Seeking a Lupo GTi - question regarding spec, and looking for sellers.. ;-)

[NorthernSky 0]

Morning all,

Thanks for the add to these forums. I see many nice looking Lupos around, and a friendly community.

I'm currently in the market for a GTi, and had a couple of questions to try and narrow down my search.

> Are any of you considering selling? I've a budget of between 2.5/3.5k. Not looking for an ultra low mile rare, just a well-maintained, rust-free example. Please point me in the right direction, or PM.

> Regarding the spec; can anyone advise me what the rarest upgrades were to these little cars? I would love to get one with a sunroof and/or the heated leather seats, but appreciate these ones do come with a premium. Also would quite like a Raven blue, but know these are quite uncommon...

I'm coming from a BMW Z4M Coupe & Honda S2000, so am hoping to enjoy the fizzy motor in the GTi whilst appreciating the tasty MPG. It should be first time driver friendly too, I'd put my other half on the insurance so she can get some driving practice.

 

Thanks everyone. 🤑

Tom 

 

 

[Rich 953]

Define northern.

[NorthernSky 0]

Durham upwards. 😖

 

Have I passed the test?!

 

 

[Rich 953]

That is northern although I define the line as scotch corner.

 

[Skezza 327]

How was your S2000? Just curious.....

[NorthernSky 0]

51 minutes ago, Rich said:

That is northern although I define the line as scotch corner.

 

The true north is the North pole, from the arctic cirle upwards.

 

28 minutes ago, Skezza said:

How was your S2000? Just curious.....

Hallo! It is ridiculously good fun, well built, and a riot to drive. Rifle bolt manual gearbox and you have to work the car hard to launch it to the 9k RPM limiter. 9000 rpm. That's sports motorbike territory

Get one before the prices rise beyond mortal means. Rust-free, well cared-for ones go for 15k plus at the moment.

It is an atmospheric experience, that's before you drop the roof and take it down your favourite B roads on a sunny day. Not that we have many of those nowadays.

[Rich 953]

If you're actually in Durham I know someone with a GTi who could give you a go if you haven't driven one?

[lupo1.0se 92]

8 hours ago, NorthernSky said:

Regarding the spec; can anyone advise me what the rarest upgrades were to these little cars? I would love to get one with a sunroof and/or the heated leather seats, but appreciate these ones do come with a premium. Also would quite like a Raven blue, but know these are quite uncommon...

Basically what you have already mentioned, Sunroof, Leather, Aircon, Side airbags are all rare. Import cars don't have most of these options. Rarest colour is laser blue (about 4/5 in the country). Raven blue is uncommon. Less than 80 ever came here. Antharcite is also a rare colour.

 

Or you could consider this one. Its a bit special.... (refer to press car thread) 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Lupo-GTI/283275382096?hash=item41f4874d50:g:56wAAOSwabRb-S~z:rk:9:pf:0

Edited November 28, 2018 by lupo1.0se

[Grumpy 6]

You will love it. I am on my third GTI and have run a Z4 MR and then a Z4 35is in tandem with the GTI and if the sun isn't out then very often I will use the Lupo as its far more fun.

[Skezza 327]

18 hours ago, NorthernSky said:

The true north is the North pole, from the arctic cirle upwards.

 

Hallo! It is ridiculously good fun, well built, and a riot to drive. Rifle bolt manual gearbox and you have to work the car hard to launch it to the 9k RPM limiter. 9000 rpm. That's sports motorbike territory

Get one before the prices rise beyond mortal means. Rust-free, well cared-for ones go for 15k plus at the moment.

It is an atmospheric experience, that's before you drop the roof and take it down your favourite B roads on a sunny day. Not that we have many of those nowadays.

I've seen a few for £6.5k. You're talking older, high mileage though. Are they prone? I'm seriously thinking of buying one.

[Rich 953]

I quite fancy the 244k one which is on eBay.

[mk2 118]

Just looked at that one on ebay mentioned above. Shame about the wear on the driver's seat. But one of my SDIs was much worse than that (scuffing from girls' metal studded waist belts!), so I sourced a passenger seat cloth from Germany (which are usually like new). Now my interior is like new again... so worth doing.

[Skezza 327]

35 minutes ago, mk2 said:

Just looked at that one on ebay mentioned above. Shame about the wear on the driver's seat. But one of my SDIs was much worse than that (scuffing from girls' metal studded waist belts!), so I sourced a passenger seat cloth from Germany (which are usually like new). Now my interior is like new again... so worth doing.

I'd just buy a second hand seat. They cost pennies.

[NorthernSky 0]

4 hours ago, Skezza said:

I've seen a few for £6.5k. You're talking older, high mileage though. Are they prone? I'm seriously thinking of buying one.

