GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk2 => Topic started by: Squiggles on 28 August 2008, 14:41
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OK, here's the thing, I'm learning to drive and thus am new to the world of motoring, so I am very much a pawn resting in your capable hands... For my first car I've been looking out for a Golf Driver 1.6 Mk2 and to convert it into a GTI lookalike. Near me is a 1.6 Golf Ryder J-reg, 103,000 miles, with 12 months MOT going for £500 - will this be any good? Or should I hold fire and wait for a good Driver? Is there really that much difference? What's in it's favour is; it's local (i live miles from any cities), the long MOT which my parents want, ditto cheap insurance; the relatively low millage (I think), and it's also in red which I wanted. But if it's going to be too difficult or to expensive to make it look cool then I'll wait for another one to come along.
Now the aim is to tastefully convert it without spending a colossal sum of money; £250-£350, something like that. Apologies if it's been asked before, and I'm sure it has, but what would your priorities to do first? I'll need to allocate my funds wisely so I'll take everything you say on-board.
Many thanks
Your humble,'Gti wannabe' servant.
Charlie
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Sounds good fella, check out the buyers guide by having a search as all MKIIs apretty much the same. That way you'll know what you're looking at.
ANything you fit to this styling wise will fit on a GTI if you upgrade in the future so that's good too! A ryder isn't a bad motor and to make it look like a GTI won't set you back too much, the alloys being the most expensive bit.
Nick
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how do - 12 months ticket is the biggy mate -and as a first car i wouldnt " MOD " it too much as your insurance is going to be a killer anyway :wink:
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and stolen from another thread but VERY wise words indeed
1) If you haven't found it already, this was the most useful guide for me: http://www.matey-matey.com/golf_buying_guide.shtml
2) You'll get loads of people saying they got their mint Mk2 with 500 miles on the clock for £0.67p, but in reality you'll prob pay over a £1000 for a good one. You can get lucky (especially on an 8v) and for that I would reccommend the classifieds of your local paper or Loot.
3) I had £2000 to spend, but in the end spent £1000 on a 16v that had a few surface rust blemishes. I have really liked doing it this way as it left £1000 in the bank for repairs if required and it allowed me to test if I liked the Mk2 in a low-risk way (I jumped ship from a Mk4 1.8T). Now that I have confirmed that I LOVE the Mk2, I can either sell my current one and buy a minter, or do up the one I own.
4) I test drove 11 Mk2's before I found the one. Don't get impatient as there WILL be something wrong with every one you test, so its just a matter of finding the one where the "something" thats wrong with it doesn't bother you. With my Mk2, the engine felt really strong, the owner had a genuine reason for sale, but the starter motor was knackered and there was the odd patch of rust. Overall it just "added up".
5) Absolutely insist that the engine is stone cold before you arrive. If you ask for this and it still isn't when you arrive, walk away. Loads of potential problems can only be diagnosed from cold, so this is a must.
:afro:
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the only difference between a driver and a ryder is the trim, and if you gti'ing it this will all be changed anyway.
i had a driver for my 1st car, and it did the job perfectly until i parked it on the passenger door.
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Sounds good fella, check out the buyers guide by having a search as all MKIIs apretty much the same. That way you'll know what you're looking at.
ANything you fit to this styling wise will fit on a GTI if you upgrade in the future so that's good too! A ryder isn't a bad motor and to make it look like a GTI won't set you back too much, the alloys being the most expensive bit.
Nick
Thanks. A guy on another forum was saying to hold fire until a good Driver comes along because they're easier to convert, he said the Ryder was a lot more difficult to make look good, and that it makes financial sense sense to get a because it's cheaper to convert a Driver into a GTI lookout then modifying a Ryder and paying the insurance 'extra's' - is there any weight in this?
To be honest I've been waiting around for a while and none seem to be appearing - at least not within 30/40+ miles from me - so I'm tempted just to get it. It can't be that hard to make it look awesome, surely, and the insurance is only £600 which is cheap for a first timer.
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Yeah, I'm not looking to go 'wild' on it.
Just get it lowered a bit, some nice lookin' alloys and a good polish - that'll do me.
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if i remember correctly the driver has arch trims and a different steering wheel to the ryder, thats about it.
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in that case mate- go away from the norm, make the ryder individual and yours :wink:
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Sounds like the Ryder fits the bill then mate. The dub scene is more about less is more at the moment so with a some nice rims and a drop it'll look spot on.
