Hop over to Car and Driver for the complete story.

EvPorsche can convert your German dream car into a tree-hugging, earth-friendly electric-powered kraut rocket. And because electric motors produce gobs or torque, performance numbers are remarkably similar to the original gas powered numbers. How does 0-60 in under 5 seconds with 1200 lb-ft of torque putting power down to the pavement…. And all with zero emissions. Now in all reality, this is not going to be a highway, or even a canyon cruiser. The EvPorshe conversion is only good for about 50-miles. Sure, mileage is not very impressive, but for somebody like me who live in a metropolitan area, I usually don’t even drive 50 miles a week. And did I mention the 1200 lb-ft of torque?

More info over at Motor Authority or EvPorshe’s website.

But Staham’s most defining movies are the Transporter series. I guess Audi saw that, too, and then enlisted Statham for their Superbowl commercial, co-staring the new Audi A6.  This is by far one of my favorite Superbowl commercials this year. Check it out below:

Source:YouTube

Follow the jump to watch the making of this crazy commercial.

Careful, it’s an annoyingly catchy anthem. I bet it gets stuck in your head, too.

Source: YouTube via VWVortex

H&R Wheel Spacers: Go Wide

I wanted to lower my car’s coilovers a bit, but the guys at Group2 Motorsports could only drop it down to a certain point or my wheels wheels would rub the suspension. They suggested looking into wheel spacers to solve the problem, which would also improve handling and aesthetics by offering a slightly wider stance and somewhat more balanced look.

After browsing through a few online stores, I found Achtuning was having a month-long sale on all H&R, and Dion from Achtuning also posted an announcement in the VWVortex PacNW forum that they were offering an additional 10% off for a few days. Perfect!

I went with 5mm spacers up front and 15mm spacers for the rear. The wheels will sit just up to the edge of the fenders, giving the car’s stance a more solid look (and feel), improved handling, and the option to take the coilovers down a few notches.

The spacers will be installed shortly, so stay tuned!

Source: H&R
Props: Achtuning

I’ve had a “check engine” light (CEL) on in my GTI for something like two years or so now. The MK4 uses many sensors in order to maximize the efficiency of the 1.8L turbo motor. This ends up being both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s great because I get about 37 mpg in the city, and 30 highway. But it’s also bad, because these little sensors also go bad, and sometimes with a disturbing frequency. Bad sensors result in annoying CELs.

I use Ross Tech’s VAG Com to check the error codes, then hop over to the VWVortex forums and research what the various error codes mean. Most codes are fairly common among the Volkswagen tuning community, so using the ‘Tex’s forum search, I can usually come up with a few threads that lead to a solution. My most recent reoccurring CEL battle was giving me these results in VAG Com:

Sunday,26,October,2008,06:57:38:59172
VCDS Version: Release 805.1

Address 01: Engine
Control Module Part Number: 06A 906 032 LP
Component and/or Version: 1.8L R4/5VT G 0005
Software Coding: 07500
Work Shop Code: WSC 13876
Additional Info: 9BWDE61J934016942 VWZ7Z0B5351813
1 Fault Found:

16804 – Catalyst System; Bank 1: Efficiency Below Threshold
P0420 – 35-00 – -

Readiness: 0000 0000

Pretty much, this code means my aftermarket turbo-back exhaust system was more efficient than the smaller-piped OEM system, and the O2 sensor wasn’t sending back the right signals to the ECU. After a little more digging on the Tex, I came across this thread showing a step-by-step how-to featuring a little device called Waynes O2 Sensor Angle Block. 42Draft Designs also has a great write up on the Waynes Block, why you may need it, and what is does.

I’ll report back in a few days to let everyone know if this solved the problem or not.

More info:
42 Draft Designs FAQ
VW Vortex Forums

This has been a long time coming…..

I’ve wanted to upgrade my factory taillights for many years, but the factory tails just looked so great on the Silverstone paint. The smoked accents on the GTI tails just matched the paint color perfectly.

I’ve always wanted to take advantages of LED technology on my car, and have upgraded many of the factory incandescent bulbs with LEDs: license plate bulbs, inside door “caution lights”, and even modified the factory front bumper lights with custom amber LED bars (stay tuned for the tutorial soon). But nobody ever offered a nice, OE-looking LED taillight for the MK4 GTI. And then the day finally came…. Somebody finally did. The lights were not “ricey” or completely tacky and cheap looking, and they seemed to have a pretty good fit and finish. I’m trying to achieve the OEM-Plus style for my car, and most available taillights upgrades big fat negatives. While searching the terms “LED” and “GTI”, I stumbled on a pair of DEPO-brand taillights that mimicked the M3 crystal/red taillights, but the illumination used the OEM format of my factory tails. The smoked silver of the tails appeared to be a perfect match for my Silverstone paint. A quick search on the VWVortex MK4 forums yielded no results, so I bit the bullet and decided to be the guinea pig. And I’m happy I did. The taillights look fantastic and the fit and finish was spot-on.

This past Tuesday, a few VWVortex members from the PacNW forum met up at Alki beach for a little GTG. It was my first time making it out to one of these events, and I look forward to the next one. Quite a few cool cars (and owners) made it out, and the weather was brisk, but at least it wasn’t raining. The Alki Beach boat launch has an amazing view of the city’s sky line. Next time I’ll have to make sure to bring the Nikon and a tripod as i only brought the Samsung point-n-click with me. Click the image below to check out the gallery.