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Gather ’round kiddies. This weeks feature takes us all the way to Las Vegas for this truly amazing MK5 Rabbit. If you like properly stanced, euro goody clad, 4-door sex wagons, then this is definitely your kinda car. It belongs to high school art teacher, Matt Lippincott. He had a keen eye for the elements of design and it definitely shows with this latest work of art. Matt is also a photographer for us here at EUROMEDIAN, and he represents the west coast in a big way with this car. Not only can he sculpt a car that even his soon to be mother-in-law(although she would never admit it) could be proud of, his stellar photography presents it in a fun and creative fashion.
Matt has officially owned the car for 5 years this month. It has come a very long way from its stock trim roots that the dealership had showcased it. He bought it as a present to himself for finally getting a salary paying job, just as he promised himself would do many years ago. When looking for potential rides, he had entertained several clean Mk4′s but the MK5 grew on him after an initial loathe of the whole series in general.
Matt initially purchased the car because he wanted something new and practical. In his words, “It was meant to be driven. No aftermarket stuff, but the longer you own it, the harder that becomes. I fell in love with the simplicity [with which] these cars can be modified and went from there.” He started collecting as many rad European only parts as he could and hasn’t looked back since.
Now he is sitting pretty perfect on a set of set of Stahl S3′s. There is no question that he has the stretch/poke/low game in Sin City on smash.
When you talk to Matt about his car or ask him what his favorite part is he will more than ecstatic to tell you about is uber-rare European Votex Dealer only rear bumper with no exhaust cutouts. This is personally my first time seeing this piece and it is no doubt one of the raddest things you could do to a MK5 in my opinion. The bumper lines a clean flow so well. One could only imagine what he had to go through to find this near unobtanium part. The hatch has also been shaved to help provide what Matt calls “OEM+ with a bit more cleanliness.”
Keeping with the theme of practicality and no aftermarket stuff, Matt decided air ride would be the most logical choice for this daily driver 
. He equipped it with a kit for the tried and true company AirLift. They have been around since the early aircooled days and really know their stuff. Apparently Matt felt the same way. The front fascia exhibits a genuine European-spec bumper with shaved rub strips. It was then skirted with a Votex front lip which is very reminiscent to a 337 Edition MK4 GTi. The above picture really shows off the car from the most angles. Its extremely clean body lines wrap the car in a very subtle fashion but the front Euro spec headlights and badgeless grille give it a hint of aggression. Very nice touches at every aspect.
This car is packed with so many euro goodies in and out, I should of bought stock in Votex before he purchased all that swag.
As far as being motivated to do the mods he did, Matt very simply stated that, “I wanted to do something that I felt comfortable driving into a professional work environment. I didn’t want it to look like a student’s car.”
I’m not sure if the car had anything with him getting the job but if I was interviewing Matt for a job and he rolled up in car this clean and aired it out, he would of been insta-hired! Not only that but I don’t see anyone better suited to teach Introduction to Air Ride or Post-modern Wheel Fitment
He did indicate that overall he is at an 8 out of 10 on the satisfaction scale. He would eventually like to change from a manual air management to a digitally controlled one due to the cumbersomeness of all the air lines he had to snake throughout the vehicle. The one thing that has slowed his progression is that he is doing all of this on a teacher’s salary. He also noted that he would eventually like to clean up the bay considerable if he had a bit extra scratch to throw around.
His final goal with the Rabbit is to move it from a daily to something he can enjoy on the weekends. It’s nice to get it to a point where it fees complete and you just enjoy it from there on out. But alas! That is the greatest curse to besiege a Volkswagen owner. The never ending task of wrenching for fun or necessity. The modern paradoxical tragedy that even Sophocles himself could not of played out.
Where were these teachers when I was in high school?
Car Specs:
Exterior:
-Euro Golf Front Bumper, shaved rubs and notch filled
-Votex Front Lip
-Euro 5 Bar Grills w/ Euro Projector Fogs using 4300K HIDs
-LED City Lights/ License plate lights
-Badgeless Grill with Hood notch filled
-B6 Passat Mirror Caps
-Euro Blue Aspherical Mirror Glass
-Votex Side Skirts
-Stubby Antenna
-Rear Wiper Delete
-Euro Votex Rear Bumper with no exhaust cutout
-LED License Plate Lights
Interior:
-Euro Vent Tray
-Euro Dash Cubby
-Euro Cupholder
-Aftermarket NAVI
-Full LED swap, including foot well lights
-Red Stitched GTI floormats
-Manual paddle valves and 2 dual needle gauges in center console
Wheels, Suspension, Tires:
-18X9 Front and 18X10 Rear Stahl S3′s with chrome lips and gold bolts
-215/40 Front and 225/40 Rear Falken 512′s
-Airlift XL front struts, AH2 rear bags on D-cups
-Dual 400 compressors, 5 gallon aluminum tank in false floor.
Engine:
-APR Stage II Programming
-APR 3″ TBE
-Neuspeed Intake
-Eurojet PCV fix
Thanks:
Mr. Lippincott would also like to thank Mike Mandel at Proficient Auto Body for helping to plan, build, and mod the car.