KEENAN GOUNDER
Meet ‘Rebecca’ – customised and cool
THE VW Citi is definitely no stranger to the “fast and sometimes furious” community of Durban petrol-heads. It is also no stranger to this column.
This is due in no small part to the car’s age-defying appeal, low running costs and, most important, potential for virtually limitless performance scaleability.
Keenan Gounder is the 28-yearold owner of this week’s featured vehicle, a last edition, number 716, 2010 Volkswagen Citi 1.6i.
Gounder, who is an airport field operations engineer, hails from Merebank, south of Durban.
“I’m into modifying and learning about cars, mechanically and aesthetically. I try to do any work myself so that I know I didn’t just throw a lot of money in without playing a part in the outcome,” he said.
As far as performance goes, Gounder’s Citi boasts the performance benefits of the standard factory-fitted 1600 engine block mated to a retrofitted two-litre, eight-valve, uprated, gasflowed cylinder head.
The set-up inlcudes oversized valves, a 288 performance cam and 63mm free-flow exhaust system.
This VW also has the handling and aesthetic merits of a VIAIR suspension set-up. Air suspensions are one of my favourite upgrades as they allow for automated control of the vehicle’s ride height through special retrofitted airbags to the suspension. This car also has no fewer than three sets of interchangeable mag wheels: 17-inch Gold WCI Honeycombs, 17-inch SSWS and 15-inch OEM Baby Long Beach. The mag wheels are mated to sets of Hankook Ventus EVO2 rubbers.
The exterior flaunts LED lighting and customised bumpers with diffusers, while the interior has semileather upholstery with red stitching.
Acoustically, this VW rocks with a 7-inch double DIN media player, a pair of Audiogods 10-inch sub-woofers, a set of Lightning audio mids and a Targa TG18D amplifier powering the subs with a Cerwin Vega four-channel amplifier for the balance of the speakers and Gounder’s Playstation 2.
He estimates he has spent more than R50000 on a car he affectionately named Rebecca – Becky for short. SERVICE PROVIDERS:
Auto Custom Performance.
Stance Academy.
Tiger Wheel & Tyre Toti.