davidwort

the new DVLA system is going to be linked to licence plate recognition systems so if you have no MOT, Tax or insurance you could get a fine through the post if your car's picked up, this has been trialled in Northampton nr me already and used to catch criminals, based on the fact that dodgy cars often contain even more dodgy people.

warranty will be from the original purchase date, not the last one you got! and batteries are priced according to the warranty in some cases, the Hella one I have now is a far heavier duty (diesel 74Ah) and cost less than the lower spec Bosch silver, it simply has a two instead of 3 yr warranty. David.

Bit risky as there must be a few MOT stations nr Norwich other than in Slough :)

it is legal to drive to/from the testing centre without a MOT isn't it? What about tax though? you can't tax it without a MOT :)

Can't see why not, but not on M-ways I wouldn't have thought. Get a fixed tow bar from argos rather than a rope though!

you could book it in for an MOT in Slough :wink:

I think I'd buy any corrado if the condition was spot on, although autos aren't top of my shopping list, there's so few in really good condition now, more than ever before it's the individual car and not the age, mileage, history etc.. that counts. Lets face it, even a healthy VR6 will have trouble keeping up with a lot of cars on the road these days, 200bhp isn't where it used to be in the road car power stakes. For me it's the fact it's a Corrado that counts the most, otherwise I'd probably be driving a chipped 1.8T Ibiza or something equally personality-less. David.

Admittedly they are very long intervals, but I'm sure VAG don't quote them for a laugh, and I'm quite sure they have put a lot of effort into making sure they are save intervals too. yeah, like my mk4 that stripped the plastic coating from it's tensionner and nearly wrecked the head at 50,000 miles and 3 years old :roll: better safe than very sorry.

:) I think GSF do them for a bit less. http://www.gsfcarparts.com/

70 quid :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: Mine went a few months back (after 15 years good service) and when I bought a second hand wing for 25 quid the guy threw in an aerial for nowt when I asked about one, works spot on.

got a feeling there's a fair few of them you probably need the chassis number, my dad had one start to go on his A6 and cleaning it with carb cleaner fixed it! David.

Done the heater panel, it's a fiddle as the green filter is paint and overlaid with black and white for the pictures of the seats, screen etc... you need to very gently rub down the plastic film with everything printed on it with wet and dry, taking care not to rub off the bottom layer of white and black or you end up with nothing but a clear bit of plastic film!, this also involves carefully breaking apart the two plastic halves of the panel. I used a red plastic filter to get the new colour. cruddy picture attached, but you get the idea, looks much better in real life, honest :) David.

Pretty solid cars really, I'd get a post 2000 car though with drive by wire throttle, they're more tunable and you can easily upgrade to cruise control etc.. Don't rely on the VAG cambelt change interval, it's something stupid like 120,000 miles. Oh, the coilpacks on 2001 cars are duff (4 in total), check to see if they've been replaced, post 2002 cars should be OK. Air con need cleaning and re-gassing every 3 yrs or the system can spring leaks that cost a fortune to fix, climatronic is slightly better than the manual as it tends to get left on and helps lube the seals better. David.

I've found they work pretty well, part of the problem is the exposed position of the nozzles, so that they can freeze very quickly if the temperature reaches zero outside, on frosty mornings the C nozzles work fine all the way to work (20 miles) with the heated window switch on for just a minute or two, then the engine bay temp helps keep everything thawed out even with no screen wash, just water, my golf 4 on the other hand will keep it's nozzles frozen solid all the way to work unless the screen wash is very strong. David.

:) right click and save first.

BMW jet black, that's a pretty 'dark' black. There must be more shades of black than anything else :?

All the lights near me with cameras have trigger wires in the road (rear facing Truvelo rather than the front facing radar triggered GATSO), and they make the camera flash when the lights turn red and a car then crosses them, I've watched it happen many a time at a big interchange nr me. Sometimes we sit and guess if someones going to get flashed from watching when they cross the line and what the lights are showing, I've never seen them flash on amber at all.

Come up to Northampton and you can have a go in my valver, 100kg lighter than a VR6 and 140bhp at the wheels :)

price up a new front end from VW :shock:

that's not exactly head-up-display is it Alex :lol: I suppose it's not much different to the centre console bin, but don't your knees get in the way?

Despite a few problems (most caused by me fiddling with things previously) it's been the best car I've ever had, I enjoy looking at it, driving it, working on it, even cleaning it, come to think of it I even like buying parts for it, somehow it always seems deserving of the money it absorbs. More than I can say for my golf 4, which has just eaten another coil pack :roll: David.

If I'm interpreting you right then I think you're not pressing a switch at all, it's simply the sprung tailgate release thingy, the switching on and off is done by a mecury level switch I think, so no amount of pressing the tailgate plunger will turn off the boot light :) fitting a light like the glovebox one is handy in the boot, then you can force it into the off position if you have the tailgate up for long periods of time (those little units get very hot with prolonged use) David.

first time round I bought one from VAG (about 27 quid in 1996!) second one went so I took a trip to the scrapyard, passats have the same heated washers and after looking at a few a found some already replaced ones on an old passat, good as new for 2 quid each, in fact I've got about 4 spare at home :) the other option is to rebuild them, as it's one of the connectors that corrodes the most (+ve I think) so get 2 old knackered ones and use the 2 -ve pins and you're away! David.

how about a 'finger' in the rear view mirror :fist:

yep, and you can fit either a 65 or 90Amp alternator from a golf 16v or passat 16v 1.8 or 2.0L. The later passat and corrado starters may have a different connector block to them though, even if the motor and casing is the same. David.