Living in Houston, I met some pretty cool friends that own some really nice VWs. I went to my friend’s house to do some fender work, then we decided to do a mini photo shoot in the freezing December winter. Anything to do with cars Im game for! Plus I get to practice my photography skills!
This was my first Cars and Coffee show I went to, and I have to say its a little bit different from the other car shows I’ve been to. Its more like a car meet because its free but without the rice. There wasn’t the usual stanced imports, or JDMness that you see like at Weksos, or at First Class Fitment. In matter of fact there wasn’t many stanced cars, I was the only stanced VW in the meet; instead you see the rare exotics, high end cars, and classic cars. It felt like a show that for the mature crowd, or something you can go with your family.
Sooo, I bought some Enkei RPF1 for my GTI for a really good deal…. The problem was the bolt pattern is 5×114.3. Now if you have a MK5 VW or Mercedes or Audi the bolt pattern is 5×112, unfortunately it wasn’t going to work out. But I had several options: I could get wobble bolts, or I could get the rims re drilled to 5×112, or I could buy adaptors. Wobble bolts are great because there are relatively cheap but i would need to bore out my rims in order for the wobble bolts to fit. My RPF1 is 17×9 et35 so i could have gotten my rims redrilled but I didnt because I wanted a more aggressive offset and stance. Which brings me to my adaptors…..
Im here to do a review about my Status Seat. I actually found this seat on a craigslist ad, and the guy was originally selling 2 seats with the Status bracket and mk4 r32 seat rails for 1200$. Thats was a pretty good deal since the seat alone is worth 1000$. I was originally going to buy two but after talking to my fiance (she didn’t want non reclining seats on her side) and saving money for a wedding I decided to get one. So I txted the dude and i dr0ve to Austin to pick up the seat, later my boy Thaison picked up the 2nd seat. The owner told me there were many people that wanted to get it didnt buy it because they were to big. Im a slender guy and I would definitely say if your waist line is 34 or higher you will not fit. The seats were overall in very good condition. The black cloth faded a bit but no tears, or cracks. Just goes to show you how good the quality of build the seats are. Plus its American made so Im supporting the local business too! The carbon fiber weave is immaculate and beautiful!
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One of the biggest car shows was in Austin and Natsukashi Garage got to represent!! The show had alot of very top quality cars. There was a screening process months before the show started and I was glad I made it through. This was my first car show where my car was actually in it and what a better place than Weksos! Just a day before Weksos Branden and I almost got the Weksos curse! We were driving to burn gas, since you have to be 1/4 tank prior to getting in the show, and we almost got into a head on collision from stupid driver that was going too fast in the rain. Whew that was close and thank goodness no one was hurt. Anyways real glad I could be a part of Weksos with Natsukashi Garage and onto the pics!
Well i bought a MacBook Pro and i was messing around with iMovie and here is my first vid with the natsukashi garage crew. Its not that great but im learning here 🙂
Well its been awhile since I upgraded my GTI but Im getting older and my priorities are changing. Unfortunatly I cant spend as much money I would like to as i did before. So while browsing the internet I found a cool little $2 upgrade. With some tools, pb blaster and a $2hole plug I deleted my rear wiper. I don’t really use my rear wipers since it hardly rains in Texas. The upgrade made the rear hatch look more clean and flows better with the lines of the GTI. After deleting my rear wiper it got me thinking to debage the “GTI” on the truck on and front grill. That too was a simple do it yourself. Overall the car looks more simple and more OEM+.
Next I did was added LED taillights. For $50 I got the Ziza led lights. Its a simple bolt on upgrade but updates the look you are car. Also LEDs are brighter and uses less volts too. But I do believe not all cars should do this because Ive seen some other cars with LED license plate lights and it just looked rice. On this car it wasn’t the case. The LED really updated the look of the gti, and it reminded me of the newer BMWs that came stock with LEDs.
A couple months ago my left fog light got cracked. So while i bought the LED lights i also got OEM projector fog lights. Theses are brighter and shines more distance than my old fog lights for those adverse weather conditions.
I’m sure most people might not notice these upgrade buts that’s a good thing. Its not flashy like those cars with chrome rims with under glow and suicide doors. I would say my car is subtle with little tweaks here and there like those limited edition models that came out from the factory. Its all in the details.
Im glad to be a member of Natsukashi garage. As long as i can remember I’ve always been into cars especially euro cars. My current car is a MK5 GTI, and i bought this car stock right after college and getting a real job. It was a gift to myself for graduating college. At the time I was looking at older VWs and BMWs but when I test drove the MK5 GTI i knew I had to had it. Its a 09 MK5 GTI and has the TSI motor (the improved FSI motor from the older MK5 GTIs) and the same motor that is in the MK6 GTI. People say the MK5 GTI is the best GTI since the original MK1 GTI. The GTI is already a great car stock but being a gearhead it wasn’t stock for long. Within two months I had on BBS LM replica rims, then a month later I had Neuspeed race springs and VF engineering air intake. Then i bought a carbon fiber lip to make the car lower. But since I like to be slammed, i wasnt happy how low my car was so the next month I bought H&R Ultra Low Coilovers. I was slammed and rubbing hard haha. Then I saved some money to money to buy some CCWs because I wanted to have some poke. But I spent that money on a plane trip to the Philippines for vacation and to see my girlfriend. It was money well spent. When I came back, i scored a great deal on some Mercedes Alphards on craigslist. It was like a substitute to CCWs. Now Im slammed, tucked, poked, and stretched. I recently bought a exhaust and euro rear fog light for that OEM+ look. Within one year my GTI was completely transformed. Right now I would say Im 90% finished with my car, just driving it to big car meets with the Natsukashi garage crew!
Rolling on BBS LM reps and Neuspeed race springs
Gotta love those Alparhards
Mayday Garage status!
Natsukashi Garage 