All Japanese roadsters are prone to rust unless undersealed, which I'm getting done on mine very soon. The engines will go on and on and on, despite their ability to hit that 9k limiter. Quite an incredible engine really.

Up your budget to say, 9k, and you'll get something in a much better condition than the 6k'ers out there (in most cases anyway). Sweet spot is between 2004 and 2006, cheaper tax (post 2006 it's 500 quid!) and 2004 was the AP1 facelift year.

One thing is for certain, they won't be making this engine again - emissions laws have seen to that. It's an exciting car to drive and rewards working it hard.

[NorthernSky 0]

Thanks for flagging that eBay one you lot.

 

It's not so far away and the mods are (mostly) performance orientated... Would prefer it to be pure, but there's such little choice at the moment it seems.

 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX 2]

Hi.

When you have a vehicle in mind if you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[musho007 1]

Who told you all Japanese roadsters are prone to rust unless undersealed??

I had an s2000 import from Japan and it was/is not at all rusty underneath despite being here since 2007!

That a myth that JDM cars are not sufficiently sealed underneath. 

[NorthernSky 0]

Check your suspension geo bolts, I'll be amazed if they're not seized. Failure of Honda to grease them properly in the factory means most owners, by now, will have them locked in place...

 

Yours being an import means it's not suffered horrible salted roads for some years before it came here. It'll be oxidising though, they all do... :,(

[Skezza 327]

23 hours ago, musho007 said:

Who told you all Japanese roadsters are prone to rust unless undersealed??

I had an s2000 import from Japan and it was/is not at all rusty underneath despite being here since 2007!

That a myth that JDM cars are not sufficiently sealed underneath. 

It may be a myth, but I've heard it repeatedly about various JDM imports. I suspect it depends on luck. If you get salt water on it and then happen to go for a few weeks without serious rain, that will be absolute carnage on a car with no proper weather-proofing.

I'm still looking at them tbh.

[Swirleman 0]

On 11/28/2018 at 7:43 PM, lupo1.0se said:

Basically what you have already mentioned, Sunroof, Leather, Aircon, Side airbags are all rare. Import cars don't have most of these options. Rarest colour is laser blue (about 4/5 in the country). Raven blue is uncommon. Less than 80 ever came here. Antharcite is also a rare colour.

 

Or you could consider this one. Its a bit special.... (refer to press car thread) 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Lupo-GTI/283275382096?hash=item41f4874d50:g:56wAAOSwabRb-S~z:rk:9:pf:0

Went and had a look at this car, the search continues

[Rich 953]

What was the craic with that one?

[Swirleman 0]

Good bits:

Good service history up to about 3 years ago, main dealer & a local place.  Then the guy serviced it himself & kept invoices / wrote down what he'd done - no issues there.  Start and drove well and held temperature no problem, new tires, discs, pads, alternator, battery, exhaust.  Xenons fine.  All the aluminium panels are present (tested with magnet)

Not so good bits:

Milage is 150 not 140 as advertised, MOT shows brake hoses & CV boots need replacing soon.  Mechanically: window regulator needs replacing, remote central locking couldn't be demonstrated as fob battery low (not a concern if that is the issue but impossible to demonstrate the system worked), only one key present, intake was split and taped up.  CD player broken,.

Cosmetically I am used to mint cars and whilst this wasn't terrible it was definitely not great either - I did ask before driving 3 hour round trip about paint bubbling and he said it was clear but the roof rail on driver side was bad, at least the size of a cigarette pack all blistered up, made me wonder how bad under the paint.  Minimum would be a roof respray and I would wonder how deep the corrosion would go once rubbed back.  Then 2 alloys were kerbed - not too bad.  The drivers door was badly marked all along the edge, the front bumper has a bad scuff that you can see in the photo, then either the rear bumper or the rear quarter (can't remember) has a patch of missing paint the size of a 50p coin that has been repaired with touch in.  The front wheel arches on the edge that faces the wheel, have lots of tiny marks that look like the start of blisters. Rear bumper had a smaller scratch on.   Interior was OK but the door cards showed lots of use - looked tired

I think it needs a full respray but it is debatable whether that is worth it on a £2500 car when minters are available for little more with less miles.

HOWEVER - if you wanted a car to drive about in and didn't care about a few marks, it is good mechanically however the roof needs doing now IMO.  Add to this that it is the 5 speed, it doesn't do it for me.  It's a car for someone with a / access to a bodyshop

 

 

[Swirleman 0]

Also the guy did keep the revs very low at all times when driving it - he did offer me a drive and I declined but it did make me wonder about the clutch so definitely worth checking if you go see it