Mystic Rado

Yep, Mystic Blue, definitely the best colour for a 'rado. Congratulations, mine still makes me grin every time I drive it :D

Yep, that's what I'm coming round to. Get it fixed up then sell it once I've found a half-decent replacement. I'm even thinking a Focus Estate since I seem to spend half my life carting mountain bikes around. I'm going to get a quote for the repairs and take things from there.

Just taken my daily Mk3 Golf GTi in for MoT and it's failed on sill corrosion. It's done 140,000 miles, has Solitudes fitted, four good tyres - two of them brand new - and is otherwise in good nick bar the odd scratch and some shite lowering springs. Reckon it'll cost at least 200 quid to get the sills MoT-able. To be honest, I don't really like the car much anyway. It's a stodge wagon and has all the personality of a dead sheep. The medium term plan has always been to flog it and replace with another Mk 2 8-valve GTi, when I find a sound but not stupidly expensive one - have a tweaked TSR motor and other bits from my old Mk2 to go into it. Don't know what to do with it now. Bit the bullet, get it welded and through the MoT and then carry on driving it or sell it as is. Or MoT it and then sell it in which case it possibly not worth getting it fixed... Hmmm... :?

Replaced the passenger side headlight glass before driving home - stone strike had cracked it into two pieces. Time to order some of those headlight protectors I think... :?

For me it depends a lot on the modifications - there's a world of difference between a dodgy, bargain bucket eBay suspension kit and something decent for example. Personally I like my car to look standard-ish but work better. I might be tempted by an 100% standard car with all-new suspension, bushes etc, but the reality is that most standard Cs have worn-out shocks, tired bushes etc, regardless of how shiny and new they look on the outside. And standard Storm ride height makes the car look like a startled cat :? Paint? I'm saving for a really good respray at the moment.

Looking good. There's obviously something about Bournemouth and Mystic Blue Storms, that's where my one resided in a previous existence before heading north :-)

Grey and black is the sidelight, from memory, you need to get a feed direct to that from the original sidelight feed, I think, that's what I did when I made up my own uprated loom anyway. There's not much point in switching it through a relay...

Drove it, across the Peak, quite fast, especially over the Snake Pass and appreciated the complete disappearance of high speed steering wheel vibration after getting two new front tyres - Conti Premium Contacts - fitted. Fantastic. Obviously something up with one of the old fronts which were causing steering shake even after being balanced twice. Suddenly all the suspension, bushing replacement, rear anti-roll bar etc seem worthwhile, just feels planted, responsive and howlingly quick. Happy :D

I guess in those days all components were made in black and white, it wasn't until some years later than people started making cars in full colour... :?

I guess that after years of motorbikes, the Mk2, the 'rado and loads of mountain bikes, I sort of expect anything with wheels on to be entertaining. Perhaps I just need to recalibrate my expectations. The annoying thing is that it starts off feeling quite torquey and strong, then as soon as the revs get up, it just sort of slumps into a pool of mediocrity... So yeah, answering my own question, I guess I am a spoilt brat after all :D To be fair to it, when it's working, it is a practical thing to drive around in and I guess now the main issues have been sorted - touch wood - it should just potter around economically. :sleeping:

Yeah, I knew that before I bought it. I think the thing of it is, that I thought I could cope with that in exchange for some day-to-day civility and decent fuel economy, but not only is it dull as ditchwater to drive, but it seems to be terminally unreliable as well. The combination sort of irks me. I'll take all sorts of crap off the 'rado, but then the pay-off is that it's ace to drive, but the Mk3 seems to have all the downsides without any positives... Anyone want to swap for a sound Mk2 8-valve :? Possibly once with a blown engine...

Like the title says, are Mk3 8-valve GTis complete pants or is it just me? I bought one as a daily a few months back and I'm beginning to loathe it with a cold, belligerent fury. Since I've had it, it's eaten a radiator, a gearbox - replaced with the one out of my scrapped Mk2 thank feck - the rear dampers, a pair of front tyres, turned out to have a mis-timed distributor rotor arm so it ran into a brick wall at 5,000rpm and even managed to hide its locking wheel-nut key somewhere... Oh, and the previous owner had drilled the airbox with the smallest drill bit in the world so it looked like a cheese grater on one side and fitted the world's shonkiest oiled-foam filter element ... ... which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have all the panache and driving appeal of a rotting sheep carcasse. Engine has feck all top end, it handles like a fat, sluggish thing, though since it got new Bilsteins out back, it no longer bounces around bumpy corners like a pogo stick at least. There are good things about it, erm, drive it gently, which you might as well cos there's no joy in driving it hard, and it'll give high 30s mpg, I hate it so much that I don't worry about the cosmetics / cleaning / pimping at all and wouldn't bat an eyelid if it simply imploded leaving a big hole in the road outside my house and a pool of molten metal. And when I drive the 'rado it's just utter bliss and joy by comparison. I ran a tweaked Mk2 for ages and loved that car, I didn't think the Mk3 would come anywhere near it and I sort of rationalised that I really didn't care, but I just don't think I have it in me to drive such an utter crock of shite regularly. It's a rolling insult to the GTi badge, I think I might even take it off. So.... either it's going to be replaced with a sound Mk2 that I can stick the TSR engine and other bits from my old Golf into or I'll flog it and run the Corrado more regularly, though I'm reluctant to do that as I do a lot of mountain biking and Cs and bikes don't seem to sit happily together :-( Or am I just being a picky, spoiled brat? :scratch:

I've bought one of the leather repair kits specifically to repair the steering wheel, but not got round to doing it yet - don't hold your breath, but I'll report back once I've done it. Can't see any reason why it shouldn't work though and a load cheaper than a new steering wheel.

