Oh hurro there … my name is Matt Donders. Originally from Staten Island, NY (school in Hoboken, NJ and spending this summer in Darien, CT) — I feel like a nomad lately. Full-time student (senior year) and working at UBS this summer doing IT stuff. My hobbies are cars, photography & nerd stuff. Not married, no girlfriend, just having fun with my friends and enjoying life.
How long have you owned this car?
I have owned the car for almost 3 years — bought it on Halloween of 2007.
Is there anything unique about the history of this car?
Nothing particularly special – just a car built on the funds of a college student.
What other cars did you consider?
At the time I was looking at pretty much anything that was new. My first car was a ’99 Saab 9-3 in this HORRIBLE green color. But driving a “luxury” car at 17 was honestly pretty awesome. In the 10k miles I put on the car I had more problems than I ever wanted to deal with on my car and of course there was no warranty to go with this bad boy so all the repairs came out of pocket. When it was time to purchase the Rabbit it got sold on eBay (AND in its first listing to a Saab enthusiast). I pretty much had it down to the Honda Fit (save tons of money), Scion tC or the VW and well the rest is in the pictures.
What was your objective with this car?
When I bought the car I had NO intentions of modifying anything major – just small stuff (sidemarkers, euroswitch, etc). After the larger modifications began I realized that without a turbo this car was only going to be quick so I basically left performance mods alone and just tried to get it to a point where I could look back at the car after I parked and smile.
What tuning style would you describe this car as?
Euro – clean and simple style.
Who helped you build this car?
Besides the help of EVERY VW forum out there giving great advice I couldn’t have done this without the help of my WFSU peeps, my dad and my buddy Matt – the kid has some crazy ideas and does awesome work. I learned a lot from all these people and before I bought the car I wouldn’t even try to take anything apart, but now I have no problem diving right into something.
What makes your car special?
Eh my car really isn’t anything special. The only special thing on my car is the wheels. I bought them from eBay and to this day NO ONE has any idea exactly what they are. They are stamped as BBS RM500’s, but there is literally NO information about these wheels ever existing or being made and that is cool with me.
What is your favorite part/feature/function?
It definitely has to the recently installed air suspension. Back at H2O in 2008 I got to play with Jake’s (Infrared) air ride in his GTI and I knew that one day I was going to have it. At the beginning of this summer, things just fell into place and I knew that if I didn’t pull the trigger then it was never going to happen. I called John at 20squared and he hooked me up with everything I needed to get the air suspension in and was able to answer ALL the questions I had. My buddy Matt and I spent a few weekends working on it and after a few snags (go figure) and trips to NJ from CT we got it done.
Who or what inspired the direction of modifications on this car?
There were a ton of clean VWs of every generation and that was my goal with this car. Nothing over the top, nothing flashy; I wanted something clean, plain and simple. I just wanted to be able to park, look back at the car and smile.
What don’t you like about this car?
There is really nothing I don’t like about the car. When I first test drove it I fell in love with it. The interior was such high quality, it rode like a dream and it was pretty quick (for what it was). I also loved how it looked and was pretty set on getting it – finding the color I wanted on the other hand was a challenge.
What was your biggest obstacle in building this car
The biggest obstacle for this project was money. Buying the car at 19 and being a full time college student meant student loans needed to be paid off as well as car loans so I had to budget my money so that I could mod the car. BUT that also is one of the best things about the car is that it’s all my money – I know that my money bought every single part of this car.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the outcome of this project?
I would give my car an 8 as of right now. Honestly no one should ever give their car a 10, but for what I wanted out of this car, I pretty much met all my goals.
What would you do to the car if money were no object?
Big turbo, revamped air suspension, full interior rewrap and the list goes on and on…
Who has been your biggest critic of this project?
My mom – she thinks everything I do to the car is stupid … until the air. She loves hitting switches.
Who gets to drive this car?
Pretty much anyone can drive the car – I am not particular. As long as you don’t break it or crash into something it’s fine with me.
If your car had a motto, what would it be?
if ya can’t beat ‘em, lower it.
If you had to name your car, what would you name it?
Lowla – just sounds like a really sexy name (and see what I did there?!)
What one word best describes your car?
Rollerskate (HAHA, just kidding – that’s what my friends say it looks like). One word I would use to describe it would be ‘Clean’.
Vehicle Information: (the list of mods, from start to finish)
Performance (if we can call it that): Carbonio Cold Air Intake
Exterior: OEM projector fog lights, colormatched sidemarkers, LED plate bulbs.
Interior: OEM GTI leather seats (now heated), Pioneer AVIC D3, golf ball shift knob, LED dome lighting, footwell LED lighting.
Air Suspension: Aerosport Bags over FK Silverline coilovers in the front, Universal Air House Bags and S-10 cups in the rear. 5-Gallon Slim tank, 2 Viair 400c compressors, AutoPilot Digital Controller and 3/8” air line.
Wheels/Tires: BBS RM500’s (17×8 et35) wrapped in 205/45/17 Falken 512’s.
Shoutouts: Yeah I added my own section, what’s good?! I added the section because I wanted to give a HUGE shot out to WFSU. In February 2008 I never thought I would get so close to a group of people like I have with you guys. It’s pretty ridiculous how a car can bring people together and bring them close enough that we might as well call each other family. Thanks for everything you guys have done and for always being there.