Nick
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Well it doesnt have to look like a gti to look the bollocks, sounds like a bargain to me and at that price you could probably do a hell of a lot more to it. I mean trim etc wont effect your insurance and you could use this motor untill you find the 'one' you want. Ben
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Oh and one more thing; obviously I'd like to get the price down a bit, but when I spoke to her on the phone she had the most f**kable voice I think I've ever heard. Think Nigella telling you how much she wants to give you head, yes that hot. I'm worried she'll seduce me into paying a grand for the thing. Any tips?
If she turns out to some 90 year old Grandma I'll admit it, promise :cool:
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Sounds good mate, its up to you but personally i wouldnt bother doing a GTI rep, just make your ryder look wicked, which with a mk2 is easy, and not worry about it not looking like a GTI
I'd rather have an ace look 1.6 ryder than a ryder dressed up to be a GTI
but its your choice mate, as for weather to buy it, go for it it sounds like it will fit the bill
also well worded post to start this thread
James
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Don't haggle too much otherwise you put peoples backs up, but don't pay over the odds either. I'm not one to talk though. I bought my Corrado last week and loved it so much I didn't even bother haggling and just gave the dude a deposit and went back 4 days later with the rest!
If it's tidy and well maintained then £500 is a good price so I'd go in at £425 and see how that goes.
Nick
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ryder wont have the pre-90 GTI arch trims on, these come std on the Drivers, and normally the driver will have a 4 lamp grille. Apart from that there arnt any real differences except seat patterns etc, but dont matter if you get a ryder or a driver the seats will be rubbish and the carpet will be grey :grin:
mechanically the 2 cars are identical, except if you get a 1.8 Driver apart from the engine difference it'll have a bigger brake servo and a front anti roll bar, and I think possibly a rear brake bias valve but dont quote me on that :)
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Sounds good mate, its up to you but personally i wouldnt bother doing a GTI rep, just make your ryder look wicked, which with a mk2 is easy, and not worry about it not looking like a GTI
I'd rather have an ace look 1.6 ryder than a ryder dressed up to be a GTI
but its your choice mate, as for weather to buy it, go for it it sounds like it will fit the bill
also well worded post to start this thread
James
Yeah, I'm with you don't worry. I haven't been clear enough; I'm not gonna cover it in GTI stickers or anything tacky like that. Just make it as cool as possible.
Thanks for all the advice, btw. It's appreciated.
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Also, if you have Big Plans try to get a MK2 made after 1990, with the hazard switch on top of the steering column. This makes future engine upgrades and general wiring work much easier down the line :)
Thats not to say ones made before this are not worth looking at, and you can still '90spec' an older car if the mood takes you!
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Don't haggle too much otherwise you put peoples backs up, but don't pay over the odds either. I'm not one to talk though. I bought my Corrado last week and loved it so much I didn't even bother haggling and just gave the dude a deposit and went back 4 days later with the rest!
If it's tidy and well maintained then £500 is a good price so I'd go in at £425 and see how that goes.
Nick
It looks in good nick, except for one big dent in the side panel, which I'm guessing will cost £40-£50 to put right. I think I'll just ask for that much off and see how it goes.
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also if you go with the right insurer cosmetic modifications wont effect your premiums, only power mods. I'm with HIC but I'm unsure if you have to be under a certain age? Admiral give good competative quotes though :)
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Some random company has given me a quote for £598 which is considerably less than all the others. So I'm going to bite their hands off.
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What I would do is buy the cheapest example you can find with a full MOT and a bit of tax. Keep it until the MOT runs out. Don't spend anything on it you don't have to. Any spare cash you have put in a big jar marked 'Real GTI Fund'. Scrap/sell shoddy car, take your years NCB and driving experience, and buy a real GTI.
I bought a crappy fiesta for £350 with full MOT, caned the crap out of it for a year and then sold it for £250. As I spent a grand total of £30 of upkeep on it, that worked out at about 1p per mile over the year I had it, result I think. I used the £250 I got back and what I'd saved up for stuffs for my golf :smiley:
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if you're that bent on getting it looking like a GTI, why not buy a cheap non-running GTI for bits? i had one for sale 3 weeks ago for £75 for the whole car! :grin:
that way you have all the arches, bumpers, trim etc
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Get the Ryder mate, but make sure you knock some money off for that dent repair :wink: ! I got my Driver 1.6 for £195 off ebay and only had to spend a little on it really (new brakes, wheel bearings and a full service it didn't need :grin: ).
