Madjackal

Bought this recently after a long stint between VRs....well Corrados....or in fact even VWs. Paid £5,500 and it has a Supercharger and Schrick VSR and 268 Cams fitted. Along with a few other bits I got Vince at Stealth to do a full service, wheel alignment, mocal oil cooler and Quaiffe LSD. I've also put in an uprated headlight loom and just started playing with the interior. Just got an issue with no heater or cigarette lighter lights and despite Stealth changing three ABS sensors and the ABS ECU I have recently started getting the ABS light come on intermittently which is odd and I can restart the car a few times and it will stay off?? Also despite the body work being in exceptional condition since doing a few jobs around the front eind I have noticed some annoying surface rust in the light brackets and in and around the slam panel but I can really complain, and may well get it seen to soon. All in all though I'm very pleased and have been doing my best to keep it clean in this weather.

It was yeah, got to give it a good run! Pics will be up soon, got a couple of bits to do first. Ive had it one day and its covered in leaves already! Grr Will check the fuses cheers.

I am now, after a long Ford Escort sabbatical a proud Corrado owner once again. I had Stealth fit an oil cooler and Quaiffe LSD and had a few other bits and bobs done at the same time. Just got one (probably the first of many) small issue. The radio doesn't seem to work, this coupled with a lack of illumination of the heater dials and the cigarette lighter suggests to me the possibility of some electrical fault behind the centre console? The cigarette lighter does work though as I charged my Satnav all the way home. Any ideas? What would be my first port of call?

Isn't there some kind of rule about people scouring somone else's wanted section for parts, if not there should be! I don't know how much they cost normally, how much do you want for it?

awesome thanks folks!

Really want a VAG Supercharged badge!

You didnt happen to keep the supercharged badge by any chance did you?

Do you have the supercharged rear badge? I'd like it if its going?

Anything further happening with these. I am interested!

Hi there, I am interested in a set but know nothing about them in order to advise what I want/need. Can you advise what the options are and what the affect is? For a late VR6 by the way (with angel eyes if it matters?) . Many thanks!

I'm thinking of buying a VR that has a Schrick installed and just wondering, does the manifold have to come out if you want to change the spark plugs?

So a quick claim update, I had my offer increased to £1,500.00, I have since complained a bit more, gotten the FOS involved and yesterday received a cheque for a further £850.00. £2,350.00 for a 15 year old car with 180,000 on the clock, must be a Corrado!

The importance of getting an agreed valuation. Agreed, although check into the small print very thoroughly. Many agreed valuation policies aren't worth the paper they're written on and / or have too many clauses, for example, with some policies you will only get the agreed value pay with claim goes non-fault ONLY. If you have a 50/50 claim (the most common claim!) or it goes your fault, you will only get market value. The brokers never tell you that during the policy inception, so be careful. It's true though, it's fast becoming a trend to take the easy way out with a total loss these days. Many bodyshops just can't be arsed with older cars anymore (as I found out recently) and the insurance companies are quick to dimiss or disregard any emotional attachment people may have for their cars. As for colours, there won't be many impartial views in this thread :D I wonder how many Corrado owners actually bought theirs for it's colour alone, rather than buying the 1st one they saw and then making it their favourite colour out of bias? :D My favourite colours in terms of flattering the car's shape and really suiting it are:- Silver Red Ice Grey Blackberry White Yellow - A tough one as I hate yellow cars normally, but it does suit the Corrado's shape if I'm honest! I'm sorry but I've never really liked the blues, Greens and blacks on a Corrado. Mystic and Classic are MK3 Golf colours and very common ones at that. Those two and the other shades just don't seem to pick out the car's lines in any kind of flambouyant or charasmatic way, which the others do - imo of course! Thats interesting because in theory liability really shouldn't affect the payout, I personally have no experience of agreed value claims handling so cannot offer any authority on this point but it is food for thought. My advice would be if you arent satisfied to always argue the point, it can make the offer worse and Insurers are in the business of saving money so a bit a sustained assault may result in an increase in order to minimise claim handling costs. Although that said balance this with your renewal intentions moving in to the new policy. It may not pay to p**s the Insurer off too much......

