Update 3:
My 2019 Indium Grey Golf R is gone, as of 9/30/2024. 572 days it lasted.
I loved it so much, I've since moved on to a 2022 Golf R. Pure White,
(Upcoming link here)
Will this be "the one"? It doesn't matter what I say, nobody will believe me anyway.
Update 2:
My 2017 Oryx White Pearl Golf R is gone, as of 3/8/2023. 399 days it lasted.
I loved it so much, I've since moved on to a 2019 Golf R. Iridium Grey,
Is this even still a build thread? Well, click here to jump to the start of the MK7.5 R saga...
Update:
The GTI is gone, as of 2/2/2022. I picked up my GTI on 5/09/2019, so it was in my possession for exactly 1,000 days.
I've since moved on to a 2017 Golf R. Oryx Pearl White. If you want to read my GTI build thread, the first 4 pages are worth a read, and cover up till when I put the Vortex in. The next 100 pages are shit posting and me going through the tuning process.
Click here to jump to the start of the R "build" thread!
_______________________________________
Not sure why this took me nearly two years to do. Guess I don't want to have to just dump any photos of anything I do in the "What did you do today?" thread.
Most of this is just going through my Google photos I took, and laying out what was done with the car.
Feel free to follow on IG, @johnny__hotwheels. My wife said if I got a GTI, she was going to make the account for me, mostly in jest, to post about my car.
Prior to my GTI, I drove a 2013 Nissan Altima. It was comfortable, got my from point A to point B, and did everything I needed it to. But it wasn't fun. Which I didn't think really mattered. One day, my friend let me drive his stage 1 MK6 GTI. After that, my Altima just was boring. Felt like driving a car in molasses. Luckily, I had a little bit of equity in my Altima, and was well enough financial position to buy a car I didn't need just because I wanted to. So I started the hunt for a GTI.
5/4/2019
My GTI as I bought it. 2016 SE DSG with the Lighting Package. $18,300, 32k miles. Was the 3rd owner, no signs of prior modification. Fun story: The 2nd owner (paperwork with his name on it left in the car) was in politics with his own Wikipedia page. Nothing major, worked on Obama's campaign if I recall.
May 2019
My first "mods". An MKVII badge for the rear and Badgeskins Clark Plaid steering wheel inlay.
I know. Starting off big.
Tried a BMS Pedal Tuner.
I forgot where I read it, but someone said something along the lines of "It makes it so you can't take off from a red light without causing a scene", and they were right. Hated it. It ended up on the classifieds here.
My first real mod. An ECS Kohlefaser Luft-Technik Intake. Grabbed it from from the classifieds here.
I learnt a very important lesson installing this intake. Even when you think your car is cooled down, it's not. If your intake requires you to disconnect the coolant hose, best to do it first thing in the morning. I thought I had waited long enough, and it sprayed hot coolant all over everything.
My wife: "Why would you buy such an impractical car?"
Say that to the lawnmower I fit in it...
JB4 on. Took less than a month to need more power. Got it from the classifieds here. Seeing a trend? Try being as thrifty as possible Apparently this is the only picture I have of that install. Peep those drops of coolant all over everything. It got everywhere.
June 2019
P3 Boost Gauge. From... the classifieds here. Another fun story: I got pulled over doing 32mph in a 20mph school zone. Cop was cool, no ticket. But he pointed to the P3 gauge and goes "What's that? Is your car fast?". It's like bruh... You just pulled me over for speeding, and you want me to say my car is fast? "Nah, it's not really fast. Just monitors a few things to keep an eye on the cars health."
Remember that JB4, installed like... 3 weeks prior or something?
Yeah... about that...
My plan was to get an EQT tune, but also had plans on getting a downpipe, and didn't want to pay for a tune twice. So I bought an MA Performance tune to use in the interim. Waste of $75. Double digit knock, it lasted about 2 hours on my car. Decided to just use the included Cobb tunes. While the power delivery sucked, I didn't have any knock problems with it.
