Member Profile: 2008 VW Polo GTI 9N

[Aus30R]

Hey all, my best mate just picked up this little gem. While this is my mates car I end up doing just as much driving in his cars as he does, plus I'm the one that does all the maintenance/modifications. I love build threads so I thought I'd start one up on his behalf.

2008 Volkswagen Polo 9N GTI Hatch

Basic specifications

Engine: BJX (1.8L In-Line-4 Turbo)
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
Year and Trim: MY08, GTI 9N
Colour: Candy White
Horsepower / Kilowatts: 147 HP / 110 KW @ 5,800RPM
Torque: 162 Ib-ft / 220 NM @ 1,950 RPM
Price (When new): $26,990
Price (Paid): $7,500





Modifications

Exterior

- Premium Euro Plates

Entertainment / Speakers

- Sony XAV-AX100 head-unit
- Hands-free with Bluetooth

[Aus30R]

November 2018: My mate recently sold his very well sorted WRX converted Subaru Legacy/Outback wagon and needed something to replace it with.





The wagon was epic and uber reliable but it was big and very heavy on fuel, although a heavy foot didn't help that. Anyway, for months I've been trying to convince him a Polo GTI was the perfect car for him. I have a bad habit of making mates buy cars I would want if I had space for more. We looked at a few that were advertised but surprisingly they were all pretty rough, specially the ones with leather interiors. Right at the end though we spotted this beauty.

Inside and out this thing is immaculate, pretty surprised really. It's got a full service history from day one with VW and has clearly been looked after, after a drive we handed over the money and took it home.





We've gave it a quick wash and went out for some pics.













Man these seats are amazing, the interior is so damn clean and I was prefer the cloth to the leather.









I'm super keen to get into the mods on this thing. First thing coming shortly, but more on that when it happens.

[Aus30R]

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[seangti]

Welcome. Looks like someone is into their photography. Very nice pics and a tidy car.

The 9n3's are starting to age and also come to a price where they aren't as nicely maintained as they could be. Still, when maintained they retain comfort, reliability and present well even with high mileage.

[simon k]

your mate has picked up a nice little car... but I'm afraid the left rear wheel gives it away, the car is possessed by the devil...

[PoloGIT]

your mate has picked up a nice little car... but I'm afraid the left rear wheel gives it away, the car is possessed by the devil...

Yep, it's going to need a lot of go fast mods to exorcise those demons!
Having also recently owned a BG GT wagon, I can assure you he'll enjoy the reduced fuel bill
Welcome and nice camera work!

[sssstew]

looks great. very original and tidy. how many ks on it?

[Aus30R]

February 2019: We're finally going to start on the modifications on this little thing.

Something that really needed attention was the headunit. I'm actually really happy with the stereo. It sounds good and seems to be really well deadened. The factory radio though, that needs to go. We ended up going with what I believe is the ultimate headunit, the Sony XAV-AX100. This is like the 5th car I've used one in. Especially considering a new version has been released, these are CHEAP.





I actually prefer the older model to the newer XAV-AX1000 because it has the USB on the back of the headunit rather than the front. That means we can hide the cable for a more stealthy and clean install.





It comes with the usual extras, remote and mic.





And the loom.





Now I come from working on Japanese cars, they need a lot less extras to get going but oh well nothing we can do about that. Keys to remove the original headunit.





Aerpro Antenna adaptor





Looks like there's some termination to do.





Aerpro CT10VW01 T-Harness, this was chosen rather than the CAN version, it's my mates money and at $100 cheaper so it's worth the little bit of extra effort. I also want this to be reversible when and if the car ever gets sold so I didn't want to cut the factory connector.





It'll need to be simplified.





Aerpro 959012. Lastly the facia kit. It looks like the factory unit is double din, but it is slightly bigger.

[Aus30R]

Basic but it'll do the job.





I mounted it to double check things. I was a little worried about the headunit only mounting with a single din. It's all good though.





Moving onto the install, old headunit needed to exit the building.





Keys in.





It then came out with ease.





Loom out.





Antenna out.





I started with running the switched power. For those who don't know. Because we're not running a CAN adaptor, we need to tell the headunit to turn on. I decided to use the cigarette lighter. Before anything, the centre console needs to be moved. Pesky Torx bits.





And out.





Popped the connector out. It took some trial and a popped fuse to find out that brown is negative and black is positive. Oh you silly Germans, making things oh so unlogical.

[Aus30R]

I then cut off the ISO connectors and anything that I didn't need for the splice.





Got it onto the bench so I could splice it all together.





Time to plug in. I left the second factory connector and unused CAN wires just in case it confused the car. Very likely unnecessary but it's not hurting anyone.





Quick power up and audio test. Hallelujah!





And finally installed. CarPlay is the entire reason for this headunit. We didn't need CD or fancy GPS rubbish. Just something that is clean and has CarPlay. Google Maps and Spotify is all that's needed.





Really happy with how clean it all looks. Now the reason I had to get this in so quick is my mate is going on a 2 week trip to Byron Bay and wanted some tunes for the long drive. Because of time constraints, legit finished this at 12.30am, I didn't get a chance to hook the antenna up or the hands free microphone. He would have rather had this left out for now so it could all be sorted for the trip. Neither are going to be used for now anyway. I'll fix it all up when he gets back.