It's been a while since I've really posted much on here, and while not much has changed on the Polo front I now have a second car on my little V-Dub fleet.

Basically, the Polo's gone beyond the point of being a runaround. I've had it eight and a half years now so it's got masses of sentimental value, and with super unleaded prices pushing £6 per gallon it's a bit of a waste crawling to work on posh fuel. I'm keen to keep it for good drives and the odd blast to work, rather than run it into the ground.

Luckily over the last year I've had test cars in as part of my job, which have cut the miles down on the Polo. But with a recent change, I'm now working for a mag where I don't get cars all the time. The perfect opportunity, then, to get myself something comfy and reliable as a daily.

Enter the Passat...

It's a 2002 2.0 20V petrol, the 130bhp engine. I'd been looking for a PD130, but they're fetching a premium at the moment which realistically it'll take a long time to make up. This one's had two owners from new, it's the right colour, mint condition, clear HPI and best of all came with 51,000 on the clock. Bonzer.

One quick wash, polish and wax on Monday and it came up looking fantastic:

Now this one's a bit different to the Polo. It's the complete opposite. I'm getting high 30s to the gallon, which I'm happy with, and it's a really comfortable car for the long distance driving I do. On the flip side it suffers galloping understeer when pushed hard, it's not very fast and not a particularly exciting car to drive. Smooth, relaxing and easy yes, but it's never going to set my pulse racing.

I don't have performance credentials to spoil, so I'll be going for looks this time around with various mods to make it a good place to spend time rather than a crude back road missile like the G40. Bigger wheels, lots of dish and some hard slam are on the way. Watch this space!

Standard tape/CD has already been ditched in favour of this very tidy Kenwood sat nav/DVD double din head unit, which has now been adjusted to match the rest of the dash.

And here's a pic with the Polo. It's sat on its track wheels here, looks tiny!

Unfortunately the G40 failed its MOT on Wednesday for the first time since I've had the car. Nothing serious, just a blown shock absorber, which is being sorted over the weekend. Again, winter's going to bring some new kit, so it should be quite a machine by next year's show season.

Edited 9 May, 201115 yr by Alex

I have to say i do like Passats! Been in a few and they are so quiet and relaxing, like you say you can now go further with the G40 now with it not being a daily!

I would love to have a 2nd car but its only worth doing if your going to get something thats actually alot better for long distance.

All i can say is if your slamming it, dont spoil the ride as they are great..

Looks like a clean example of a Passat, would be cool to see this with some subtle modifications like you've mentioned.

Your G looks well sweet

Your G looks well sweet

Thanks! :)

Better pics here if you're interested.

Your G looks well sweet

Thanks! :)

Better pics here if you're interested.

Cheers

Some good pic's

A year into Passat ownership and now the G40 has stopped soaking up my time I've finally sorted a set of wheels:

18x8 and 18x9 Wolfrace Nogaro, they look wicked too! Just need to sort some tyres now!

The G40 is going into Perkins Automotive in a few weeks for a winter respray and some resto work (rust removal) so I'm going to get going on sorting the Passat while it's away.

Edited 28 August, 200917 yr by Alex

I was just about to say very nice/mature/respectable...then I saw the wheels. Pimpy times!

I've got no plans to go wild with it - but Passats are horrendously under-wheeled from the factory. I'm looking at fitting a set of Koni FSD dampers, which adapt to road conditions for the best ride quality. Something this car does well at the moment, I don't want to end up with another stiff and slammed car. I love driving the Polo, but it's not very practical.

Should look good on the new rims! So glad to see the Polo still going, it's a legend.

nice buy....well specced and clean as a whistle Alex.

loking forwardto see it with the wheels on...

Christian

nicee dude , lovely daily driver :) . good work with them wheels too . gonna look sick on the car :)

RAGE

The tyres are here! Uniroyal Rainsports - hopefully I'll have these on tomorrow

haha... I just read this on uk passats and then came on here and read it again!

Looking good :)

They're on! And I like!

I'd been worrying about whether I'd got the offset correct, whether I'd get any issues with it and whether I'd have destroyed the ride quality, but all is well.

Took the car to HiQ in Peterborough, where we take pretty much all our project cars, and they were typically very helpful. Top guys! :)

Needs lowering now - not planning to slam it completely but it does need to go down a bit. Had a tinker in Photoshop and the sooner it looks like this the better!

love these pissrats was thinking of getting one myself

Looks good!

I'd love to see it on some 19" Pheaton wheels!

Ah yeah, I ummed and ahhed about them but they're well pricey and I'm still walking on eggshells about demolishing my ride quality. 19s mean hard slam to get it sitting right and rubber band tyres. Maybe one day, I dunno. :)

Go on! You know it makes sense!

Who are you walking on egg shells for?!

Myself, haha! I love the way this car rides, don't mind shedding a bit of comfort but I've got the Polo as a toy. This thing's a daily, and it's very good at it.

well that's a shitter!

Haha, it's taken me 14 months to pick some wheels!

Within a year of having the Polo it had new ICE, wheels, brakes, exhaust and a drop.

But then the Passat's a much better car out of the box. Not in the pulse-raising stakes but in the reliable comfortable load lugger stakes. But I'm greedy. :)

It's a lovely car dude!

Looking good Alex. Should be nice with a dose of sensible lowering.

Looks pretty nice tbh alex!

The photoshops looks awesome too, Defo need a small drop!