First New Parts

So we (myself and the car) have been treated to our first new parts.
Aren't we lucky ladies!

Lower honeycomb grills. I think they'll make the front match up a bit better, not even sure why these weren't a factory fit job.
having almost bought the wrong ones (ones without the cut out for the intercooler) we now have the right ones on their way to us.

I can't wait.

In other news, I have switched key fobs and *touch wood* so far, my door locks haven't been playing up, though my brake lights are still intermittant.

I also called the garage I bought her from about my odd centre cap that I think they tried to get away with, I don't think they were expecting me to notice and/or care. getting another one ordered for me.

The First Photoshoot

Sunday brought a nice surprise, through Saturday the sun was out and it must have rained and warmed up considerably, because the 5 or 6 inches of snow we had through the say, had all disappeared!
So with the sun out once more the weather was beautiful, so we took her out to have her picture taken.

There was a place that we had in mind that we hadn't used before for photographs so we headed over to Halifax to see what we could make of it all.

Here are the results.

Little Faults To Sort

So, on the drive over on Friday night and on little ventures out on the Saturday, we noticed a few little niggles that if they don't sort themselves out over the next week or so, she will be going back to the garage and having it investigated and fixed under the extended warrnty I paid for.

Intermittant rear brake lights - I can hear the relay click when I know its working, and when it doesn't I have no brake lights. not the safest of things.

Door locks sound like they're trying to lock/unlock while driving - forst noticed on the motorway and it freaked me out a little. When it did it again while stationary we pressed a door lock down to see if that stopped it but it wouldn't push down so it must be trying to unlock the doors. Today it has done it some more but actually locked the doors and unlocked them, both while driving and stationary. I'm wondering if they key fob has anything to do with this, a stuck button maybe? The boot is also tempremental at opening.

Tyre pressure light - it was on when I went on the test drive and they reset it and said they would check it out to see if they tyre had a puncture. It wasn't on when I picked her up but it came back on while I was driving home on Sunday night, I reset it on Monday morning and it seems to be clear for now, but I will keep an eye on it.

Misted headlights and o/s rear indicator - possibly due to the weather etc but will get it sorted once the weather gets nice.

Coolant smell - noticed a couple of times after a good run out, just something to keep an eye on, could just be all the wet and the snow.

Odd centre cap on front wheel - It was missing when I went to view it so pointed it out and they said they would replace it, having looked at it properly I've noticed they've just got a blank and badly stuck a VW sticker on it, I will be telling them this and insisting on a new genuine one to match all the others.

I think some of these issues may just be because shes been sat still for a couple of months so I've called the garage on Mondayand told them of the faults I'd picked up on and that I'd run her this week and see if it made a difference that it might just be damp and needed drying out.

She has a couple of minor marks on her anyway which I knew when I went to go see her (kerbed wheels, parking dings etc) but I had some money knocked off her sale price to be able to get them sorted. Wheels are the first thing once all the above is sorted out.

The First Weekend

So I collected her on Friday the 25th and we were due to make out way over to bradford, as has become customary at the weekend.
I finished work early, and it started to snow, a lot.

I completed all the paperwork, and started taking her home and the snow just came down thick and fast. It started sticking to the roads and everyone else all of a suddent forgot how to drive, but non the less, we got on our way, we cleared the muppets driving through town, got to the motorway and we were on our way.
Luck took hand and the snow started to clear as we hit the M62.

We arrived in Bradford just in time it would seem as the snow that was falling when we left soon caught us up and in a matter of hours there was a good few inches covering everywhere you could see.
So the following morning, despite picking her up sparkling from a half decent clean, she was filthy and covered in snow, thankfully the sun started to come out to shift some of it.

How It All Started

Over the years of car ownership and having my little projects, my cars become like a member of the family. I have had readers rides threads and build threads on forums before, but they end up cluttered with off topic comments and the conversation ends up taking over, people voice their opinion on how they think you're doing it wrong and how you should be doing it, and what they would be doing and so on, the information becomes broken and inconsistent.

Here, with my latest addition, I am going to be keeping track of the work that goes into the car, the adventures we may go on and everything that goes with it. Hopefully managing to keep up to speed with anything that happens (as slow as progress may be), if only for my own benefit on those days when you think nothing much has happened.

How we got to this point;

Back in October/November time 2012 it was suggested due to various different reasons that it was time for me to be getting a different car, something newer, with less hassle.

I originally started off looking at something diesel, still with some power behind it, but better on fuel, similar insurance, lower tax etc. i was looking at Seat Ibiza Diesel Sports, and then moved onto the Curpa Diesel, still being in a similar insurance and tax band to my current car, but with a higher bhp and a bigger body. I didn't really have the money to be buying anything and figured I would struggle to get one without selling my current car which I needed to get to and from work. So it all kind of hit the side lines really.

My parents were looking in the papers at cars that were for sale at local garages, or through dealerships seeing what deals were available on brand new cars, things like the VW Up (basically the same car as what I was driving but with less power) a nice little car but I felt like I'd be taking a step down as it didn't really have much of anything really, or a Mk V Golf, which for the money I'd be spending I wouldn't really be getting very much, like alloys or a nice interior. All nice cars, but going from having a lot of nice things to something very basic for the same money seemed counter productive as I'd just end up spending more money trying to get them up to parr with what I was already driving.

It all just faded out after a while and I didn't really think much about it, then this car came up in the paper at a local garage. It was listed as a 1.8 GT Polo, which despite trying to look it up, didn't exist. I know that there were 1.9 GT Golfs, but I don't ever remember there being a Polo version, so I went to go see it.
Turns out it was a 1.8 GTi. A beautiful car, I loved it straight away and arranged to take it out for a test drive and as they say, the rest is history.

I sorted out the finance side of it over the Christmas period, arranged the sale of my current car, and last weekend, Friday 25th January, 2013, I went and picked her up.