Attacked the floor carpets with a Vax spot cleaner in an effort to try reducing the cigarette smell in the car. The water came out dirty, so it must have got something out. Not sure if made a difference to the smell.
As I made the carpets rather wet (despite my best efforts to suck the water out), I've stuck the dehumidifier in with the O-zone machine for a bit today too.
The boot locks okay but the hatch is a bit limp. It doesn't give a good thunk but that also could be that it appears to have an aftermarket boot catch (date coded 2017). But also the boot struts are probably original and rusting out.
I put some £9.44 eBay ANG RONG specials on. Only the finest* parts will do. In fairness they work absolutely fine - if anything they're a bit too strong.
Yes they probably won't last another 200k miles like the last ones, but the rest of the car is very unlikely to either.
I treated to new mirror passenger glass too. The old one (if you can make it out from the photos) had rusty welding splatter marks on. For £7.10, it's not exactly a large expenditure.
Also cleaned up the electrical contacts to the glass. This cleared the error code in the door module that the glass was open circuit. We're coming to spring soon, so probably won't need heated mirrors but at least it works now and was a free fix.
The mirror cover does have some impressive lacquer peel. It can stay like this for now.
Apart from the cambelt+water pump that I'll do when it warms up and the clocks change, it should be pretty much a sorted car. Still a few other minor bits like sort the sagging headlining, stained seats and try eliminating the cigarette smell but they're not essentials. Also need to fit a radio but that will be probably the freebie from dan95x when I get time to grab those spare parts.
There is a bit of unknown with the brakes. They grab on absolutely fine (if anything the Golf mk5 is too touchy on brakes) but I keep hearing dragging when warm. Not sure if maybe seized calipers, sliders need a clean or warped discs. Will use the car and see if it becomes a problem.
So cost and how much has this "cheap" GTI cost me so far? Something that I'm sure many of you are wondering.
One tyre £100 (can't remember exactly but close enough)
Aerial £4.59
Pollen filter £11.84
Sump plug £3.06
Oil filter £10.05 (not done yet)
Oil (on shelf so from memory) £18
Cam Follower £23.42
Fuel pump sealing o-ring (not used yet) £3.65
Coolant Flange £10.42
PCV kit £59.20
Thermostat £28.20
Aux belt £13.53
Aux tensioner pulley £14.53
Rear wiper arm + blade £6.20
Alternator £21.24
Spare MAF sensor £29.99 (will keep as a backup)
Upper tailgate struts £9.44
Passenger mirror glass £7.10
5l Anti-freeze £5.22
Boot carpet £21.40
Total parts: £401.08
Inc purchase (£1400) total cost: £1801.08
Providing it doesn't keep breaking (there still is a good chance it may...) then that is still a very cheap GTI.