As for making the Ryder look more like a GTI all you need is the black trims bits which you can pickup off ebay really cheap, or off other forum members in the classified section and even scrappies! Alloys will be the most expensive 'mod' but you can get the G60 steelies from VW for something like £23 each :wink:
Do it, you know it makes sense!
How old are you? I was 25 when I got my Driver (also being my first car) and my insurance was £795 or sommat.
PS: You could go wild and have the arch's cut back to look a little different :grin:
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Get the Ryder mate, but make sure you knock some money off for that dent repair :wink: ! I got my Driver 1.6 for £195 off ebay and only had to spend a little on it really (new brakes, wheel bearings and a full service it didn't need :grin: ).
As for making the Ryder look more like a GTI all you need is the black trims bits which you can pickup off ebay really cheap, or off other forum members in the classified section and even scrappies! Alloys will be the most expensive 'mod' but you can get the G60 steelies from VW for something like £23 each :wink:
Do it, you know it makes sense!
How old are you? I was 25 when I got my Driver (also being my first car) and my insurance was £795 or sommat.
PS: You could go wild and have the arch's cut back to look a little different :grin:
Thanks for your help everyone again, it's all good stuff
I'm 21 now... Do you know what inch alloys I should be looking at for the Ryder?
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Depends on your preference, you can go for 12" if you really want, but you'll need some proper fat rubber so that your speedo stays kinda correct, on the other hand you could get some 16" maybe 17" with low profile tyres. But the standard Alloys come in at 14" and 15" :afro:
You get the standard steelies which are crap, the G60 which imo aren't that much better and then the BBS selections which are generally expensive depending on which set you go for, but you can get bargain BBS RA's on ebay on the rare occasion.
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Depends on your preference, you can go for 12" if you really want, but you'll need some proper fat rubber so that your speedo stays kinda correct, on the other hand you could get some 16" maybe 17" with low profile tyres. But the standard Alloys come in at 14" and 15" :afro:
You get the standard steelies which are crap, the G60 which imo aren't that much better and then the BBS selections which are generally expensive depending on which set you go for, but you can get bargain BBS RA's on ebay on the rare occasion.
Yeah I just checked those stealies and they didn't set my pulse racing... No point blowing money on something I don't like.
Trouble is the current wheels, Jesus f**king Christ, I don't think I've ever seen wheels so ugly; they're completely flat: 0 spokes, it looks like it's sitting on saucers. So hopefully I can persevere long enough to find something nice.
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What I would do is buy the cheapest example you can find with a full MOT and a bit of tax. Keep it until the MOT runs out. Don't spend anything on it you don't have to. Any spare cash you have put in a big jar marked 'Real GTI Fund'. Scrap/sell shoddy car, take your years NCB and driving experience, and buy a real GTI.
I bought a crappy fiesta for £350 with full MOT, caned the crap out of it for a year and then sold it for £250. As I spent a grand total of £30 of upkeep on it, that worked out at about 1p per mile over the year I had it, result I think. I used the £250 I got back and what I'd saved up for stuffs for my golf :smiley:
Heh, I can't drive around in a wreck for a year, even if is the best long-term plan. I won't be too extravagant and no buy anything which can't be transferred if required. My insurance quote was 1,400 for a GTI - compared to £598 for the Ryder, which basically wrote off the idea of sensibly owning one - how much would that the insurance fall by, roughly, with a year of no-claims? Any idea? If it doesn't fall dramatically in that time it makes (a bit) more sense in getting the Ryder looking the dogs.
Cheers Kitty.
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it looks like it's sitting on saucers. So hopefully I can persevere long enough to find something nice.
That would be the horrid crappy thingies *ugh*
I've recently had a few quotes as I've almost got 1yr NCB as a new driver (being 25 though) and from £795 it's going down to something silly like £300-£350 and a GTI will cost me something like £500-£600 depending on how much cover I want.
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it looks like it's sitting on saucers. So hopefully I can persevere long enough to find something nice.
That would be the horrid crappy thingies *ugh*
I've recently had a few quotes as I've almost got 1yr NCB as a new driver (being 25 though) and from £795 it's going down to something silly like £300-£350 and a GTI will cost me something like £500-£600 depending on how much cover I want.
Ace.
Maybe 1 year NCB will do it then.
