speedtwelve

The S2k is fine as long as it's driven smoothly and with a bit of feel and sympathy with what's happening at the back end. It has a lot of dry grip to lean on. I tend to drive it more like a GT car, balanced throttle to the apex and then smoothly unwinding lock and applying power towards the exit to be at full-throttle by the time the car is pointing straight. It does need to be balanced, and any harsh power or steering inputs would probably upset it quite quickly. I used to own an MR2 Turbo and that was exactly the same. I agree that the Corrado would be quicker point-point in the wet; I'd certainly be on the power earlier in the VR6, and am happy to come off the throttle to tighten the line on the Corrado, whereas I reckon a sudden lift in the S2000 would result in Honda/barrier interface. Even when lightly loaded-up exiting a wide corner, an upshift causes the back to move around slightly, I suspect due to the torsen diff suddenly having power removed when the clutch goes in. It's a little unnerving at first, and probably feels much worse than it actually is. It is rewarding to go quickly in through the twisties. Most of the S2000s and MR2Ts that get binned are due to people with no appreciation of RWD dynamics giving it large in 2nd gear on roundabouts and wondering why they ended-up pointing the other way. It certainly feels a lot quicker than a VR6, but as mentioned above there probably isn't a lot in it; the Corrado's acceleration feels linear, whereas there is a noticeable increase in acceleration rate all the way to the S2k redline, along with the associated effect of the 'petrol chainsaw amplified to 11' noise from the Honda. Potential reliability was a small additional consideration for me buying the Honda, although my Corrado has been utterly reliable as well (probably because the previous owner spent the equivalent of last year's RBS losses on fixing it over the years)!

Recently decided to mothball the Corrado and get something different with a £6-9k budget. I considered the following: TVR Chimaera 400: My first choice, but couldn't garage it and it really needed to do 12k miles a year. Maybe next time. Elise S1: Pretty much as above. 350Z: Didn't want to go in at the bottom end of the market with one of these. RX8 231: A bargain; practical, fabulous dash, handles well. Wanted more performance for 20 mpg, not entirely convinced about the looks. Blobeye Impreza WRX: Good all-rounder, very capable with PPP. Ugly, boring inside, could be a liability out of warranty... DC2 ITR: Really fancied one of these but couldn't find one with low-ish miles in decent nick! Anyway, I bought this: I still have my Corrado; a few subjective comparisons between the cars: Performance: My C was last dyno'd at 216 bhp/203 lb ft as against the S2000 at 237 bhp / 150 lb ft. They are roughly the same weight. Having driven them back-back the Corrado is obviously more flexible, but the S2000 VTECs at just under 6000 rpm, and between 7000 - 9000 rpm feels like it would eat the Corrado for breakfast in a straight line. Noise: Off-VTEC the S2000 is a little nondescript. At WOT near the redline it sounds like a BTCC car with that 9000 rpm jackhammer induction noise. It's also offensively loud from the airbox! Still prefer the creamy warbly VR6 of course! Gearbox: No contest. The S2k has a very close-ratio 6-speed box with a very short & precise throw. Makes the Corrado box feel like a Corolla. Brakes: Again no contest. The Honda's standard brakes are an order of magnitude better than the grooved disc/Pagid FR pads/steel hose setup on my C. Steering: S2000 very high-geared and pointy, quite like my old Mk1 Eunos Roadster. Corrado steering has much better feedback. Chassis: S2000 feels more tightly damped and responsive, with sharper turn-in. Corrado 'softer' even with Konis and H&Rs. VW much more forgiving of mistakes. Headlights: HIDs on the S2000 feel like turning the headlights on on the Death Star compared to the candles on the front of the Corrado. As I suspected, performance car dynamics have come a long way since the C was designed (and the S2000 came along in 1999!). Notice that I'm keeping the Corrado, though! Can't let it go...

...other than the McLaren F1....

My VR is on 178k miles, and was still putting out 215 bhp at its last dyno. The front is stonechipped to death, though, and there is the odd little spot of rust now appearing here and there.

I agree that for some reason the car really doesn't photograph well at all. I was completely underwhelmed at the pics, but went round to VW to actually look at the thing and it looks much more impressive in '3D'. In the flesh, the back is more reminiscent of a 'breadvan' BMW MCoupe; the front is quite aggressive also. Go round to a dealer and have a look if you haven't already.

