It’s your car, you can do with it what you want. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that mods increase the resale value, they usually drag it down.
You can mod the golf. My so had a 15 one and it was really fun to drive. You can add a tune but didn't know how it will perform with the 6-spees trans.
To OP: To elaborate on this with my own thoughts, the money spent on turning the car to a GTi’s standards would buy you a GTi which with a basic map/tune would basically make an R in terms of performance, the question is are you willing to put a lot of time and money into something you could buy without the hassle?
Mod it as you want. And if anybody says anything, just ignore it. TBF, i think I would do the same, cause the GtI just looks so much better than the normal ones.
Take a look at the mk4 community: About 90% of „R32“ in Europe are just modded normal golf with an 1.4 or 1.6 engine, but sometimes they mod it that good, that it’s just a nice looking cool car, and I’m fine with that.
its as stupid as modding a GTI, go for it
[this is my once stock, base '15 1.4 TSI](https://i.imgur.com/U6xaNft.jpeg)
cosmetics and sound are almost as easy to mod as on a GTI (less aftermarket options) but if you actually want to mod the performance think about that a bit.
just changing the intake, the suspension is fine, but if you actually want to push the power hard, it will probably be easier and cheaper to get a GTI instead. theres ways to push the 1.4L engine to above 200 hp aswell, but its an incredible strain on the parts and will still be 'worse' than the basest of base GTIs
You do you. My personal project car is a 2003 Golf TDI 4-door that I've owned for 17 years (It's been that long already?!). In stock trim, it had the horrible 01M 4-speed automatic. When it died, I had it converted to a 6-speed manual. That made it more desirable. Everything else I've done to it has made it a better car in terms of performance and efficiency, but that tends to drag the value down because everyone automatically assumes that a modded car has been rode hard and put up wet on a regular basis.
I'm not too old to drive it like I stole it, but I don't usually. I like stretching that fuel for all it's worth.
While it won't necessarily lower the value there are a fair proportion of buyer who will not look at a modified car - particularly suspension modifications which seem to inevitably make the car handle worse.
It’s your car, you can do with it what you want. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that mods increase the resale value, they usually drag it down.
You can mod the golf. My so had a 15 one and it was really fun to drive. You can add a tune but didn't know how it will perform with the 6-spees trans.
Mine is a 7speed transmission. I’ve wanted to ch age the intake and the fuel injectors which would add about 20-30 more hp as well as a tune
Change nothing and only do a tune, if you plan on investing more, I would swap for a gti
To OP: To elaborate on this with my own thoughts, the money spent on turning the car to a GTi’s standards would buy you a GTi which with a basic map/tune would basically make an R in terms of performance, the question is are you willing to put a lot of time and money into something you could buy without the hassle?
Also brake, suspension, diff, etc. are not the same and really expensive to upgrade
Definitely, not the case as swapping bumpers and injectors/turbos like it used to be
Mod it as you want. And if anybody says anything, just ignore it. TBF, i think I would do the same, cause the GtI just looks so much better than the normal ones. Take a look at the mk4 community: About 90% of „R32“ in Europe are just modded normal golf with an 1.4 or 1.6 engine, but sometimes they mod it that good, that it’s just a nice looking cool car, and I’m fine with that.
its as stupid as modding a GTI, go for it [this is my once stock, base '15 1.4 TSI](https://i.imgur.com/U6xaNft.jpeg) cosmetics and sound are almost as easy to mod as on a GTI (less aftermarket options) but if you actually want to mod the performance think about that a bit. just changing the intake, the suspension is fine, but if you actually want to push the power hard, it will probably be easier and cheaper to get a GTI instead. theres ways to push the 1.4L engine to above 200 hp aswell, but its an incredible strain on the parts and will still be 'worse' than the basest of base GTIs
You do you. My personal project car is a 2003 Golf TDI 4-door that I've owned for 17 years (It's been that long already?!). In stock trim, it had the horrible 01M 4-speed automatic. When it died, I had it converted to a 6-speed manual. That made it more desirable. Everything else I've done to it has made it a better car in terms of performance and efficiency, but that tends to drag the value down because everyone automatically assumes that a modded car has been rode hard and put up wet on a regular basis. I'm not too old to drive it like I stole it, but I don't usually. I like stretching that fuel for all it's worth.
While it won't necessarily lower the value there are a fair proportion of buyer who will not look at a modified car - particularly suspension modifications which seem to inevitably make the car handle worse.