Mk5 body shell?

[Cosworth Lee]

HI all, im new to the forum.

At the moment i have a truck for work, the wife has a Mk4 Golf GT TDI 130 in jazz blue on 18" Oz's and lowered 40mm, and i have a 1993 escort cosworth with (35kmiles ) that i drive at the weekends for fun.

Im toying with the idea of selling the cossie, simply because its costing £170 per months to insure and uses at least £10 of fuel each time i take it for a blast, also i cant leave it anywhere as it gets lots of attention (mainly from the wrong type of people). also its £16k of metal sitting there for 95% of the time!!!

The Gt tdi is used buy my wife everyday to work, and is an amazing car, 130bhp and last two weeks has returned 64.2 mpg on avarage!!!

My idea is to sell the cossie and the golf and buy a nice mk5 tdi, so my wifes got a newer/safer car and it can by my 'nice' car at the weekend.

And before you ask, no i dont want to buy a new one or blow all my cash on one. the idea is to save money.
1 buy having 1 car instaed of 2
2 a tdi, as i love the drivability and ecomony, and will be the wifes daily.

I either plan to buy an early mk5, or a newer lower spec one and modify it.with gti bumpers, nice wheels etc.

As a hobbie i build/restore cars, last year i finished off a series 1 rs turbo, Mk1 escort mexico, 1949 Beetle, and an astom martin dbs, as well as spraying my mates bay camper.

My main reason for the post is to ask if its possible to buy a new mk5 shell. As i quite like the idea of buying a damaged gt tdi or any tdi and building up my own car from scratch, 1 as i enjoy this and 2 i can build my self a unique car.

to do this i could sell the cossie, build the mk5 golf then sell the mk4 when the 5s done.

Anyway id really apreciate peoples advise on this. I have seen the earlier mk5s for 5-6k does this sound right?

regards Lee

[182_blue]

i would be amazed if you couldnt buy a new shell, but there not cheap, a ford focus one is about £4000 iirc

[Hurdy]

Welcome Lee

I've not come across any companies that specifically sell MKV shells, chassis etc

These are probably one of the best known companies that sell spares

http://www.volkswagenspares.com/page.php?page=body%20parts

Along with the obvious Euro car parts

http://www.eurocarparts.com/

If you want main sections like shells etc then maybe a direct VW buy is the best way (although not cheap!)

The TDI is a good solid performer, but drinks more than the MKIV by comparison. Ive had both the MKIV GTTDI 130 and the MKV GTTDI 140 and the MKIV was gentler on the fuel. If your aim is to get the missis into a safer, more modern car then perhaps building a MKV from the floor up is not the best way to achieve it. It maybe good for you as a project and from your history of cars I'm sure you are capable, but I'd like to think that the car I'm in hasn't been built-up, but was factory built as they are five star euro NCAP cars as standard.

[winrya]

I remember when the mk5 came out vw made a big fuss about having double skinned panels.  Basically, you can remove the skin and replace it rather than, for example buying a new door.  Don't know how many panels are like this, i suspect the doors but not sure what else

[Cosworth Lee]

Welcome Lee

I've not come across any companies that specifically sell MKV shells, chassis etc

These are probably one of the best known companies that sell spares

http://www.volkswagenspares.com/page.php?page=body%20parts

Along with the obvious Euro car parts

http://www.eurocarparts.com/

If you want main sections like shells etc then maybe a direct VW buy is the best way (although not cheap!)

The TDI is a good solid performer, but drinks more than the MKIV by comparison. Ive had both the MKIV GTTDI 130 and the MKV GTTDI 140 and the MKIV was gentler on the fuel. If your aim is to get the missis into a safer, more modern car then perhaps building a MKV from the floor up is not the best way to achieve it. It maybe good for you as a project and from your history of cars I'm sure you are capable, but I'd like to think that the car I'm in hasn't been built-up, but was factory built as they are five star euro NCAP cars as standard.

thanks , yeh i guess a factory car would be better, and dare i say cheaper to change to my desired effect than building and sourcing all the parts.  Would have been nice, ive built 2 cars this way before starting with a shell, its great fun and it enables you to do exactly what you want. but as you pointed out i need to be a little realistic here as it will be an everyday car as well.

I think my plan now will be to aim to buy an early one (black tdi preferbly) and put my own touch on it. Just need to decide if i should sell the cosworth now or at end of summer? took it for a drive just now, its so much fun to drive.

if i waited till the end of summer do you think mk5 prices would drop noticably? as my main hate with newer cars is depreciation, id rather wait say 6 months let the "current owner" shoulder the loss


Ive read somewhere i would have to graft in a GTI front apron to allow fitment of the gti or r32 front bumper? is this correct?

[Hurdy]

Glad I could help

The GTI and R32 fronts fit onto generic bolt and snap-on sections of the front end of the car. There are a few write-ups knocking about on the VW forums that should stand you in good stead if you decide to give it a go.


After initial depreciation in the first two years the TDI prices tend to stabilise. If you are looking for a 2.0tdi (they do lower output MKV TDI's with the old 1.9 engine ) with the 140ps output then you will be looking at around £8k upwards for a 2004 car with around 70k miles.