Today’s post is a little different. It’s an influencer build, and it makes it to the segment because it’s not only a beautiful ride but also an amazing journey. Ladies and gents, this is Alex Mwanzo, a.k.a. Turbo Diesel’s Volkswagen GTI build.
Anyone can build a project car, but not everyone has the guts to finish it. And by finish, we mean running and driving as a daily driver. We also mean completely done to the bone—paintwork, tunes, wheels, audio, and interior.
Alex Mwanzo’s Golf GTI is 87% done. It just needs a fresh coat of paint and a track. According to the Kenyan automotive influencer, the dream began after buying a black VW Golf.
“About a year ago I bought a Golf (black one). The idea was to build a Golf GTI Big Turbo. When I brought it home @ Muriuki04 tempted me to at least start it before swapping it (big mistake),” he confessed on his X.com handle.
That’s not all. He also documented his journey building the Golf GTI (with costs included).
Alex Mwanzo Golf GTI Build
Early this year, Mwanzo bought a VW Golf GTI shell for KES 280,000. It was a bare shell without an engine, tranny, suspension, or wheels. It was bare metal but with the interior bits.
To add some athletic acumen to the build, he shipped an R32-style rear bumper for KES 45,000.
A donor engine and transmission system cost the automobile influencer KES 200,000. He also sourced the rear subframe locally for KES 20,000.
Fortunately, Mwanzo isn’t your regular all-talk-no-show car influencer. He can actually get his hands dirty and fix a car. For that reason, he didn’t have to break the bank for labor costs. He bought a couple of meals for friends on weekends to get the project running.
Total Cost of Golf GTI Build
Mwanzo estimates the entire build cost him about KES 675,000 in its current state, and I’ll be honest, it looks neat.
“Hopefully, this will be the first project that you actually finish. You are really living up to your surname!” One of his followers commented on his post.
Project cars look easy ‘outside looking in,’ but when you are the one calling the shots – it amounts to thousands of hours of labor, out-of-pocket expenses, and a lot of sleepless nights. Let’s hope he lives by his surname and doesn’t succumb to pressure from opportunistic buyers.
And with that ladies and gents – comes the end of a project.
675k in
Its everything i could want and more pic.twitter.com/4xwYc36Doc
— TurboDiesel (@alexmwanzo) June 30, 2024