Erm, 80 miles on the road bike around the Peak today in the sunshine, freakin' ace, but my legs hurt :-) Tomorrow either / or go mountain biking with gurlz, Peak District again / wash and wax 'rado, fill engine with lovely Silkolene synthetic oil that's sitting under the stairs giving me cross, 'oi, get on with it' looks. Then over to see grumpy mountain biking girlfriend with broken wrist followed by mountain bike race at Lee Quarry near Bacup on Monday, probably. All the above subject to random modification... :?

Yep, another vote for an uprated anti-roll bar at the back, really sharpened up the steering on mine and well worth doing imo. Rear axle bushes if they've not been changed from new.

Ooops, sorry mate :)

Just in case anyone's remotely interested, a few weeks on... I bought a clean five-door Mk3 GTi in mystic blue with Solitudes, recently fitted and slightly lowered suspension. Radiator blew a week after I bought it - doh - and needed new tyres, plus the reflector in one headlight is floating around, but otherwise seems pretty good. My neighbours, bless 'em, thought it was the Storm because it's the same colour, doh... The good bits are that it's comfortable, handles okay on a slightly blobby sort of way and has lots of low down torque, so it's quite relaxed for driving around in a mellow way. It's also comfortable and relatively quiet on the motorway and on longer journeys gives effortless high 30s mpg figures. It's all very, erm, grown up and sensible for day to day motoring and feels solid and well put together. But... it is boring as hell, there's no top-end kick and, like everyone said when they first came out, it doesn't deserve to be badged as a GTi. My old Mk2, with TSR head, cam, chip, manifold, Jetex, poly bushes, Konis etc, would blow it into the weeds and then stomp on its quivering corpse, despite being noisy, rough and basically quite primitive to drive. I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't really do 'civilised and comfortable and economic', so some time next year, I'll be looking for a clean, sound Mk2 to stick the engine and associated bits from my Mk2 into. I guess for winter I'll live with bland and comfortable, but honestly, modern cars are rubbish, FACT ;-)

Ah, Mk3 memories, sigh. Glad I could help... I bought one anyway. Five door, very clean, mystic blue and with Solitudes... It kind of reminds me of something else ;-) It's like the Storm's porky cousin and is already known as Herr Blobby... Cyclists will know where that one came from... Thanks for all the advice :-)

I guess we'll see what happens then - it's really just a stop gap until I track down a sound Mark 2 Golf to host the decent bits from my current one, so not really a long term thing. I'd heard the early ones were bad for rust btw, but the later, better. Don't know how true that is, but buy carefully, I guess, is the way to go. Drove one today, felt nice and solid, but quite uninspiring compared to either the Mk2 or the 'rado, pretty flat. But that's good cos I won't be tempted to upgrade the thing...

Glossop, me. So a bit further north :) Thanks for all the replies guys, appreciated. Seems to make sense in a head over heart sort of way.

Thanks guys, all good food for thought...

I'd have another Mk 2 like a shot, but thing is, it'll have to live on the street and with a Mk2 I'll only end up spending more sorting the suspension, etc. Then I'll end up fitting the TSR top-end that's on my current Mk2 and sorting the gear linkage and the steering and it'll end up being not cheap... I know I'll have another Mk2 some time, just not now. Cheers for the input, Nick.

I'm thinking about getting a Mark 3 GTi, the 2.0 8v, as a daily. Just want something economical and reliable, I'm not too bothered about performance as long as it's fast enough not to be steam-rollered by tractors etc. Anything I should be particularly aware of with these? Have to admit I've never really been attracted to the Mk 3, I have/had a Mark 2 that's on its last legs bodywork wise and I'm tempted to buy another, but it's getting increasingly hard to find sound ones and the ones that are out there seem expensive compared to Mark 3s. Plus the Mark 3 apparently does nearly 40mpg. Anyway, common faults? Owner experiences etc? Thanks :)

Na, cos the headlight reflector itself has a shield built into it. That's what I asked, cos the ones I used had a shield most of the way round the bulb but also a big end cap - they didn't work too well, possibly because there were two caps blocking out more of the light than was needed. Anyway, I'm quite happy with an uprated loom and rally bulbs, but it's kind of interesting, erm, sort of :-)

Neil, just interested, did the bulbs in your kit have a cap fitted over the end or were they open ended, if that makes sense.