims, dropped 60mm and get some anniversary leather interior, yeah i know like gold dust, but i shall keep looking for some.
I got mine from a posh family too, that is a great thing about the mk3. You can always find an unabused one. i picked mine up for under 3 grand and he serviced it me, put new tyres on and 12 month MOT. That was a private sale!!! Well he was minted.
Cheers
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Induction, exhaust and remap... it'll blow you away!
Sono - are those 16" wheels? What profile rubber? Looks sweet!
Mine are 17's but thinking about going to 16's 'cos the ride quaility is pretty harsh and I'm about to go for Koni/Eibach shocks and springs with a 25mm drop, so abou tto get rougher.... in a cabriolet that much jarring is NOT nice...
If you get the colour coded trim, let me know - keen to get the same on mine!
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he said those wheels are the anniv ones.. so they will be 16"
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If you drop your car think about speed bumps etc, i have loads of probs with my 16v and speed bumps and mine is only dropped 40mm.
Other than that the drop makes the car handle a lot better
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Only going 25mm.... seen VR6's (VR6) dropped 25mm and that looks fine... subtle, but good...
Thanks... I assume 16" with 45 profile tyres (since mine are 17/40 and normal is 15/50).
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The rims are 16" with 205/45/16 Proxes, but are coming off soon as I don't want salt turning them scabby, and landing me with a huge refurb bill.
As for a 25mm drop... hmmm, is it really worth it? I look at mine and think it just about sits at the height the standard GTi should have been... so should I go lower ;D
Think about modern cars, the new spangley BMW's sit really low straight from factory. Most of the (especialy german) sporty family cars are getting lower and lower every year and have some pretty impressive rims as standard.
I am going to have to take the VR6 chin spoiler off soon, as it's getting knocked pretty badly out of shape, and it's only been on the car 3 months ::)
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Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know i have bought a mk3 gti 8v, p reg in black, 3 dr. Always wanted one but heard all the bad things about them so i stuck with my mk2 gti until now.
I love it, i dont know what all the fuss is about, yes its grown up and its not as rapid as the mk2 but it holds the road beautifully. I travel from Sheffield to Manchester everyday and its a great car to drive, good performance, looks fantastic, very comfy, handles well in fact its mint. i get loads of respect from other drivers and the chicks love it.
its box standard and i want to keep it that way but the modifying bug is starting to itch. hope i dont start modding it.
let me know what you think of the mk3 gti
I love my mk3 8v though the mod bug is starting to creep in decided to leave the drop and new alloys till april 05 and just play around with her for a while sticking bits here and there when the dough becomes available might do the lights next seems least expensive thing to do for the moment and the best way to alter the apperance want a pair of black mk4 headlight conversions and crystal rear lights+fogs.Only gonna drop it 40mm next year as seems to me to be the best balance without having too rough a ride might put 16's on as well depends if i'm bankrupt by then or not. ;D
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Sono - you SURE yours is a 40mm drop?
VR6's looked like it was about the same height as yours, if not slightly lower, and his was only suposed to be 25mm...
Yes, I'll agree lots of German family cars have pretty low profile tyres, big alloys, low, stiff suspension, etc, etc..... but then German roads don't look like they'd be more suited to some destitute African state.... they actually invest in their infrastructure! Which means they don't have massive pot-holes everywhere and spend most of their time looking out for the dips and bumps on their motorways to avoid taking off.
Most decent car dealerships will STRONGLY advise against any sort of "sports handling" option on any of the new Mercs, BMWs or most German performance cars - these packs are designed for prolonged driving at speed on smooth roads.... not for the odd 100+mph blip before you get to the back of the next queue.
Also, I doubt Germans normally have to park "one wheel up " on the pavement outside their houses or crawl over a dozen STEEP speed bumps before they can find a road to do >40mph on... a friend has a Ferrari 355GTS which has pretty low suspension - he can't get within 400yds of my house without scraping his car... SatNav is useless on his car - he has to drive specific routes around London where he avoids the steeper bumps.
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Mine is droped 60mm on an H&R cup kit, but I know what you mean about it not looking that low. When we were at the last CP meet there was a young lad with a newly acquired Mk3 GTi like mine, and he couldn't belive that it had had been droped 60mm. Untill we stood back and looked at both cars together. Then all of a sudden his car looked like it was on a stepladder.
I think the VR6 is a little lower than the 16v, and that is a smidge lower than the 8v, so a 25-30mm drop on a VR6 would probably be the same as 60mm on an 8v. It was something vaguely like that on the Mk2 GTi's from what I remember.
Luckily my area is speed bump free, but if you live in a part of the country with shocking roads, then comfort and vehicle preservation are more important than looks. Thats why I'm taking the VR6 chin spoiler off and putting a CL one back on, because I'v lost the ability to use mulit story car parks without scraping my way all the way down the ramps :(
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I live in a high speed bump area, have to go over about 20 to get to me mums and can't go to her local chippy in my car as the bumps near that are like the alps, as a result my nice stainless magnex is bashed to hell, and i quite regulary have to get my mate to re fit it at his garage
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Think my Cabriolet had VR6 suspension to start with (something to do with the extra weight perhaps), so maybe 25mm will be enough.
