Humble-engined Citi with bragging rights

THE VW Citi Golf, like the Durban bunny chow, can be found on almost every other corner of the city.

The reason isn’t hard to find. The Citi, even in its most humble engine spec, is a fun car, teaming with virtually endless upgrade possibilities, low acquisition costs, high levels of after-market parts availability and more than three decades of local enthusiast “prototyping”.

The car must be judged on individual merit, as few are alike.

This week we showcase the car of 23-year-old Dhesan Pillay, a pharmaceutical company employee and resident of Merebank.

His VW has an entry-level 1.3-litre factory-fitted carburettor engine to which he has added performanceenhancing features such as 276° performance cams, a performance branch and a 57mm free-flow exhaust system. This engine upgrade is unusual for a 1.3 litre-engine as most Citi Golf upgrades are done on the bigger 1.6 and 1.8-litre engines.

This low-slung Volkswagen also has a lowered coil-over suspension system mated to a set of 15-inch Snowflake mag wheels with 7.5J tyres all around or a set of white BBS mag wheels with 7.5J rubbers in front and 8Js in the rear, depending on Pillay’s mood and the occasion.

The interior has customised black and red seats with Velocity door pads, while there are stripes down the sides on the outside.

Acoustically, this Citi Golf rocks a super installation with mids and super tweeters fitted to the frontdoor pads and a pair of 6x9s, and a 12-inch subwoofer wired to a 2000 watt amplifier in the rear.

Pillay is incidentally a proud member of the popular VW Illest Owners Car Club, a local collective of Vw-centric petrolheads who share a love and passion for all things VW. SERVICE PROVIDERS: Dunlop, Jacobs. Barons VW. Radical Rides, Chatsworth.