Like a newborn baby, it's taken nine months for us to develop this '09 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Introduced in et 1/09, we've upgraded the Platinum grey sedan in a GQ-smooth fashion with KW Variant 3 coilovers (et 2/09), 19x8" BBS CH wheels with 235/35-19 Continental ContiSportContact3 tires (et 3/09) and engine and brake upgrades from a Euro Sport intake and Techtonics Tuning exhaust to EBC rotors and pads (et 6/09). We've come a long way and have even tested the limits of the two liter turbo-diesel monitoring its fuel economy. In et 4/09, we put the car up against a Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Project Silverstone where it honorably gave back 41.74 mpg in a mixture of city, highway and canyon driving. Now we're happy to show that Project TDI's exterior is done. With Volkswagen Accessories' new three-piece body kit first debuted off the Jetta TDI Cup cars, we now have looks that could kill.
The new body kit comes with the pronounced front bumper unveiled from the Thunder Bunny SEMA concept car (et 2/07). The side skirts and rear valance are edgier to match the aggressive front-end. We've also added a subtle lip spoiler that sits on top of the trunk.
When we decided to paint and install the new body pieces, Volkswagen of America recommended one of their most trusted support companies in Southern California - Foam Molders. Now you're asking yourself, "Foam Who?" Well Foam Molders has been in the business for 40 years but just have never been in the spotlight. Based in Cerritos, CA, they specialize in aircraft, automotive, medical and paint and foam fabrication. They began molding foam but grew into this huge empire with a 130K sqft facility specializing in various industries. Foam Molders began relationships with many OEMs such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, GM, Boeing, Disneyland and of course Volkswagen seventeen years ago. If you've ever bought a body kit from a VW dealer, chances are it was painted and shipped from Foam Molders. All painting and inventory is taken care of by them and they ship directly to the ports before cars even hit local dealers. Unfortunately, an enthusiast can't go directly to them for paint and bodywork but luckily for us, we worked together with Volkswagen to get OEM quality of service.