Cool Playa lowered for ‘modded’ looks

THE VW Polo was introduced to the South African market a few years before the millennium. It has since become one of the top-selling passenger cars in the country, offering a variety of specification levels, kit and most importantly for petrolheads the prospect of virtually limitless saleability.

Samuel Subramoney is the 26-yearold owner of this week’s featured ride, a cool millennium-spec 2001 Polo Playa.

Subramoney, who works as an IT buyer at a local company, lives in Chatsworth. His hobbies and interests include charity work, DIY projects and car “modding”.

Mechanically, his car has the standard, adequately-powered, original 74kw AFX MP9 factory fitted engine and drivetrain.

In contrast to the rather “vanilla” mechanics, this Polo does, however, boast a lowered suspension system with a 60mm all-round drop courtesy of a Maxtrac coilover installation mated to a set of Gas Ryder shortened shock absorbers.

The low-slung suspension is fittingly matched to a set of highly desirable 17-inch BBS mag wheels teamed with a set of 205/40/17 rubbers.

No Polo is complete without an awesome sound system and this one is no exception: it rocks with a fully customised sound set-up featuring a 7-inch VW double DIN head unit, an Audiobank preamp, a quartet of Pioneer midrange speakers, an ICE Power 4 000W monoblock and a 4 000W Targa 4-channel amplifier married, for clarity, to a 12-inch XTC DVC 3 500W sub-woofer.

This Polo also has a customised boot installation with a 10-inch screen display at the rear.

Subramoney is a proud member of the popular, frequently referenced VW Illest performance car club, a local and virtual collective of Vw-centric petrolheads who share a love and passion for all things VW apart from meeting the club’s philanthropic goals.

Only R9000 was spent on this build. SERVICE PROVIDERS: RNS Motorsport (Rubesan Kistensamy). Vicz Customs. Mobis Tyres and Exhaust. Sadeks Auto Repair. Audio Trinity.