I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the VR6's straight-line performance as 'outdated' either. Remember that even a standard one was 5.7 secs 30-70 mph in-gear, which was Escort Cosworth fast at the time. Have a look at the 30-70 in-gear times for some of the 'modern' cars listed, I think people will be surprised.

Agree that all aspects of car dynamics have come a long way since the Corrado was penned, and all of the cars on your 'Nurburgring list' are pretty capable steers, but the old Corrado still has the ability to 'mix it' IMO. I've been out on trackdays with all of the cars mentioned, and absolutely ate some of them for breakfast in my VR6 (not the ITR though...). You'd be surprised at how the car will hold its own against more modern machinery. It'd be interesting to find out how each would go 'back to back' with the same driver. I remember EVOs recent 'best FWD cars of all time' test, where the Corrado didn't exactly do very well against the ITR, Clio etc. I had a circuit drive in a Focus RS when they were new and was astonished at how well-balanced the car was, with sharp, communicative steering, an adjustable chassis and the ability to deploy all of its power out of slow corners through the Quaife LSD. It was on another level from the Corrado IMO, and that was in a car which was 'new' 6 years ago. TBH I'd chop my VR6 in for a DC2 ITR if I was guaranteed a 'good' one, but that's also a 12 year-old car... :)

You're right there! The door bump strips on mine are completely unmarked, but the crease line in the metal above is peppered on both doors with little chips from brainless mongs throwing car doors open in Tescos car parks! I don't dare take the Corrado 'into town' on a Saturday anymore otherwise I'll have no paint left.

The only major 'flaw' with my Corrado is that it isn't RWD! I'd also like a quicker rack; the feedback is there, but when I jump from my MX5 into the Corrado it's like helming a Routemaster bus by comparison. Don't get me started on how slow the rack is on my Golf VR6, I'd imagine the steering on the Titanic was more direct.

I'm also planning to get the Corrado out for the VAG trackday at Combe in July. Haven't had it out on track since Abingdon last year; might get the springs uprated beforehand, as it's running standard (new-ish) VAG VR6 springs all round on Koni adjustables. I need to quell a little bit of understeer when squeezing on the power out of high-speed corners. Played a lot with tyre pressures and damper settings at Abingdon, but JonRB reckoned stiffer springs would be the next logical step. A Quaife ATB would be great, but my wallet disagrees at the moment! Hopefully see some of you on-track at Combe!

This... I get 200 lbft at 3500 rpm at the moment, but it could do with another remap. It has noticably more grunt than a standard N/A VR6, and I can have my cake and eat it, as the other engine mods give a top-end power increase without a torque trade-off thanks to the Schrick VGI. I'm glad a previous owner paid for it though! Pity the VW bean-counters binned-it in the early stages, all Corrado VRs should have had VSR/VGI fitted from the factory.

Despite my VR's Starship Enterprise mileage the previous owner basically had the engine and suspension completely rebuilt before I got it, and as such it handles and goes like new. As a result, I'll be buggered if I'm driving it 70 miles a day to work and back! The Corrado comes out to play at weekends, and for the last couple of years I've had a Golf VR as my drive to work car. If anything it made me look forward to getting the Corrado out to play, as the Mk3 Golf's steering wheel is 'somewhat loosely connected to the front wheels' (Performance Car mag 2008...). In short, I liked outdragging most other commuters in the Golf VR, didn't like the rather ponderous handling (Koni T/As and sport springs notwithstanding; Christ knows what a standard one handles like...). Bought a Mk1 S-Spec Eunos Roadster with Bilstein suspension & Mazda factory chassis braces instead, and have been driving that every day for the last 5 months. It's as quick as my 8v Rocco and Mk2 Golf GTIs of days past, and has fabulous Prokart-like handling for a road car. The only problem is it has 1/2 the power & torque of my Corrado but is only 200 kgs lighter. A chap I know used to run a TVR Chimaera 500 & an F355, but had a Mk2 Driver 1.8 as his 'drive to work' car. After a few months of nearly dying as he pulled out of junctions with a momentary lapse as to whether he was in the 90 bhp VW or the Ferrari he settled on a Corrado VR as a slightly pokier commutermobile! Incidentally, FWIW he didn't reckon his F355 was any faster in a straight line than the TVR.

