DTM-inspired Volkswagen Polo Mk4 with 241hp of 1.9 TDI-swapped performance on tap

Faced with a wrecked project car and no quick fix, Dawid Szejn channelled half a lifetime of motorsport influences into his daily driver – a DTM-inspired Volkswagen Polo Mk4 with 241hp of 1.9 TDI-swapped performance on tap.

Words: Alex Grant

Photos: Artem Chermous

DAILY EXPRESS

Although they tend to miss out on the limelight, daily drivers are the unsung heroes of the modified scene. These are the machines tasked with the hardest grafts of daily life – the commutes, load-hauling and four-season usage that would take its toll on cherished project cars and rare parts. They also have the expectation of stepping into service at a moment’s notice – and occasionally, that shove can turn them into a project in their own right.

A decade ago, if you’d told Dawid Szejn that he’d have bagged a PVW feature, he would probably have had a different car in mind. Back in 2013 he was three years into building what he still calls the “car of his life” – a Vento-fronted, US-bumpered Dragon Green Mk3, caged and static-dropped over a set of staggered Schmidt Modernlines. With a decent haul of trophies under its belt, and a clean-where-you-can’t-even-see-it approach to detailing and maintenance, those predictions probably would have come true by now if it hadn’t been for one sizeable bump in the road.

“The Golf was at a really high standard, then five years ago I was at an event and somebody drove into it and damaged it,” he sighs. “I have got a really strong bond with that car, so I couldn’t strip it or sell it. Instead, I put it in storage with plans to fix it one day, then started using the Polo instead. This was only supposed to be something to smoke around in for a few months, but it felt like a good base for more modifications… so it turned out a bit differently.”

In hindsight, a degree of mechanical overhaul seems inevitable even without the Golf’s misfortune. Based in Czestochowa in southern Poland, Dawid grew up immersed in forum build threads and car magazines and now works as a mechanic, which means he’s combining a wealth of inspiration with the talent to bring ideas to life himself. It’s materialised in “a dozen or so” re-worked Volkswagens over the last 17 years, including the Mk3 and several other 6N-generation Polos. Most were short-lived projects, but this one had a trick up its sleeve – and it wasn’t just about being in the right place at the right time.

“I bought the car from my friend Tomek. It looked completely standard, but he’d fitted a 131hp 1.9 TDI engine and that was the main reason for buying it. I’ve always wanted a powerful diesel engine in something small, and this one had enough power to be a lot of fun even before I’d started tuning it. Also, the engine conversion was really well done, and I’m very fussy about details.”

Tomek hadn’t built the car for trophies or track days. The Polo had done a shift as a daily-driven sleeper before being sidelined for other projects, and it had been off the road for a while by the time he decided to sell up. However, after a heavy detailing session, paint correction and a few small touch-ups, Dawid realised that the new workhorse was tidy enough (and interesting enough) to justify a bit more love than it was getting.

“The engine bay is small, so the TDI conversion is tight but it fits well without any major changes to the bodywork,” he tells us. “Tomek used a Mk4 Golf engine, including the clocks, ECU, ABS and ESP, but with the five-speed gearbox from a SEAT Ibiza 1.8T because fitting a six-speed would have meant cutting the chassis rails. The driveshafts had to be custom-made, while the knuckles are from a Golf VR6. It works well, so it’s been really easy to tune.”

Naturally, more boost was the starting point. The Polo has a larger GTB2260 turbo – as you’d usually find on Audi’s 3.0-litre V6 TDI engine – and 2.75-inch downpipe packed into the little remaining space at the back of the engine bay, with a front-mount intercooler crammed into the equally tight space behind the bumper. By forcing 2.3 bar of boost into the cylinders, paired with a custom exhaust, modified injectors, 4.0-bar manifold air pressure sensor and bespoke ECU map, Dawid is making a good case for not following the crowd.

“Currently, it’s making 241hp and 460Nm of torque,” he smiles, lifting the bonnet to expose the impossibly crowded engine bay. “The whole car only weighs 1,074kg, so with this much power it’s very, very fast. However, the map is also really well done so it’s also very driveable. It pulls hard, all the way through the rev range, with no loss of traction.”

