A 1999 VW Cabrio will join the Miata in same-sex holy matrimony.
This weekend, my girlfriend/future wife, Corinne, will be the proud owner of a 1999 Volkswagen Cabrio as long as the car she likes and put an offer on looks as good in person as it does in photos and drives and catches our eyes in person the same way it does in photos and from our conversations with the seller.
About the car. It’s a’99 Cabrio with 130k from Virginia. A bit higher mileage from what we were looking for, but it’s been well maintained and will only be driven during summer months so we’re not worried about it. It was owned by two women before the current owner/seller and he has had it for 2 years and drove it about 4,000 miles. Car Fax shows routine maintenance performed and no accidents.
Complete black interior swap with MK3.5 steering wheel, dimple dash swap, black carpet and black leather seats. Black top in great shape, lines /motor were bypassed so top goes up by hand but that’s not a problem for Corinne or myself. (We’re used to manual Miata tops) Clean paint, no rust.
5 Speed transmission
2.0 w/ minor mods-intake, MK4 manifold and custom piping, resonator delete.
KW coilovers
Porsche D90 wheels. Staggered 7"/8"
Front bumper license plate holes fixed
GTI taillights, smoked front signals and corner markers
New head-unit with CD, iPod connect and USB. Antenna delete. Pioneer speakers and IIRC an Alpine 8" or 10" subwoofer & amp.
Yes, it is a bit pre-mature lol You could say that but you dont know the extent in which I have discussed this car and the sale with the seller. It needs to be the perfect car in perfect condition so that my girlfriend buys the best car for her money. I think 53 emails, bunch of phone calls, texts and many many photos was my last count exchanged between the seller and I. It’s all agreed upon as long as the car looks great in person and drives nicely. The pictures dont seem to hide anything major and the seller has been pretty honest about every nit-picky thing. He’s mentioned things right off the bat that many others would never even mention until after the car is sold. He seems to be a neat-freak, perfectionist and knows a lot about the car and did solid work and craftsmanship. I dont think I could have found a better seller. He just had it detailed for us to pick up this weekend. After the detail he hit a pot hole and the steering wheel was off center; he called me right away and gave me the option to have him get it aligned and he would eat the cost or take money off the price of the car and I would get it aligned. He’s getting it aligned today. If the deal falls through somehow, you can be the first one to say “I told you so” I wont be mad haha
Thanks for all the other kind words. Ive always had a love for these “adorable” cabbys and was super stoked when Corinne said she loved them too. I had to find her one that she’d love. Not really being a VW lover I didnt want to have to work on it or put extra money into it so we had to find one in great shape from a great seller. This is probably the best Cabby we could buy. Fingers crossed because there is always that sketpicism, but its looking really really good.
I really want to get a 99.5+ cabrio to swap my TDI drivetrain out of my 98 soo bad. but clean ones with bad motors are impossible to find silly bullet proof 2.0
Owner had a tune up performed right before winter so I will ask him for some details on that. He may have already taken care of that.
---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:07 PM ----------
haha yea any other car we looked at or searched for had good motors but bad condition interior, accidents, bad top, etc. This is the cleanest , best put together one we found with some clean aftermarket modifications to make it perfect for the price.
Not that it helps but I know I saw a MK4 in Niagara Falls for $500 on craigslist recently. needed a motor.
this 2.0 only has 1 coil pack it wont misfire it will just die.
Also they never made a true MK4 cabrio only a MK3.5 (meaning they only EVER came with the same 2.slo) Ill have to check that one out i see it on there with no pic’s.
The coilpack will die and thus cause motor to not run? Or motor will die and car is useless? How much do coilpacks run?
Ill do some research and ask the seller specifically about the coilpack. Im not too worried about it though. Obviously the seller could try to hide thiss from us, but I mentioned it will be doing a long drive to Buffalo with it and he said it needed nothing excpept an oil change in 3,000 miles, which he offered to do before he sells us the car but I told him he didnt have to haha. CarFax showed it was always serviced at VW dealers or Arlington Mazda , which is a very notable Mazda dealer.
no it works more like a normal car lol there is one coil, spark is separated via a distributor, cap and rotor to plugs. and im sure if a tune up was done recently all but the coil was replaced if you ever get a stall out in the rain, or a no start in the rain, then replace the coil. there usually good for 50-100k depending on how the car is driven stored. those coils are MUCH better then the later MK4 coils
haha Im sorry I was just making sure I was understanding you. “die” on the internet to me means explosions involving fire, schrapnel, etc. haha Thank you for the insight, i really appreciate it. I will look into the coil.
ya the 1.8t had a recall on the coils as its part of the emission and would cause cat failer they where forced to recall them but thats with a car that has Coil on Plug unlike this car he just bought. different boat. this guy will be fine. this cabrio is a very simple car. you cant kill (well minus the 020 trans likes to loose reverse.)
