Not everyone can claim that they have owned a Mk3 GTI as their first car – certainly not in Germany, where most first cars usually play in the league of 45 and 60hp cars. The owner of this fine example can claim it, though – which brings us to our first Mk3Love Feature Car.

Tim bought the car back in May ’05. He was looking for his first car and stumbled across his dream, the GTI, on a dealer’s lot.

The car came stock with fabric Recaros, power windows, power mirrors, power sunroof, ABS, driver airbag and foglights. The previous owner had already installed a Weitec suspension along with a Bosi muffler.

Over the next few years the car went through some changes (you’ll find a complete history at the end of this feature), but for now we’ll deal with how the car sits today.

Let’s start on the inside and work our way out. A JVC KDG 611 headunit sends his musical tastes to a Rodek R680i amp, which in turn powers a set of Hifonics speakers and a Hifonics bass. The GTI’s passengers are seated in a set of black Recaro leathers which are enclosed by the completely black interior. The pillars were swapped out for black parts and the headliner was swapped out for black alcantara.

A Mk 3.5 Cabrio gave up it’s sunvisors for this GTI. In the dash you’ll find two gloveboxes: the larger one (upper) came with the car and the smaller one (lower) which was originally from a car with a passenger airbag. The doors are opened from the inside with chrome door openers. You’ll even find some parts from a Passat 35i inside the cabin – namely the panic handles over the doors. The handbrake handle comes straight from a Mk4. The driver punches gas and brake pedals from an R32 while being kept cool by the Climatronic.

The outside the car was freshened up quite a bit and definitely doesn’t look like it was built in 1994. The car was lowered with KW V1 coilovers and now sits on 17” Audi TT wheels wrapped in 205/40 rubber. Behind the front wheels you’ll find enormous brakes straight from an Audi S3, though the rear still looks good wearing stock GTI disc brakes.

Golf Mk4 styled headlights – modified with Xenon - illuminate the road in front of this GTI while being accented by clear MTS turn signals and Votex fogs. The red/white FK taillights accent the unique rear complete with cleaned hatch. With a car that looks this good, it needs to sound the part. The hearty exhaust note is provided by a Hartmann exhaust system.

With all the work that went into this car it is now only being driven in the summer – especially after it was completely freed of any rust last winter.

Tim took his time in getting the car to where it is today but we can say that this time was definitely well spent. We from Mk3Love wish him good luck with his future projects and hope that he’ll have lots of fun with his Mk3 GTI!

Lastly we’ll follow up with a quick history of all the modifications Tim has done to his GTI.

2005 - 2006:

• Leather sport seats with Kamei armrest
• Chrome door openers
• Stereo install
• 7.5 x 17 Audi TT wheels with 205/40 tires
• FK Angeleyes headlights
• Clear turns by MTS
• Votex fogs
• FK taillights
• 16v style antenna
• Air intakes by Hoefele in the front bumper
• Hartmann exhaust system

2006 - 2007:

• Climatronic
• black pillars
• sunvisors from Mk3.5
• lower glovebox
• R32 pedals
• Passat 35i panic handles
• Golf Mk4 handbrake handle
• Mk4 wiperarms + Aerotwin wipers
• clean rear hatch
• FK Angeleyes modded with Xenon

2007-2008:

• Recaro leather seats with airbags
• black alcantara headliner
• Mk4 door lights
• KW V1 coilovers
• complete rust removal
• Audi S3 brakes in front
• Mk4 Golf style headlights with Xenon

Text and Photos: Bastien “Dr.AK” Bochmann