The TDI swap is notable enough to be worth presenting properly, and no corners have been cut here either. Building on the foundations of Tomek’s careful installation, Dawid left nothing untouched under the bonnet. It’s a clean, OEM plus nip-tuck with a Porsche crest and Audi R8 oil cap set into the rocker cover, and fuel lines colour-coded red to match the brakes and chassis bracing used throughout the car. A little easier to miss, there’s around 3kg of chromed bolts used within the build, and not all of those are visible without removing other parts. When he says he’s fussy about details, he really isn’t kidding.

However, function was just as important as form. Having doubled the engine’s power output, other elements of the Polo's spec sheet began to fall short, and all of them have now been replaced. The alignment is millimetre perfect, corner weighted on KW coilovers and with 3° of negative camber dialled in at each wheel, while the big brakes are the result of some Volkswagen Group parts bin raiding. Dawid spent months designing his own adaptors to fit the Porsche Cayenne and SEAT Leon Cupra R calipers, measuring and testing dimensions in paper before having the real things laser cut.

Few details took more effort than the wheels. He’s had several sets, of course, and the Polo had a session of internet-breaking back in 2020 when it rocked up at a show wearing custom RH Turbos with a spoke removed to display the oversized front calipers. The latest influences are rooted in motorsport and, for now, at least, that’s steered him towards a set of 17x8 OZ F1 Competition multispokes that barely fit over the front brakes. Even these have been customised, including a set of centrelock-style bolt covers which he designed himself.

“As you might have noticed, I’m a huge Porsche fan – as you know, Porsche is part of Volkswagen,” he says. “However, the styling was inspired by DTM cars from the 2000s, like the Audi A5, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series. I have always loved how they look, with the low stance, centrelock wheels, full rollcages and bucket seats. The Red Bull graphics were a nod to motorsport, and the power and character of the car.”

Tomek hasn’t stopped being an influential part of the build. His regular trips to Germany have made him a useful contact, picking up obscure parts won in eBay auctions and uncovered on social media. The single wiper conversion was a DTM-inspired essential, paired with classic Hella colour-coded lamps front and rear and Hofele quad headlights.

We’re not talking about one set, either – Dawid managed to track down two pairs, rebuilding them into a single set that met his high standards, and even going as far as polishing light scratches out of the lenses.

From a stock-looking sleeper five years ago, it’s developed real presence today. The front bumper gained an aggressive Rieger splitter and cold air intakes for the intercooler behind while the wiper and notch for the towing eye have been carefully deleted from the back end to keep everything symmetrical. A retro JE Design eyebrow spoiler tops the grille, while the custom-made R19 badges are a hint that there’s more going on up front than there ever was in factory tune.

There’s a similarly motorsport-inspired approach inside. Dawid ditched the rear bench shortly after taking ownership, replacing it with a Wiechers Sport half rollcage and fitting Bride bucket seats and harnesses up front. This turned out to be a short-term solution, removed after a few months to have the other half of the cage custom made. Obsessive as ever, he went as far as buying another Polo 6N shell for local fabricator Benson to use as a template, then sold it once the cage was complete.

The cage takes over most of the interior, painted red to match other chassis-enhancing hardware and paired with some clever home-built details. A nod to Porsche, the spare wheel and fire extinguisher are packaged into a custommade tray beneath an X-brace, though the design of the brace itself was lifted from the Audi TT. The hydraulic handbrake and Enkerstudio shortshifter – which he rates as one of his favourite additions – are easier to reach while harnessed into the new Porsche GT-style seats.

“The seats were a special order,” he tells us. “They’re trimmed in red-stitched leather with an embroidered Porsche logo, and I’ve had the backs painted to match the rims. Then I’ve designed my own mounts for them and installed them myself, as it’s very tight with the cage inside.”

Limited working space hasn’t been an excuse to cut corners. The cabin has been treated to the same fine-toothed comb approach as the rest of the car, replacing scuffed plastic parts – stuff like pedals, window winders and door handles – with accents of aluminium and hiding every trace of the original beige upholstery with black flock.

