Our beloved 6n was rear-ended and written off on Saturday evening, so we went out and bought a 9n 1.4 FSI Sport the following day as a replacement.

The 6n was an absolute gem of a car - handled great and was cheap and cheerful to run. We'd spent a wee bit of money on it over the past year, replacing worn parts and upgrading the aesthetics with a set of G60 steels and a subtle lowering. So the demise of said car was - and still is - a sad affair, especially as it had grown on me so much I was intending on retiring it in the next year or so for a full rebuild alongside my Mk3 Golf ABF.

Anyways, after spending some time looking at various replacements, we concluded that we couldn't agree on an ideal replacement; she wanted a Beetle, I wanted a sensible Mk4 Golf GT TDI as we cover a ton of miles between us each week... So in the end we both compromised and settled on an '04 9n 1.4 16v FSI Sport.

So far, despite being comfortable and spacious, I can't help but miss the 6n, it's simplicity and handling, but I'm sure the more modern and already more economical 9n will grow on us in no time.

The main plans are to replace a few worn parts, give it a damn good detailing and look into any minor engine upgrades such as porting, remapping, etc. In the long term, I fancy sourcing some OEM Audi or VW 17s and lowering it accordingly, colour code the rub strips and possibly upgrade the brakes to fill the larger diameter wheels. It'll never be a show car, so don't expect air-ride and Rotiform splits with super-stretched rubber :)

Over the next few days I'll be cleaning and fixing, so I'll update with better pictures along the way.

Advice and/or comments welcome folks!

Mike

Edited 11 September, 201412 yr by scumbagmike

First clean:

I'm definitely getting used to the chassis now. It does feel a bit disconnected from the road compared to the old 6n, but it's growing on me.

So far my personal highlights are the economy and the brakes. Oh, and the pop-out cup holder in the dash - better than the Mk4 Golf version IMO (albeit less pleasent on the eyes) and ideal for holding cans of Irn Bru :)

I've yet to settle on an OEM wheel design, but so far this has caught my attention the most (shamelesly stolen from the 9n appreciation thread on E38):

The more I drive this, the more it grows on me. Economy is still fantastic with an average of 55-60mpg on the daily 70+ mile commute (with heavy and slow-moving traffic to deal with). However, having spoken to my local VW/Audi tuners about a remap, it looks like it'll be receiving one before 2014 is up. I'm not interested in gaining power as such, but want to see how much fuel economy can actually be improved by the additional low down and mid-range torque. I'll have to get the K&N panel filter on before then too.

Before that though, I intend on giving it a subtle lowering, but have yet to decide on which route to go down. In the meantime, I thought I'd try some LED sidelights. I'm not really sold on them as I was after a white light instead of the blue-y light they actually emmit :/

For anyone interested, they're 'error free 13 SMD LED' bulbs. Good value for money too, if you don't mind the slightly chavy look...

Edited 27 September, 201411 yr by scumbagmike