Volkswagen Golf R : An enthusiasts journal: 27/04/2011

The interior of the Golf R came with a few interior accents that the GTI and other Golf models don't receive. For example, the Golf R receives gloss black accents around the steering wheel buttons, compared to the brushed finish on the GTI's. It also comes with grey stitching on the gear boot and also the steering wheel, compared to red stitching on the GTI's. The trim in the Golf R is silver with embossed "R" logo, instead of a black grey trim in the GTI. The needles for the speedo and tacho are red in the GTI, whereas they are the signature blue in the Golf R. Just subtle details which stand out just enough for the enthusiast to recognise but still inconspicuous enough for the every day driver.

MK6 Golf GTI interior.

MK6 Golf R interior comparision picture.

For my Golf R, the gloss black accents are also added by the back shell of my Recaro seats. The shell of the bucket seat comes in a lovely gloss black and I thought it was a nice touch. It loses the pouch that the normal Golf R seats have but I never used them much anyway as I found that whatever I put in there just ended up stretching the material and ended up sagging more than a granny's boobs.

Back shell of the Golf R's Recaro seats.

I have also seen pictures of the interior of the Scirocco R and there was something that caught my eye. The head unit surround had a gloss black surround and the air con vents also had its own little gloss black accents. I thought this was a very nice touch. I looked back at my Golf R and by comparison, it just looked quite bland. The surround was more or less the same as any other MK6 Golf. This wouldn't do. So in keeping with the gloss black accents on the steering wheel, and the back shell of my Recaro seats, I decided to get my interior bits coated in gloss black as well. Of course, this would have to be a custom job.

Scirocco R Interior. Notice the gloss black surround around the head unit and also accents on the air con vents.

The parts I would be coating in gloss black would be :

Left and right air con vents
Centre air con vent
Head unit surround
Climatronic surround
Ash tray surround and lid
DSG shifter surround

Now the last two dot points is something I thought I would do just to add a personal touch. I thought that since the centre of the car is being coated in gloss black, I may as well extend it as far as the DSG shifter. Taking off the left and right air con vents was easy. The centre air con vent was the one that gave me the most grief. Prying everything off without breaking it was a mission for such a big piece like that as it's all just held together by plastic. Once you snap off the plastic, that's game over. Eventually after breaking two fingernails and a lot of swearing, the piece was off. The rest of the parts were easy. I also had a spare DSG surround which I could use as a substitute until my one was finished.

I wanted it to be painted professionally because I didn't want it to turn out like a rattle can job. Granted, with proper prep and parts, DIY jobs can look almost as good if not better than professional work. I'm all for DIY myself. However, if done incorrectly, it can look very shit and I knew there was that chance of that happening. You spend most of your time inside your car so having a shit job done inside will be like having a bad painting hung up on the wall inside your house. I dropped these off to Frank at Dural Prestige Smash Repairs. I've known these guys for at least 7 years now ever since I had my Honda Accord Euro and they always did flawless work. I asked them if they could do a little paintwork with these interior bits and they took it on with no hesitation. A week later, I get a call from Frank and this is the end result.