To be continued...
My 2019 Indium Grey Golf R is gone, as of 9/30/2024. 572 days it lasted.
I loved it so much, I've since moved on to a 2022 Golf R. Pure White,
(Upcoming link here)
Will this be "the one"? It doesn't matter what I say, nobody will believe me anyway.
Update 2:
My 2017 Oryx White Pearl Golf R is gone, as of 3/8/2023. 399 days it lasted.
I loved it so much, I've since moved on to a 2019 Golf R. Iridium Grey,
Is this even still a build thread? Well, click here to jump to the start of the MK7.5 R saga...
Update:
The GTI is gone, as of 2/2/2022. I picked up my GTI on 5/09/2019, so it was in my possession for exactly 1,000 days.
I've since moved on to a 2017 Golf R. Oryx Pearl White. If you want to read my GTI build thread, the first 4 pages are worth a read, and cover up till when I put the Vortex in. The next 100 pages are shit posting and me going through the tuning process.
Click here to jump to the start of the R "build" thread!
_______________________________________
Not sure why this took me nearly two years to do. Guess I don't want to have to just dump any photos of anything I do in the "What did you do today?" thread.
Most of this is just going through my Google photos I took, and laying out what was done with the car.
Feel free to follow on IG, @johnny__hotwheels. My wife said if I got a GTI, she was going to make the account for me, mostly in jest, to post about my car.
Prior to my GTI, I drove a 2013 Nissan Altima. It was comfortable, got my from point A to point B, and did everything I needed it to. But it wasn't fun. Which I didn't think really mattered. One day, my friend let me drive his stage 1 MK6 GTI. After that, my Altima just was boring. Felt like driving a car in molasses. Luckily, I had a little bit of equity in my Altima, and was well enough financial position to buy a car I didn't need just because I wanted to. So I started the hunt for a GTI.
5/4/2019
My GTI as I bought it. 2016 SE DSG with the Lighting Package. $18,300, 32k miles. Was the 3rd owner, no signs of prior modification. Fun story: The 2nd owner (paperwork with his name on it left in the car) was in politics with his own Wikipedia page. Nothing major, worked on Obama's campaign if I recall.
May 2019
My first "mods". An MKVII badge for the rear and Badgeskins Clark Plaid steering wheel inlay.
I know. Starting off big.
Tried a BMS Pedal Tuner.
I forgot where I read it, but someone said something along the lines of "It makes it so you can't take off from a red light without causing a scene", and they were right. Hated it. It ended up on the classifieds here.
My first real mod. An ECS Kohlefaser Luft-Technik Intake. Grabbed it from from the classifieds here.
I learnt a very important lesson installing this intake. Even when you think your car is cooled down, it's not. If your intake requires you to disconnect the coolant hose, best to do it first thing in the morning. I thought I had waited long enough, and it sprayed hot coolant all over everything.
My wife: "Why would you buy such an impractical car?"
Say that to the lawnmower I fit in it...
JB4 on. Took less than a month to need more power. Got it from the classifieds here. Seeing a trend? Try being as thrifty as possible Apparently this is the only picture I have of that install. Peep those drops of coolant all over everything. It got everywhere.
June 2019
P3 Boost Gauge. From... the classifieds here. Another fun story: I got pulled over doing 32mph in a 20mph school zone. Cop was cool, no ticket. But he pointed to the P3 gauge and goes "What's that? Is your car fast?". It's like bruh... You just pulled me over for speeding, and you want me to say my car is fast? "Nah, it's not really fast. Just monitors a few things to keep an eye on the cars health."
Remember that JB4, installed like... 3 weeks prior or something?
Yeah... about that...
My plan was to get an EQT tune, but also had plans on getting a downpipe, and didn't want to pay for a tune twice. So I bought an MA Performance tune to use in the interim. Waste of $75. Double digit knock, it lasted about 2 hours on my car. Decided to just use the included Cobb tunes. While the power delivery sucked, I didn't have any knock problems with it.
To be continued...
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