Thats awesome, thanks for the input there guys. Basically I know that my Insurers will say its a 15 year old car and so its worth £10. If I dispute the offer they will ask for evidence to justify an increase. There are only 16 VRs on autotrader and the average price is about £3,300 so I have printed off these pages, also I have found a website that comes up with independant valuations and offers an average of £3 - £4k. So i'll wait for the offer and then just write a shitty letter saying its not acceptable and see what happens. When I had the same thing with my old G60 I got a cheque for £800, did the above, and they send me an additional cheque for £1200. Anyway...... The point of this is to try to bolster the evidence that although my car has high mileage it is a desirable colour. In hind sight I probably should have said all this at the start and then ran a new thread with everyone saying that blackberry is the best, then I could screen print and send it to the Insurers. See while they bang on about 'inate value', the true value is whatever somone is willing to pay for something, if everyone says one particular colour is best then it is more sought after, and therefore worth more, and whether insurers like it or not that s**t is valid. Also for anyone else in this position if you dont like a total loss offer on your car, tell your insurers you'll complain to the finacial ombudsman if you dont get your way cos it costs them £500 to defend a claim to the ombudsman, win or lose, so they may as well pay you the extra you want and not run the risk.

Well I was hoping more for the sort of responses in line with what are generally considered to be desriable colours eg ice grey violet, black, etc rather than just, who thinks their car is the best colour, but thanks for the responses anyway. :roll:

Since I have had a confirmation of my total loss I am now in the process of making sure I dont get stung by the Insurers so in an effort to evidence as much value as possible id like to see what people think are the most desirable colours, say top 5. To ensure impartiality I wont mention what colour mine was/is..... is anyone else hungry for some sort of small dark fruit?? :grin:

Well it seems a brief moment of complacency on a patch of ice has made the decision for me. I actually saved the car but the woman who didn't brake in time scuppered my attempts at avoiding an accident. 450 degree spin, vehicle perpendicular to the road, n/s front wing dented and dislodged, wheel bent, bumper split, cracked and dislodged, unknown mechanical damage. Diagnosis....write off! RIP :(

I have koni coilovers on my VR and while a bit rugged they show their worth in the handling stakes. In the last 3 or 4 weeks however whilst the fronts seems fine I have been getting a bit more jolt for my pot hole dollar than I usually do and the back end is definately a bit more larey than usual. I have had a nose and they look fine, no signs of leakage and the springs look good save for a touch of wear. Could this be simply top mounts and/or bushes? Or is it possiblr that they are knackered and I have to start thinking about replacing them? I have religiously cleaned and lubricated the threads every 6 months or so to make sure they dont seize etc and they look the same as they always did. The last MOT said I have a split dust cover on the nearside and there seems to be a little more vertical play in the offside than I think there has been before. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your comments guys, I think the reason that Im thinking of getting rid is mainly just that it is a bit of a money pit but the 'better the devil you know' point is a good one, I have a lot to work out with reagrd to this issue. I was made redunadant a year ago from my full time job, im now earning about a third of what I used to and so even things like tax and insurance are a big deal, let alone repairs, it may well be more costly to sell, maybe not so to break but then id need a car in the interim. Im looking at a bumper and slam panel from a guy on here which i may well take, but then they require spraying and fitting, I have also been made aware of a possible dent solution involving an air duster and a hair dryer which im told should work, (see youtube for details!) I dont actually want to get rid of it but just starting to think it might be best, the problem is i dont think i could live with a small pokey shopping car. I love 350z's but the tax and MPG would be very high, and I honestly think they look great but are the most uninspiring things to drive, what a waste of a 3.5 litre v6! Other than that I find myself looking at honda civic typeRs, rx8s, and other things out of my price range. Thanks for the input folks, I will keep working the angles untill the best solution presents its self.

