New Kit Car for jetta w/ TDI
 

Smyth Performance is a spin-off from the highly successfull FACTORY 5 Racing. Creator of the MK4 (AC Cobra) using a donor 95-04 Mustang.
Mark Smith, co-founder of FF is doing the "GREENER" thing with the Jetta TDI.

Here is a link from auto blog.com. Watch the Video.........

Recycling Gone Wild: Turn your VW Jetta TDI into a Smyth Performance G3F [w/video] — Autoblog


Note his discussion about safty, fuel economy and car registration.

I have always want to do a 55 T-Bird kit (1 to 1 replica) full fiberglass body mounted on a brand new frame w/ rack and pinion steering.

This Smyth car might replace that dream.

mcrews -

Wow, that's gorgeous! Like a 550 Spyder + amenities or a Pontiac Fiero with a TDI transplant. It's far beyond my skill-set, but I like knowing that someone's making one.

CarloSW2

Me want. :D

That's all I've got to say.:thumbup:

Finally! An efficient kit car based on modern mechanicals! Awesome!!

I have not personally driven the jetta tdi, but am told it is a peppy little engine!!!!!

just the weight reduction with a (slightly) stock tdi should be very sweet!!!!

This is an intriguing idea for a kit car. Modern mechanicals also means computer controlled everything. But it looks like they plan to keep the VW dashboard intact and just replace the bodywork. Brilliant!

mcrews, if you get a chance to drive a TDI, do it. It makes a 4 cylinder gasser feel like a dog. It is especially fun to drive at highway speeds. Don't downshift, just step on the go pedal and the car takes off. Turbodiesels respond very well to performance mods too. They are sturdily built so they hold up well even when modified. With a lightweight body you could build a very powerful sports car that still gets 50 mpg or better on the highway.

Sweet! 60mpg's & being able to run bioD, excellent!:D

I've been following this also on face book. It is an awesome project...so much so that I've been prepping the wife for approval to buy the kit. Plus it's much cheaper than buying a new car.

How do I find it on facebook? VW Jetta Smyth Performance maybe.

Would you kindly put up a link?

Thanks,
Dave

Look up Smyth Performance on FB

Just put Smyth Performance in the search box.

It'd be even better is they could use the most recent TDi engines.
With all that weight gone, the 1.6L would do - even the 1.4L would easily get it around.
Such a car when built from the ground up for FE, could even get by with the 1.2L TDi.

Here's the thread that Mark started on TDIClub:

vw tdi kit car - TDIClub Forums

here is the facebook link
Login | Facebook

Jetta part shortage for the '99 - '05 MY's? I'd be surprised.

BTW - another 25 slots opened up for the beta builds of the Smyth G3F, if you want in...

TDI's what great cars, that's going to be my next one.

Do you get paid for posting that link?

Hmmm... ya, I was just starting to wonder the same thing...

Late to your party here, love the site. The project is coming along wonderfully and I cant wait to get the first cars out the door in january. The first 33 guys are a great bunch and will do some cool things with the cars. A diesel kit car finally makes the cut:) good times.

mark smith

Welcome to the site, Mark.

The video referred to in the Autoblog post doesn't seem to work any more. Don't suppose you have anything on YouTube to post here?

Probably. It was deleted as spam.

If you see stuff like that, just report the post by hitting the little "report post" icon ( http://ecomodder.com/forum/images/em...ons/report.gif ) and a moderator will look at it.

sorry if this is a repost

Volkswagen Jetta TDI Converted Into Smyth Performance G3F Goes Faster, Greener - Auto Motto

Mark,
THanks for stopping by.....I love the CAR KIT!!!!!!!
Have always admired the cobra/mustang kit you guys pulled off. THis should have much more mass appeal.

OK, I want one. I get 60 mpgs and it satisfies my need for attention! I'm in! When can I buy one!?

go to the links.
.....you realize....you buy it.....you BUILD it......then you drive it!:thumbup:

Yeah, I get to build it myself, that's one of the reasons I want it.

