Thread: I have a sickness.

My first car at 16 (now 28) was a ’97 GPGT, which I eventually top-swapped and XP’d after messing around with N/A mods in high school. When I graduated from college I elected to sell that car and buy a friend’s ’98 GTP with a VS/TOG/3.2 setup, partly because his was in better shape, but also because I felt I was at the limit of what I could run through the 4t60e.

97 GT.jpg
GTP Side.JPG

I drove the GTP in the nicer months and had a ’96 Accord to DD for the winter, but when it came time to do the timing belt on the Accord I just felt tired of having and taking care of two cars, so I sold them both in October 2010 for my current car, a 2011 6M VW GTI. I really like the GTI, but tuning the thing under warranty has me skittish and there isn’t much room in the budget for mods anyway with car payments on top of owning an older home and having a steady stream of renovation projects.

It’s almost paid off and the warranty will expire in October. I can probably hold out that long, but for some reason I keep finding myself searching CL for a nice GTP. I’ve found a couple, and for what I could get out of my car ($10-$11k after payoff) I could have myself a clean GTP with a big chunk of change left over for mods and maintenance.

I think I’d miss driving a manual, but otherwise the GTP really probably better fits the driving I do most days. Having a point and shoot automatic car that could run a 13.1 @ nearly 107 was nice in traffic compared to a stock manual GTI, but more than that I think I just miss having a car I felt comfortable working on. With the free maintenance for the first 3 years there hasn’t been much to do, plus most of it I’d be afraid to dig into anyway because German engineering.

Am I nuts?

TL;DR
Have had two GPs, drive a MK6 GTI now, am thinking about getting another GTP. Crazy?

Your logic makes sense to me. This is also a reason why I'm trying to keep my car rust free. I'm 18, but my first car was gtp. Sold it and bought a really clean one and I'd like to hold onto it because it seems like a lot of car guys end up eventually wanting a car that was just like their first car, just like you seem to be thinking.

Modding a GP is not expensive, lol... Has a pretty good $ to HP ratio really. Lol... It's when that cheap HP "BREAKS" things, it gets expensive!

Originally Posted by kkehlet

I bought my 99 GTP as a daily driver , but I keep looking things I want to add and change besides my two other project cars.

Modding a GTP isn't really expensive, but there is a LOT to modify, seemingly. With newer turbo cars it's easier to pick up big HP with bolt-ons, but parts are much more expensive.

Dropped off the GTI at the dealer this morning for what looks to be a seeping valve cover. Thank goodness for the warranty. I guess there's quite a bit integrated into the valve cover on the 2.0 TSI and it's not at all a small job.

Talked to my wife to get some input on the GTP idea; she thinks I'm crazy, but that's probably not anything out of the ordinary.

From a practicality perspective it'd probably be smart to get a newer car, but I've just never liked the lines on the 04+. The interior is also insanely cramped compared to the 97-03 models or even my GTI.