There’s an unsung hero in all of this. Dig through his old social media posts and you might recognise a similar theme in his Golf, complete with Porsche crests and red rollcage. And when we say it’s clean where you wouldn’t even notice, every pane of glass was polished to remove unsightly imperfections while the car was in bits. With that in mind, the biggest hurdle in the build was a painful one. “I often tell my friends the car is cursed,” he laughs. “Shortly after the interior was finished I had a problem with the sunroof seal being damaged, and it was flooded during a storm. I had to strip everything out, dry it all, repair the seal and rebuild it. That isn’t an easy job with the rollcage in the way.” Perseverance pays off, though. Five years into the build, and the Polo is up to the same high standards as the Golf and there’s an Opel Astra G turbo doing the daily driver work – naturally, it’s almost as tidy as the projects in the garage. Clean where you can’t even see it, this once-abandoned project car has evolved into a trophy-winner in its own right, and Dawid isn’t done yet. Still immersed in magazines and forums, there’s plenty of motorsport inspiration still to explore.

“I still have a lot of plans for it. This winter I will be upgrading to a more advanced audio system, and I like to change my rims every year. The plan for 2024 is to get a set of Ultraleggeras,” he explains, adding that there’s a noteworthy distraction waiting in the garage. “Someday, I will bring the Golf back to life too. It’s difficult, in terms of time and money, to rebuild it as I would like. The problem is, I do almost everything myself and I’m really fussy, so it takes a long time. Once I start working, I have to do it properly.”

Having waited this long, why rush it? The Polo might have stepped out of daily driver duty, and the rigours of commuting, loadhauling and four-season usage that come with it, but it’s done a better job than most of stepping into service when Dawid needed it to. And for that, it’s rightly earned its spot in the limelight.

DUB DETAILDTM-inspired Volkswagen Polo Mk4 with 241hp of 1.9 TDI-swapped performance on tap

• ENGINE: 1896cc, 8-valve PD TDI (AVF), GTB2260 turbo from Audi A6 (C6) 3.0 TDI, 2.75-inch downpipe, 2.5-inch stainless steel exhaust, FMIC.EU front-mount intercooler, stainless steel intake, 4-bar MAP sensor, uprated injectors, ECU map by Tommy Strom, Audi R8 oil cap, Porsche crest on rocker cover, fuel lines painted red, Ibiza 1.8T gearbox, single-mass VR6 clutch, Enkerstudio short-shifter, gas bonnet struts, custom driveshafts with Golf VR6 CV joints, polyurethane mounts, chrome bolts throughout
• CHASSIS: Mk3 Golf VR6 front knuckles (powdercoated black), stock rear beam powdercoated red, Mk3 Golf 5x100 hubs all round, KW coilovers, 3° negative camber, polyurethane bushes throughout, SuperSport front strut brace and rear strut brace, custom Audi TT-style X-bar (rear), custom caliper mounts, Mk4 Golf R32 334mm discs with six-piston Porsche Cayenne calipers (front), 323mm discs with Leon Cupra R calipers (rear), HEL braided brake lines, Golf Mk4 ABS and traction control system, hydraulic handbrake, O-Z Competition 17x8 ET36 wheels with custom centre-lock cover, 185/35 Nankang NS2 tyres
• EXTERIOR: 16V bumpers with intercooler holes added, custom R19 grille badge, Rieger splitter, JE Design grille spoiler, custom vented bonnet, ZKW projector headlights with Xenon bulbs, blue indicators, Hella blue rear lamps, Hella side caps with R19 logo, rear wiper deleted, rear tow hook and bumper aperture deleted, door handles painted body colour, stubby mirrors, carbon fibre fuel cap, single wiper conversion
• INTERIOR: Full Wiechers Sport roll cage with custom extensions by Benson, leather trimmed bucket seats with Porsche crest, Sabelt four-point harness, Raid steering wheel, flocked headliner and plastics, aluminium pedal covers, aluminium foot plates, aluminium window winders, oil pressure, oil temperature and boost gauges, Custom boot install for spare wheel, toolkit and fire extinguisher, black headliner and pillar trims
• SHOUT: All the friends I’ve met through the Volkswagen scene, and Tomek for starting the work on the car.