I went to the factory five website and they don't mention it anywhere, for sale, in development....Nowhere. I don't want some beta test, "here, you customers pay for our cars and do our R&D and debugging for us" kit. I want a kit that's developed and ready to go. When can I have that?

It's not on the F5 website. Smyth Performance is being launched as a seperate business.

It is still in beta phase, so you will probably have to wait a year.

Login | Facebook

here is his facebook page with lots of pics

you gotta love his logo!!!!

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8199460_n.jpg

ok, now I'm developing some real attachment issues......

But this is a very 'nasty' looking little car (and i mean that in only the best way)
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v...mythkitcar.jpg

i have a TDI, that kit is way to much. Im getting 40 city 50 highway as is - OEM

pay that much for 10 mpgs? and looks. Not my style

I rather build my own car from scratch for cheaper.

eco bill,
uhhhhh, no, you are not paying 'that much' for 10 more mpg.
the mpg is not the point nor the main objective.

You're definitely a lot more skilled than I am if you can build a comfortable (Air conditioned and heated... wife friendly!), reliable, safe, and good looking daily driver (meaning every day including snow days, freezing cold, pouring rain, humid hot, and so on) from scratch. That would be awesome, and I would love to see what you come up with. Post your progress here if you do it.

For me, I like the idea of "building my own car" even if it is technically not from scratch, and I do like the way the G3F is coming together. It's more than slapping a body kit on an existing car, but less than starting from a pile of metal and a welder.

ok well then I meant to say that for 10g, I could put that towards something more useful and still drive around my $3000 Jetta TDI and be happy.

Unless you get the motor rebuilt...you have a $13,000 car w/ 200k+ miles on it. And in the end, its not going to be worth close to that. Do you tell insurance after you do this to revalue the car? bc if you get in an accident and its totaled, its still a TDI. How safe is this fiberglass body?

It's definitely not for everyone. Taking liberty with some numbers I'd seen elsewhere, there is probably 1 person out of 3000 that would see any sense in building a kit car. And then there is probably 1 person out of the 500 that see sense in it that would actually do it.

From my perspective, I would not do this with a goal of making money on it. In fact, I expect it to be worth less. Heck, any new car and many used car purchasers suffer from the same fate. Not a big deal. There's more to it than the monetary value of the built car anyway. For me, there would be the satisfaction of building something relatively unique. As well, it is being able to involve family (my son, in particular) and friends in the creation of the vehicle. It's different than simply handing over a pile of cash to someone for a complete vehicle and then driving off in it.

So this is the only kit I've seen that is (for me) affordable, achievable, and eco-minded. Granted the definitions of affordable, achievable, and eco-minded are different for different people, and I'm fine if your definitions are different than mine.

The insurance would need to be special insurance for a component car; the guys that build Cobras, GTMs, t-buckets, etc from kits need to deal with that as well... no different here.

Safety wise, the front structure is the same as the stock Jetta, the side doors are reinforced with an extra side impact beam, and the rear structure is a new square tube frame. The stock seat belt mounting points are maintained and I can use a 5-point seat belt instead if I want. Driver and passenger airbags can be maintained, as can the side impact bags. Just like the stock body panels, the fiberglass panels will provide some impact absorption but are not really designed to stop the impact... that is what the sub-structure is designed to do.

Eco bill,
need to read the site before making comments like 'how safe.....".

nachtritter,
took the words right uot of my mouth.....and added about 200 more!

I like the idea


but id like to see a small commuter on a tdi platform

Aloha, I'm a little confused, isn't that what this is? The kit car should be lower and lighter than the Jetta. Or do you mean really small like the diesel SmartCar other parts of the world get?

to me, this is perfomance driven with eco perks
(which is great dont get me wrong)

id like to see something built for mpg on a 4 seat tdi platform
(smaller than a jetta)

I would not be surprised if Smyth doesn't go off on that direction after the success of the sports car.

BULLS EYE!!!
I've wanted to build a Cobra kit car for 30 years but it seems so wasteful nowadays. This fills my desires perfectly and can even be driven in the rain and cold.

My new dream build.