Numero XV – 2011 VW Golf GTI

December 10, 2013

After moving on from the big V8 Ford Falcon, I wanted something a bit more refined, with leather and turbo again. Long story short, after searching for the perfect one I picked up this late 2011 (MY12) MK6 VW Golf GTI with 35k km’s on the clock, and some options from a nearby dealer.

Options:
– DSG (Dual clutch transmission)
– Leather interior
– 18″ Detroit wheels
– Parking assist (automatically parallel parks)
– Automatic headlights
– Bluetooth etc (comes with 2011+)

I was initially looking to save a couple bucks and get a MK5, but in the end chose the MK6 for the updated interior and front/rear ends, not to mention the slight extra power over the MK5 (155kw over 147kw).

Even though I loved how it drove standard, you always want a little bit more! I did some research and sourced the following bits, then had it all fitted and tuned by Elite Euro in Wangara (Perth, Western Australia). Elite Euro uses Spectune, from Tarmac Engineering for their method of ECU tuning.

Mods:
– Empire Performance 3″ downpipe
– 100 cell cat converter
– Volant intake kit
– Spectune ecu tune

Following the fit & tune – wow! Completely different car and extremely fun to drive and brings a huge rush of torque. There is a slight surge issue which we are still looking into but may just require some fine tuning.

Video after mods:

With power sorted – next up was I needed to upgrade the suspension.

I went for:
– H&R Sport Springs (20-25mm drop) code 29008 VA
– Reused stock shocks
– Whiteline Anti-lift kit
– H&R 26mm front sway bar
– H&R 22mm rear sway bar

One weekend (with lots of cussing), I removed all the old gear and installed the new stuff. Much happier with the subtle drop in height (though the rears could have gone a bit lower!) and the handling has improved 10 fold. The stock gear was good, but felt a bit vague at times, whereas now it’s super responsive  and stays flat. Highly recommend this setup for the street.

Pics of new settled ride height:

 

With lots of power going through one wheel I started to look at some LSD options for the DSG, but they all seemed to have their issues and were so crazy expensive. If it were manual I would probably still own this car. I wanted to start doing track work so I eventually decided to cut my losses and sold the car for a more track orientated one – Car 16!

Post navigation

← Numero XIV – 2001 Ford Falcon Tickford XR8

Nike Air Zoom Flight 98 – ‘The Glove’ →