hi, i brought my Lupo 1.4 in February, its my first car and i love driving it! it has only had one previous owner from new, was serviced at the VW main dealer for quite some time then serviced at a local garage with a good reputation for the last few years. i assume he took it to car washes all the time as when i got it (i wish i had some pictures) the paintwork was appalling to say the least. here are some pictures after its first proper clean i gave it, i have to admit i think this is one of the nicer colours standard lupos come in. there is the odd dent and scratch, but its hardly a new car! i think i have managed to get out probably 70-75% of the awful swirls (there were tons) i will never be able to get them all out, but it was cheap to just give it a good clean, and its made it look easily twice as good! things i have changed so far: taken of the door strips. got new number plate L.E.D bulbs (old ones blew) got new headlight and sidelight bulbs (the other ones were the originals and were giving out very poor light) replaced the drop links as one side was completely sheered off, and the other was well and truly going as well, and it was causing my anti roll bar to ground out on the steering rack causing a vey loud clunk. got a set of Bathursts as i wasn't really feeling the trims. the headlight protectors that came with the car were cracked, found a cheap set on eBay so nabbed them, they were even in the original sealed box! a clip that holds on the indicator panel after i broke it fitting the new headlight protectors here it how it stands now. things i still need to fix/change: the exhaust has a blow where the new exhaust was fitted and wasn't done properly (i think) the air intake pipe which causes my check exhaust light to come on and go off randomly. the rear bumper which is absolutely fubar (been hunting since i got the car but haven't found one yet!) the boot handle as it is corroded very badly (might have to change the boot lid as well) might get some Cambridge lights as they do look quite a bit better imo. i probably won't bother modifying it much more as i plan on getting a gti in the next year or two Ed