Featured Ride: Neil’s MKV

When I met Neil for the first time at the local skatepark here in Mississauga he had just sold his supercharged e36 and picked up this black MKV.

My memory isn’t quite what it used to be but I seem to recall him saying something about not getting too crazy with this car and only wanting to change a couple things here and there to make it more enjoyable to drive when he is back home between semesters of school in England.

Of course we all know how that goes, a moderate drop leads to a bigger drop, one set of wheels leads to another, and before you know it your car looks sicker than ever and your bank account hovers around zero.

For Neil the progression down the rabbit hole was fairly quick, after a short stint static on Alphards he wanted to go lower so out went the coils and in went an Air Lift XL setup along with a frame notch done by Chop Shop.

Air gave Neil the ability to ride low and park lower and never one to ride too high most of the shots in this feature are actually closer to ride height than they are park height.

For wheels Neil chose a favourite of his from his past build, MAE Monoblocks, which are sized at 18 x 8.5 (et32) and wrapped in 215/35/18 tires.

That sizing allows him to tuck the front while staying flush in the rear, the best of both words.

A badgless grill, shaved hood notch, and projector fog lights clean up the front and an R32 bumper with matching exhaust bring up the rear.

At the opposite end of that exhaust setup is a Miltek down pipe that’s joined by an APR Carbonio intake, and a stage 2 APR flash ensures those modification play nice.

Inside things are pretty simple, boost and air pressure gauges are mounted on the dash above OEM wood trim, and a euro CD holder keeps the tunes on deck.

The fact that Neil was able to put together a car of this caliber without ever spending long periods of time with it is fairly remarkable and I’m curious where it will go once he is back in Canada for good.

That is of course unless his new found passion for photography (you can check out his latest work here on flickr), and appetite for two wheeled toys don’t take him in another direction entirely…

Modification List

Engine:

• APR stage 2 flash
• APR Carbonio intake
• GHL 3″ R32 style exhaust with high flow cat and 3″ Miltek downpipe

Suspension:

• Airlift xl kit
• C notch done by Chop Shop
• 7 button mechanical switch set up

Wheels

• 18″ x 8.5 et 32 MAE Monoblocks all around
• Falken 452 tires 215/35/18

Exterior:

• Badge-less GTI grill
• Hood notch fill done by Chop Shop
• R32 rear bumper
• VW projector fogs with 6000k Hid

Interior

• Dash mounted boost and air gauges
• VW woodgrain trim
• APR Carbonio intake

Photo Credit: Neil Kates