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Hemisport's E46 M3 Vert and New Daily Driver
- Thread starter hemisport15
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- United States
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- Pennsylvania
I haven't updated this thread or even been on GTP much in a very long time. But to make a long story short, the 325ix unfortunately needed some expensive maintenance items to get through state inspection. After a lot of debating and discussing with both my shop and my parents, I decided it was time to finally buy a reliable (hopefully) car that has a warranty.... And now I'm the owner of a 2017 VW GTI! It's an SE in night blue metallic with the performance pack (220HP, LSD, brakes from the Golf R), lighting package, leather seats, Fender audio and a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting.
Now it only has a few hundred miles but I'm really enjoying this car. All of the reviews and videos I watched were pretty spot on and this thing lives up to the hype. Of course there are some things that I'm not a fan of but I'll talk about that in a later post when I get some more pictures.
Now it only has a few hundred miles but I'm really enjoying this car. All of the reviews and videos I watched were pretty spot on and this thing lives up to the hype. Of course there are some things that I'm not a fan of but I'll talk about that in a later post when I get some more pictures.
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- 4,213
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- motortrend
VERY nice choice. SE is the perfect spec and the lighting package is definitely a must. Now let's see how long you can wait until you cave in and tune it. 2nd gear wheelspin is waiting for you...
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Thanks man! The SE was the perfect fit when it came to options and price point. I just wish the lighting package came with the R's LED tail lights but I have a plan for that... just need the MK7.5 to be released in the US first. And as much as I would like to tune the car, I have to hold off. One of the main reasons I bought it was so that I could have something reliable under warranty and from what I understand every tune will void that. Also, the clutch on the 6 speed manual gets fried super fast.
With all that being said, I'm still shopping around for an exhaust. I'm gonna try to keep it on the reserved side and just do a catback (stock downpipe, everything else is replaced). Axlebacks don't seem to offer much of a change in volume or sound and a full turboback will be louder than what I want to do. The only problem is that it seems like there are a lot of issues with drone, but I think that is because people are replacing the exhaust and not turning off the Soundaktor... which actually vibrates the windshield to simulate engine noise. It sounds like garbage.
Currently my number one choice:
I'm gonna try to do a better job of updating this thread as everything moves along.
- 4,213
- Puerto Rico
- motortrend
Not sure about the clutch because my dad's is a DSG but if you have a good relationship with the dealership and reflash back to stock tune every time you take it in you shouldn't have any issues. You can do one of those low torque tunes and it would me more than enough, but the car definitely wakes up with the tune.
- 1,301
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Classic me, long time and no updates... until now! In just a few short months i've already put over 6,000 miles on the car with no issues. I haven't really done any modifications either unfortunately. I had the windows tinted late last month, 30% all around and then 15% on the sunroof and it has made a huge difference. I'll have pictures of that after I finishing installing these....
MK7.5 full LED taillights! One thing I've never understood was why the lighting package on this car only replaced the headlights. While I'm not a huge fan of the design of the MK7 LED's, they're still nicer looking and much brighter than my current lights. Pic for reference...
But I still didn't love the look and the price is pretty ridiculous too. So instead I went with these...
I think the design looks way better and the sequential turn signal looks so cool. On top of all of this, it appears the US won't be getting them with the facelift model so my GTI will be a little more unique. I'll update this again once the new harness shows up and they're installed.
MK7.5 full LED taillights! One thing I've never understood was why the lighting package on this car only replaced the headlights. While I'm not a huge fan of the design of the MK7 LED's, they're still nicer looking and much brighter than my current lights. Pic for reference...
But I still didn't love the look and the price is pretty ridiculous too. So instead I went with these...
I think the design looks way better and the sequential turn signal looks so cool. On top of all of this, it appears the US won't be getting them with the facelift model so my GTI will be a little more unique. I'll update this again once the new harness shows up and they're installed.
