HermanH (Herman)

Back around mid-to-late 1997, my trusty old 1986 GTI was in great need of repair. New tires were going to be required, and the rear window seals were leaking profusely. 3 of the 4 BBS rims were still bent, the exhaust manifold had cracked and a major tune up was at hand. I was quick to note that next year, 1998, I would be turning 40 and the so-called "second childhood " feelings began to sink in.

I began my search on the Edmunds.com site with the following criteria: a $30,000 or less, 4 door sedan, A/C, stereo, cloth interior, 5 speed, sunroof. It's been awhile, but I seemed to recall ending up with the following: BMW 318i, BMW 323i, Audi A4 and Volkswagen Passat. I ignored all the Japanese makes. The Mazda 626 would have fallen into this category but my wife already owned one and I only mildly liked the car. I've driven in a Honda Accord and it's nice and very very predictable to the point of boredom. Maximas looked ugly. Toyota's are completely gutless at this price point. I considered the BMW's but I just didn't want the entry level BMW. If I wanted to do justice in the purchase, the 328i (the largest 3-series at the time) would have been my choice but it was well over $30,000. And the SaabsÉ what can I say except it's the kind of car only its mother could love.

During this time, I discovered three forums on the Internet, two or which were instrumental in my decision: Passat Owners of the World (POW), A4.org and VW Vortex. These newly developed sites were very informative about both the A4 and Passat as most of the suspension, engine and drive train components are shared between the two. In fact, I had no idea up to this point, that VW owned Audi! To make a long story short, after spending weeks on the forums, I made up my mind that the Passat 1.8tM would be my car of choice. Three major factors were very clear in my thinking and final decision: pricing, value, and the aftermarket. In fact, it is these 3 factors that drove my decision on the two GTI's before. But the last point is very important as I discovered there were a great number of upgrades and/or modifications I could perform on the Passat that would transform the car from an everyday family hauler to an autobahn burner!

OK, we're not talking M3 proportions by any stretch, but in terms of "family sedans", I believed I found a sleeping giant. On June 28, 1998, I signed the papers at Sunnyvale Volkswagen and paid the princely sum of $23,897.65 for my 4/98 built Passat, 1.8t, Windsor Blue, Grey Cloth interior, 5 speed and a sunroof as my only extra option. There was only 11 miles on the odometer prior to my test drive; the papers show 16 miles at the time of delivery.

From then on, I took a different approach to modifying than I had in all my other vehicles. Much of it has to be due to the Internet and the wealth of information that was very easy to obtain. Being older with many mistakes under my belt, I now had a clear idea on how to go about my modifications starting with the right tools and then planning out the modifications one at a time. Nearly all of you have seen this car grow up over the years, primarily at my Modifications site: http://home.comcast.net/~hhong4/modifications.htm

Once you've seen everything I've done to this car, it looks, well, not very remarkable in comparison to others. But it did end up the way I had hoped. Not quite a sleeper but not a show car either. It fit my needs and vision pretty much exactly. And throughout these 5 years, I've had the pleasure to share this knowledge by way of modifying other Passats in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've lost track on how many people I've met or how many cars I've touched but it was all fun and beer! Oh, there was some money when I was unemployed. Thanks to those for their understanding during those hard times.

Since 2003, the car has been pretty much static however, due to the rigors of daily driving, the front Oettinger lower valence is no longer in place as is the rear Zender deck spoiler.

I did however, install a used Fiber Images carbon fiber hood; it was previously used on a show car but the owner has since moved to the east coast. The car does not look much of what it looks like in the photo's here anymore; those were my 'prime days'.

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