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the later GTI steelies look pretty good with the rim protectors fitted, and still look std for the insurance :)
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the later GTI steelies look pretty good with the rim protectors fitted, and still look std for the insurance :)
Got a pic? Are they the ones that look similar to the G60 steelies but with more holes and smaller?
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yeah, they have less holes than the driver steelies :)
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the ones on this car, note one of his wheels is a driver steel, giving a good contrast between the 2 types :grin:
http://patchoulian.googlepages.com/vw
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I saw it today. It was in good nick and had a great service history. But the clutch was set to go in 3,000ish miles which would cost £300 to replace, plus it didn't have a CD player so I'd be looking at spending £900 on a car that I don't *really* want, and one that still wouldn't look very good; dents, sh!t wheels, etc.
I'm considering my friends Golf GTI he'd sell to me for £750, as he's looking to upgrade to the VR6 2.8(?) Mk3. He found his Mk2 in a barn after 8 years and has renovated it really, really well. Plus it's only done 56,000 miles so I'm seriously tempted, as I doubt I'll ever get a better one. Thing is, the insurance is £1,400.
Argh, decisions, decisions... Rant over.
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get the gti, its a no brainer
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I'm going to this week. It's in such good order, there's few Mk2's like it. And I'll probably keep it for 5+ years. I've even convinced my mum to pay for it all, so happy days :cool:
I lowered the insurance down £200 by saying I was a 'Sales adviser in a Golf Club' instead of Bar staff. Haha.
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Every years no claims you have, apparently your insurance should drop 30%. Last year i had a rover mini 1275, and was paying £850. now im 20 (just), 2years NCB and License and im paying 3PFT £850 for my mk2 16Valver. Not too bad considering my age i think, but it still sucks.
Get the Gti and fork out the massive insurance, the car sounds like a sweet deal, 56,000 on a golf, its only just worn in mate! itl be worth it in the long run. i was paying £1600 fully comp a year for my mini when i was 17/18. £1400 is nothing. ;) especially when youve got a nice car ;)
Save on garage bills, buy yourself a massive toolbox, thats what im getting for my 21st hahaha.
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Argh, now he's had a change of heart...
Going to look at a nearby Golf Gti with him now. Problem is: it's in white, and they just do it for me. (Yeah, yeah, I sound like a girl, whatever)
So if anyone hears of a good GTI mk2 around the south Midlands area let me know! Thanks
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Oak Green, thats the colour to have ;)
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with your insurance add one of your parents as a named driver, that should bring it down a bit, done it on my clio 16v when i was 19 and got £200 off, so only paid £750 TPFT with no no claims bonus either :wink:
good luck with the Ryder, it is easy to make a mk2 look cool!
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as above and whatever you do dont go the other way round have your parents insured on the car and add yourself, it may be cheaper in the short term but you'll miss out on building your no claims! Though actually diudnt direct line make a big fuss about how named drivers can earn no claims? If so need to check that you can actually use this no claims with another insurer, rather than only if you take up a policy with direct line.
Also watch out for these 10month booster policies, sometimes you cant take the noclaims elsewhere if you dont do a full year with them!
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as above and whatever you do dont go the other way round have your parents insured on the car and add yourself, it may be cheaper in the short term but you'll miss out on building your no claims! Though actually diudnt direct line make a big fuss about how named drivers can earn no claims? If so need to check that you can actually use this no claims with another insurer, rather than only if you take up a policy with direct line.
Also watch out for these 10month booster policies, sometimes you cant take the noclaims elsewhere if you dont do a full year with them!
With Elephant you can take your 10 month booster over, thats who ive always gone with as it was always cheaper :smiley:
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cool, elephant tend to do good quotes as well :)
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+1 with sticking ya parents on YOUR insurance.
My daughter hates it, but by having me on her policy reduced it by £330 . but Iam knackered old goat with 3 policies all 7 years NCB :grin:
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hey,
regarding the golf driver you are looking to buy.
i have one for sale
im in nottingham so get abck to me and let me know if this is alright
cheers
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Ah, sorry. Now he is selling me his GTI.
This guy changes his mind more often than menstruating woman taking an IQ test.
His lowered the price to £700 because he's going to keep the alloys, but insists he's got some good ones to replace them with. I'll check them out and see if they need replacing. He'll help me get it mint too. Great lad.
I'll put up some pics when I get it this Sunday.
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good luck with the insurance on the gti :grin:!
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Was the bird selling the Ryder fit then???
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Hahaha, unfortunately not.
Plus her gimpy BF followed us around everywhere too.
I bet she reads this.