Fred's VW Golf GL
Here's my web page with info on my car. It's a 1996 VW Golf GL that I
purchased in January of 1997. No, it is not a TDI, even though
I had waited since the middle of 1995, when they announced the TDI was
coming, for VW to produce one. By this
time my old car was on it's last legs, and I got this puppy:
The TDI kept getting delay, at least in the Golf until
early 1999. Just over 2 years to late for me. For more info on the TDI,
visit my TDI Page. I still wish
I could have gotten a TDI, but this Golf has still been a blast to drive.
Fuel economy isn't as good as the TDI, but I've gotten it under 7.5l
per 100km a few times.
I have yet to reach to top speed of this car, but have come close a few
times. Half way down a feeway hill I decieded to floor it and got up to
and indicated 195km/h*. Another time I reached and indicated 185km/h*
on the flats, but had to decelerate due to an upcoming corner:(. (* These
are the numbers indicated by the speedo, and are not radar verified numbers
(thankfully):)).
Some of the things I've added to my car to add some character, and even
more usefulness:
- This list includes a trunk
liner, which can take 3 gallons of liquid before over flowing. It
did cost a small fortune, but I'm satisified with it.
- When I got the car I got it with the radio delete option, and for
the same money got a Pioneer
DEH-P625 which is just awesome. It has a indash
CD player, and can use upto a 50disc changer, subwoofer out, CD title
display and some other cool features. I kept the stock speakers, and
am going to leave it at this stange for some time to come as it's all
I want. (I grew out of that boom box mentality a few years ago, (My
old K-Car got me through that 'time')).
- Votex roof racks with two bike carriers. These are the same as the
Thule roof racks
and ultimite
bike carriers, as Thule makes them for VW dealers, where I got them
from. Works great great and is very practical, except that with just
the roof racks, it is very noisy, which leads me to the next item.
- Thule 555a fairing. This helps reduce the noise coming from the roof
racks. It was a bit finiqy to get to to work, as the Votex racks have
a wider base than the Thule ones, so the mounting hardware that comes
with it doesn't work. To get around this I attached the fairing
between the roof rack and the bike carrier using the biker rack's bolt.
I purchase the bolt for the middle from Rack
Attack (the dealer wanted $36 per bolt, and I couldn't find it anywhere
else except for them for $3). I then thought things were fine,
but low, and behold, since the fairing doens't reach the windsheld,
in one week, the fairing had already started to make it's mark on the
black paint:(... So I made up some brackets (One side 12 inches,
the other 6) and am using this on the car now. It works great,
and since I've seen a number of other people asking about it I will
create a set of instructions shortly.
- I also added the trunk
light and programmable
interval wiper delay which were removed from the 1996 model year.
Thanks to Arthur Emerson creator
of the GTI
VR6 Page for compiling the instruction from the newsgroup.
- Oh ya, and don't forget all those "Drivers Wanted" goodies my girlfriend
got for me. (Key chains, pen, pin, windsheld sun visor, CD wallet, etc).
and joined the VW Club!:)
- Feb, 22, 1999: Just did the sidemarker modification found at Bob
Tillman's site.
- April 24, 1999: Added the Hella
Golf IV Style Eurolights
for the Golf III as shown above installed on my car (shown with
a plexiglass cover to protect them from getting cracked right away.:
I would have loved to do more modifications to my car, but you know now
it goes..... :(
