Andy665

I'd recommend alight sanding (600 / 800 grade) followed by a wipedown with IPA to give the paint a good base to bond to

Updated with yesterdays results in 1st post

Base spec Polo GTi is likely to be 18-18.5k

When yu consider that a 122ps Scircc is 18k and what Shauns car offers in cmparison I think its worth at least the same.

I know for a fact that warranty claims on the current Passsat and Mk5 Golf were massively higher than on their immediate predecessors. The powers that be at Volkswagen seem to be placing a lot of emphasis on getting back the showroom appeal by improving the perceived quality, certainly the interiors and thunk of door closures etc on the Mk6 Golf and new Polo are appreciably better than their predecessors, whether this has been achieved at the expense of the buts you can't see I suppose we'll discover over time. The real example that everyone should be aiming for is the W124 Mercedes range - great perception of build quality and actual build quality combined - surely it shouldn't be impossible to achieve both

It should be enough, personally I believe its the careful application of the lacquer and final polishing that creates a good final finish

Mid-spec Golf pricing is actually pretty competitive, actually cheaper than the equivalent Focus, Polo is cheaper than the Fiesta model for model as well.

A standard, non-metallic 170ps GT TDi is close to 24k so adding sat nav and leather will take it straight to 27k, metallic and xenons another 1k. Much better value is the Passat Highline Plus, certainly bigger and also cheaper with the same spec

Savage paint (got mine off e-Bay, just put "light tint spray" into search) is what I've just used with Halfords lacquer on a standard set of Golf Mk4 rears Light sanding (I used 3000 grade W+D) between coats and jobs a good 'un

I think the MK6 represents a huge leap forward in terms of perceived quality but only compared to the MK5. They spent so much in developing the IRS on the MK5 they scrimped badly on the interior which is atrocious when compared to the MK4. The MK6 takes less than half the time to build of the MK5, thats why it was rushed out, Volkswagen admitted that it took 1.25 million MK5's to be produced before they went into profit, with the MK6 they were in profit after the first one rolled off the production line

I live up in Shropshire and still use JMR - top notch work at good prices. What he does not know about Volkswagen / Audi is not really worth knowing

The wood is vey easy to get rid of at verylittle cost, couple of rattle cans and abit of time - job done

Absolutely no driveshaft issues. I can only assume its not a problem that affects 4Motions, the V5 Bora before had been lowered a similar amount and I changed the front anti-roll for an FK one to get round the knocking issue.

Philuk - lowered approx 60mm using Bilstein PSS9 coilovers, damned expensive but top notch quality and performance

We have a few areas around here with similar schemes. They are fully fledged police radar guns but all they can do is pass details of vehicles to the police, the police cannot prosecute but they generally issue a letter "advising" the owner of the car to be more careful in future. The residents have been trained on how to use the gun but I don't doubt that they "target" specfic types of car. Yet another example of potentially bigotted members of the public that the police should be doing.

Portent - I know what you mean, they are such a great all rounder and with the VR under the bonnet they do have a bit of character. Ours is 9 years old and with 90k on the clock now but just started its spring machine polish today and I'm amazed at how good the paintwork still is

Small update. Pressed plates, newly created all red rear lights, Hoefle front air vents, colour coded front valence, Oettinger rear valence and refurbished wheels now on. Any piece of interior trim that was scuffed / marked has now been replaced with new items, last thing to fit are the carbon wrapped SWG door mirrors - quite pleased how its evolving - and everything can be put back to standard very eaily Also in need of a good machine polish - started today and got a significant improvement, hopefully finish it off over the weekend

Updated with Malaysia results in first post

Buy what you like rather than what others like - not going to hurt resale value as wheels are easily changed.

No plans for selling it anytime soon - its just such a great all-rounder, slowly being tweaked to make it really mine, all red rear lights and SWG mirrors (aftereventually managing to find some flexible crackle black finish paint) being fitted this weekend, everything has to be fully and quickly reversible. Next on the list is re-colouring of the front seats, already gone through the interior and every scratched / scuffed piece of plastic has been replaced with brand new items

Had the wheels on the Golf for twelve months and one wheel needing serious work due to an avoidance swerve that badly scraped one rim, the other three were OK but the original machine polished finish was looking a bit tired. After a bit of searching around and looking for recommendations I plumped for A1 Wheels - saw examples of their work on split rims and repairs on badly mangled wheels and really liked their friendly attitude. Decided not to stay with the polished finish, just don't think its durable enough and eventually plumped for a shadow chrome finish. Picked them up yesterday and they are in better condditon than when they were new, the finish is flawless. Service was superb, took the car there with spare wheels in boot, they changed the wheels over and gave me the option of them swapping them back for me or packing them up for collection. Not the cheapest around but price included tyre removal, re-fitting, re-balancing and chrome valves.

Really pleased for you Jim, know you hqve been after a VR for a while and certainly sounds like you have a great base to work on. Much rather buy a C that is mechanically solid and needs a little bodywork than the other way round

My G60 did two fairly quick trips down to Le Mans (1000+ miles each time), only had one minor problem that did not require breakdown assistance. Get the car serviced, pack a box of spares / tools, get breakdown cover and go and enjoy the car - no piont in having a great car if you don't use it for great road trips

Nice to dream http://www.mclarenautomotive.com/uk/p11 ... nfigurator

Apparently the engine is to Mountune 350 spec that has been available virtually since launch. Sure to appreciate in value but hardly subtle is it - not that I'd say no to one. Well done to Ford for being the only big manufacturer to follow Renaults lead and produce politically incorrect "in yer face" models