Should I sell it or keep it?

[cr81ridr01]

Hello. I am new to this forum and dsm's. I've looked around the threads a lot and I really appreciate you guys on this site. I think it's great that you guys help people out so they don't have to spend big bucks at a dsm specialty shop. There's one about 5 miles away from me (buschur's) in wakeman, ohio but I know they are not cheap at all. Anyways I picked up a 98 talon tsi awd. I've wanted a tsi for a while now and I finally bought one. Everything is stock except a 2.5 in turbo back exhaust and the air box was removed and now just has a cone filter. The guy before me had some cheap off brand bov_ that vented into the atmosphere so I put a stock one on it. My question is should I keep it or sell it. I want a project car to build up but after I found out that this car is actually kinda rare and I wouldn't want to hurt the value of it by tearing into it and building it up. I don't know if there is a market out there for the 98 tsi awd's or not. I did a compression test to it and it had a minimum of 175 and a max of 178 on all 4 cylinders. So I know the motor seems pretty strong for 134000 miles. There are only a couple little rust spots and that's it the rest of the car is pretty clean. My original plan was to drive it till the motor was going to need rebuilt then start building it up. What do you guys think I should do... keep it and build it up? Or should I sell it and get something like a 1g or early 2g and build that up instead? Any input would help bc I don't know if there are people that want a pretty much stock 98 tsi awd bc I know they are probably pretty hard to come by since they olny made about 400 awd's that year

 

[2g 6 bolt swap]

I would say keep it. Build a motor on the side while you continue to drive your car as you said you would. Your current motor sounds pretty solid too. Do all required maintenance and start beefing it up with some mods. By the time your current motor goes, then you will have a nice built fresh one waiting to drop in.

 

[Dhan]

What are your priorities and goals with the car? Answer that, and you'll answer your question.

And I wouldn't call any DSM a long term investment car. Get a Dodge Charger Super Bee or an Audi RS6 and store it in a climate controlled garage if that's your game.

If you aren't comfortable building this one up, keep it mainly stock and use it as a daily driver. Then find another 1G or 2G that's in rougher shape and build that one up.

It'll of course come down to you.

 

[dsm03]

Sure a nice Clean DSM is rare these days, but I wouldn't say you are going to "hurt the value". Just build what you have, and buy a different DD. Sounds like a great car already, If I were you I would just lightly mod some things and when you think you want to rebuild the engine or that "time" is near rebuild it then and go to town!

my .02c

 

[cr81ridr01]

Well that sounds like what I'll do then. I'll probably just do a few little things like getting a 1g bov, boost controller, fuel pump, port the manifold, turbo housing and all that. Just make it a little more fun for now.. Thanks everyone for your your fast responses!

 

[hypergenesis]

Get a FWD honestly if you can for your commuter and make your TSI your fun car. I honestly love eclipses and if you keep toying at it bit by bit you will too trust me its like meth...injection of course

 

[FLASH1970]

i would say as long as you don't go cutting up the car and hacking up the bumper for a front mount and splicing wires in and being a hack you should be alright. I would just do stuff that can be undone without a problem. For example, a bolt on turbo, injectors, a 190 or EVO9 fuel pump, ETS street FMIC (I've been told there's no trimming that needs to be done), build a engine for it that can be dropped in. Then pull the original one and store it. All that stuff can be undone and turn the car back to unhacked and stock. Oh, and PICS OF THE CAR!!!!!!!

 

[4Lurker4]

I say keep it. They were made to have fun, so have fun with it. Besides, they are great cars to work on as the engines can be easily worked on. I say go for it and make it yours, you'll never want to let her go when you're done with her

 

[cr81ridr01]

Don't worry I won't hack anything (not even on my $500 1982 gs 1100). I'm so excited I can't wait to start working on it. Everytime I get in it I just want to keep driving it all day! But I wouldn't put a fmic on it. They look sick but i'd rather have a sleeper. I've been trying to put up pics of the car but my phone won't do it on this site for some reason. I'll have to use a buddy's computer sometime because I have plenty of pics of it

 

[V12 Killa]

KEEP THE 2GB!!! TRUST ME!!! Had my hands on one and mannnn do I regret letting it go.

 

[97gsxerrr]

Keep it for sure. I couldn't go a week without one. It sounds like a good car to start fresh with.

 

[brian92tsiawd]

Personally i would keep it. You've managed to acquire what most seek and that's an unmolested and unhacked dsm. You can do everything yourself the right way, and know that it has been done the right way. You're not having to "clean up" someone elses mess. But that's just MHO.

 

[cr81ridr01]

Well unfortunately I ran into a problem with it today I started it up and it cranked for a little bit till it started. I knew something was wrong so I got out and I noticed some liquid coming out of the exhaust. I smelled it and it was fuel! So I let it warm up and then I reved it up a few times and it shot out about a 15 foot trail of gas. It eventually went away so I took it around the block real quick and it was definitely lacking power. So I popped the hood and checked the plugs and they were as black as could be. Right when I got the car about a week ago I put new ngk plugs in it and replaced the wires with magstar 8.5mm's and flushed and replaced all the fluids. It's doing this on all 4 cylinders. I'm hoping it's just a sensor and it's quick and easy to fix

 

[phunny]

Keep it and don't worry about modding it.

 

[lex]

Keep it, hard enough to find.

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

Keep it.

 

[tunermt]

tear into it!!! just keep your work CLEAN and something to be proud of. HAHA i had the perfect collectors VR4 i mean perfect! had a hard time making the decision to do everything i wanted VS keep it all oem.

 

[907gs-t]

Sound's like a nice score I'd keep it if I was you.

 

[gsvash_90tsi]

I would keep it and build it up. Talons are really easy to build up with bolt on parts. Good advice for the future though is never buy a dsm that the bov isnt recirculated.. means someone has been doing some bad mods on it.

 

[SD99GST]

Definitely Keep it! It sounds like you really like the car so I don't understand what the problem is. Take your time on the car and make it cleaner and sexier! I would not be scared of working on it only because its clean, trust me, you'll enjoy modding a car that is not only fast but looks great. Go Get em' Tiger!!!

 

[miguelmcv]

Keep it Bro.

 

[mattasi]

I for sure would not sell it to get anything else. A 98 AWD is a beast. I know I would not sell it anyways.

 

[sikevo9]

I would keep in and build it up. Your not going to really hurt the value, just keep it as clean of work as you can . And that car is made to be a beast