I've been wanting to replace some of the suspension for a while (front left is slightly "funny") and I'm tired of it wallowing when it comes out of roundabouts at any speed, so it seemed like a good excuse to get decent sportier suspension and drop it a few mm.
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I've had 3 and I'm looking for my fourth. Worst thing I did was lower the first one. Try it with Boge Turbogas, they are just uprated enough for everyday use. My way of looking at is, VW R&D dept spent many man hours and millions of Deutchmarks on testing this thing. What makes you think that some fella in your local car parts place knows more than they do about the handling on the Golf??
Secondly, its his job to sell the stuff in the first place. Afterall, if it needed 'em, VW would of fitted 'em...
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Sounds good! I think the difference (in performance) of a 16V and 8V is very minimal. Having driven both, personally the 8v feels more nippy, with the 16v you need to get the revs up to about 4000 before you get some decent pull.
I've had no major problems with mine, at the moment, one of the gearbox oil seals leaks a bit and tends to waft the smell into the car when hot and at standstill and also the axel beam bushes need doing, it thuds loudly over even small bumps on one side, had the shocks replaced - Come to think of it, does anyone know whether this is an MOT failure?!
But otherwise all round a good car, fsh (most at VW) with just nearly 72k, paid ?3500 october last year with 55k.
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lol @ minimal.. i believed all that hype till i saw a confused guy in my mirror getting smaller and smaller...
yeah u have to get the revs up.. but you dont have to around town...
and on the open road you have to learn where to drop down to in order to access it on demand..
for example... the most common one i use.. is when doing say 60 ish in 4th or 5th.. you can drop to 3rd to get the power when you need it..? iirc 3rd is good for 90 odd..
i'm also happy with the handling. i wouldnt want the ride to be any harsher at speed.. at low speed it does feel a bit spongy.. i think thats where the critcisms come from.
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I personally drive up to a max of about 3500 rpm in normal everyday driving (95% of the time) so I wouldn't get the benefit from the 16v. BUT, I have had to rev my 8v in the past and it was dissapointing above about 4500, it really lacked power. Thats where the 16v would come into effect.
I think the 16 is slightly lower than the 8v so the handling would be better but therefore slightly more harsh.
Another 2 groups on the insurance is a downer, but with some shopping around this could probably be reduced a bit.
BUT, I still liked the way my 8v pulled most of the time, it had the power where you needed it, at the bottom end.
Who wants a V5 Sreat Toledo? I really need to flog it so I can get back in a GTi...
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The power band of an 8v is great 2000-4000 it feels very swift. I went to work this morning a 7.00 and it was a bit cold but the gti loved it! I was hopping round lorrys no problem on the woodhead, great fun.
I agree with the suspension comments, spongy at low speeds but i think it feels just right in every other department! Gti's rule.
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yeah the 8v isnt slow.. its just slower than all the other stuff.. (that being every other gti ;))
and you may well benefit from a 16v because they're more fuel efficient.
.. while we're on the subject the 16v revs higher too.. up to 7000.. the 8v revs up to 6000... faster in each gear, and you stay in gear longer..
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Thats what I was thinking from the post above as the 16v was pulling away at 50ish, that would be about the point the 8v is going into 3rd.
Still like the 8v for everyday use though. Other half has got the same 8v engine in her Ibiza GTi, its well fast. The weight is 1005 Kg instead of 1100 ish for the 8v golf.
There is an interesting post on the Mk2 section above where an 8v and 16v had a race. Havn't watched it but it sounds like it was pretty close.
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modded 8v vs stock 16v ;)
try a 16v.. you'll love it! :D
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Ok, Ok, I promise to try a 16v Golf.? The main reason not to is I am seriously thinking about getting edumicated at uni next year so I was worrying about running costs, simple as that.
I have seen a gorgeous looking 5dr (2 kids) 16v in blue locally for just over ?3000 at a dealer, full history the works.? I am seriously tempeted.
Overseer, we are both at work and bored to death aren't we????
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Ya dont say a year or mileage but if its a Mystic Blue one like mine then ya cant go wrong! ;D
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Yes, its mystic blue, 98 R reg with 86K on it. The miles are a bit higher than I would of liked but it looks OK.
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sounds like an ok deal that one.. you can prob knock em down a bit too..
go go go .. lol :)
nah not bored.. got lots to do.. just bone idle ?:D
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If its got air-con then u are looking at a bargain.
Mines a 97 P paid ?2900 for it 18months ago now and it had 98k on the clock. (109k now)
Give it a good check over and as long a test drive as poss. Then haggle.
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Its the middle one of the three:
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW/cars_search.asp?modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&make=VOLKSWAGEN&model=GOLF&variant=16v&keywords=&min_pr=3000&max_pr=4000&mileage=&agerange=&postcode=fy6+7lf&miles=60&max_records=50&source=0&sort=3&ukcarsearch_full=SEARCH
BTW, ditto the bone idle bit ;D