I've owned a 95 Blackberry VR since 2004 and to be honest it isn't the best example, I was in a rush to buy a new one after a very nice gentleman in a 4x4 wrote off my Tornado red G60. (which didnt go down to well with may mate whose brother and mum previously owned the car, and who missed out on owning it.) Anyway, I overpaid, there was rust and scratches etc but I bought it anyway. The rust I got sorted, I have changed knock sensors, cv and ball joints, the battery and terminals, the radiator (that i blew at 6000 rpm overtaking a line of cars in order to narrowly miss an oncoming HGV), new timing chains at 148k, cam position sensor, abs sensors, wheel bearings, new slam panel and front bumper, both wings and the grille. Its had a new windscreen and rear quater glass due to criminal abuse, 2 new oil sumps, a new alternator and 2 replacement coil packs. In addition to this I put on new koni RHA coilovers, bought a BMC carbon air filter and flowed and ported throttle body, she's had cosmetic surgery by way of angel eyes and smoked rear clusters and repeaters, all the brake pipes have been replaced and braided hoses fitted..... Suffice it to say that a lot has gone wrong and I never begrudged it cos I knew owning a Corrado would be a labour of love but in the last year 2 people have driven in to it so now I have a horrible split and mal-fitting bumper, a dented slam panel and a nice big dent in my driver door, both times the car was left unattended and no notes left. My ABS has been a problem since Ive had the car, sensors have been changed and I even bought a new ECU and still the intermittent problem persited. Now recently the rust has returned and it has decided to start behaving very oddly at the back and I think my shocks are on the way out. Now while to some extent this is an opportunity just to have a little rant I am actually after some advice. Should I; a)Patch it up as best I can to sell, probably for a fraction of what I bought it for? b)Try to break it and sell for parts which could be promlematic. Ask me about brakes, internal combustion or basic enigine/car anatomy and im ok but there is a great deal of stuff I couldnt ID or remove on my own. Also I would need the money from the sale to buy a new car so would be stuck till id sold most of thet parts. c) other..... Owning a Corrado has been a double edged blade of an experience as at their worst they are a real pain in the ass but at their best they are phenominal! They are old cars and prone to problems but they drive better than any other car ive ever been in. I use mine as an everyday car and as such it is easy to get used to, and therefore lose appretiation for, the way it handles and feels but then every now and again I drop it in to 2nd and turn in hard to the adverse camber of a tight bend and I remember the moment I realised why they are so loved. Its easy to get sentimental about posessions, especially cars but If you own a Corrado and dont even a little emotion at the prospect of it going to the scrap yard I say you have no soul. A Corrado is such a driver's car I wonder if I should, instead of selling it to somone who wont know what they have and drive it in to a ditch or sully its memory by ripping it to pieces, give it the blaze of glory it deserves and burn the engine out, out classing some young punk in a saxo at 160 mph...............

I will check all the above and come back, I think im getting slightly more exhaust then usual but it may just appear sdo due to the cold weather. Thanks guys I shall kepp you posted.

Well it was bound to happen at some point, i have a white residue on the inside of the oil filler cap, head gasket replacement time yes?? If so is this a home job? I have done a lot of stuff my self but nothing as involved as removing the cylinder head! Comments, guides or repair costs or otherwise re this would be much appreciated. Also my power steering fluid was very low today when i checked it, not sure about the time scale as i havent looked at the level for a while but either way im assuming this means there is a leak, again comments re locating the leak/reapiring or replacing problem parts or cost of repairs would be very welcome. Many thanks guys

Leads not lead lol

The idle of my VR is a little uneven and as I have never really bothered looking into this I thought it was time. I have cleaned the ISV and air filter and now want to change the plugs, lead and injectors however just wanted some advice as to what are they best of each. I was thinking factory plugs, Magnecor leads and red top injectors. Any other suggestions? I'm just really after smooth running and reliability as opposed to trying to squeeze any BHP where I can. Just so we are on the same page with regard to my interpretation of 'best'. Cheers Al

ahhh good thinking! I may try this if i can scrape enough money together for the calipers. Incidentally I bought an 8mm hex socket from halfords for the caliper removal and when I applied pressure to it with my socket wrench (also from halfords) not my breaker bar! the hex shaft snapped/shattered into 3 pieces, unfortunately (as my head was inside the wheel arch) this resulted in me punching myself very hard in the face with the wrench in my hand. :lol: Just an fyi if buying sockets from halfords!