Back in the early 2000's when I was spending all my free time cruising around in a Camaro Z28 or 5.0 Mustang , I had a few buddies that were into watercooled Volkswagens. Although I didn't know a whole lot about these exotic German imports, I still remember being impressed by the cars my friends would show me in magazines like Performance VW. Most of the Volkswagens I saw had an aesthetic appeal and an attention to detail that couldn't be found in the vinyl-clad Hondas and Acuras that represented the other side of the "import scene" in those days. This 2001 GTI 1.8T owned by Alan Farrell of Ireland is exactly the kind of VW that caught my eye back then, slightly modernized of course.

Starting on the exterior, the entire car has been coated in a Mercedes Benz "Indium Grey" color. There are R32 bumpers in the front and rear, Anni sideskirts, and a flush rear tailgate. For the "clean look" that we see on so many of these VW's, Alan also removed the roof spoiler, the side indicators, and front VW badge, which was replaced with a Bonrath debadged front grill. The side moldings were retrofitted from a 2000 VW Polo GTI.

Just like the Passat Wagon we saw yesterday, this GTI is sitting on air - a Rayvern kit with adjustable rebound dampening front and rear. The chassis has also been hopped up with Eibach anti-roll bars, drop links, and polyurethane bushings all around. There are also upper and lower strut braces from an Audi S3 and wishbones from a TT.

Under the hood, the 1.8T has been worked over to pick up some extra power while retaining the easy-going nature of a stock car. There's a custom-made front mount intercooler, a Milltek full exhaust system with 3" downpipe and high flow cat, and an AMD stage II remap that boosts power up to 240bhp. In this photo you can see the Neuspeed heatshield with ITG filter, and one of my favorite touches - the Audi TT engine cover.

One of the things I've noticed about the VW's we've been looking at this month is the interior customization. Most of the tuned Japanese cars you see have aftermarket bucket seats and accessories, but other than that the interiors stay stock. VW guys on the other hand, like extending the custom touch to the entire interior. Alan has installed a black alcantara headliner and retrimmed the seats and door panels with a cream-colored leather. Also check out the double-stitched diamonds on the seats and armrest cover.

The rest of the interior modifications include a 300mm Momo steering wheel, clocks and air vents from a VW Bora, a brushed aluminum center console kit from an R32, and a set of VDO gauges. Everything works in harmony together, and nothing looks overdone.

I'm sure the 19" BBS LM wheels with polished lips and satin gold centers were the first thing you noticed in this post. The exact sizes are 19x8.5 +25 all around with 215/35/19 Falken tires on each corner. If you can stop drooling over the BBS's for a moment, you can also see the Porsche 2V2 brakes with two peice ECS rotors sized 334mm in the front and 312mm in the rear.

What Alan has put together here is a tasteful, well-balanced car that looks as good today as it will 15 or 30 years from now. This month I've been finding out that cars like this aren't rare in the VW scene, and that's a good thing.

Thanks as usual to Kevin Raekelboom for giving us access to his photo archive.

-Mike Garrett

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