HiAsAKite Ah, you have my planned 'next car' combination. As has JonRB, I believe. Drove my Boss's Chim 400 a while back. It was everything I wanted from a TVR, other than lacking a little in the neck-snapping thrust department. No question, it'd outdrag my Corrado quite convincingly, but I think a 450 or 500 will be the way to go.

This is my daily driver: The Corrado is driven for weekends and trackdays; It's pretty much been rebuilt over the last couple of years and I'm trying to keep it mechanically 'as new'. There's no way I'm doing my 70 mile round-trip to work in it! Being a petrolhead there's also no way I could withstand driving some dullmobile on a daily basis, so the Eunos above gets around 1700 miles a month put on it! It's a JDM S-Spec with Bilstein suspension and factory Mazda chassis braces. It handles better than my Corrado, has better turn-in and steering feel. Trust me, I love my C, but the Eunos makes it feel slightly blunt in comparison (and one of my main reasons for having a Corrado was handling and feedback...). The Corrado plus points over the Eunos are looks (despite it being black and be-winged, I still think the Eunos looks a bit girly), the fabulous VR6 noise (with the Schrick manifold the induction noise sounds noticably different to other VR6s). And of course my Corrado absolutely, totally and utterly arse-rapes the Eunos in any gear. Turbo/supercharger conversion for the Eunos would be nice... But even nicer on the VR!

Owned in order: SAAB 900i (First car, fairly decent handling, really needed to be a turbo as 118 bhp isn't exactly a lot in one of these...) VW Scirocco GTX (Loud, quick, lowered, did loads of trackdays in it) Lancia Delta HF Turbo (Old-skool turbo lag, quick on-boost, excellent steering, demolished a farm fence with it) Nissan 200SX S13 (Easy to oversteer RWD turbo sideways chariot. The engine? You name it, it broke/failed/seized/caught fire/exploded) Peugeot 309 GTi (XU 1.9 engine grunt, excellent chassis, pissed-up French worker build-quality) Ford Mk2 Fiesta XR2 (The 309 GTi broke, this was very cheap and quite comically crap. Chavtastic!) VW Scirocco GT-S (race-prepared) (Road-legal as well; passengers not keen on having to climb through rollcage bars) Toyota Carina (I was confused and decided to try a 'normal' car for commuting. Chopped it in for a Mk2 GTI after about a month...) VW Mk2 Golf GTI 8v (K-Jetronic, non-PAS, small-bumper 3-door. IMO the lightest and best of the 8v MK2s. Mate's 5-door big-bumper Digi wasn't as good) Toyota MR2 Turbo (This was great. Like playing Gran Turismo, except you had to spend £50 on Shell VPower every 220 miles) VW Golf VR6 (Daily car. Koni suspension. Sounds great, pretty grunty, but not a patch on my Corrado) VW Corrado VR6 (Comes out at weekends etc. Spec as per signature. Always wanted one, ain't selling it) Mazda Eunos S-Spec Mk1 (Hopefully getting this on Tuesday! Steering is virtually of Elise quality, goes sideways on crap Chinese tyres, even in the dry)

I always find these hibernation threads depressing! I limit my Corrado to ~ 7000 miles a year total, and only drive it in the winter if the roads are dry and salt-free. I've got my Golf VR6 to abuse on a daily basis over the winter. Regardless, I try and drive the Corrado at least every couple of weeks or so. Hate to think of it lying-up without power and fuel running through it...

Even better if he shunts it and the airbags go off. It'd be like firing a Claymore mine inside the car. The driver would be picking bits of plastic Smurf and GTi badge out of his face for months...

Was planning to buy an S1 Elise instead of my Corrado but was put off by horror stories of idiots backing into the GRP clamshells in Tesco carparks. Haven't driven an S2, but have 'tested' an S1 Sport 135 and VX220T. The Elise was everything I hoped it would be, the single best handling road car I've ever driven. They are almost devoid of inertia, the steering is so direct, and chassis response instant. The Elise brakes were good, very easy to modulate. I thought the Sport 135 to be a little underpowered; I expect the standard 118 bhp probably feels pretty gutless. The VX220 Turbo was like trying to steer a car bomb explosion. It is seriously, properly fast. Steering is great, brakes are just adequate I felt. I got back in my Mk2 Golf GTI afterwards and nearly crashed it pitching it into a roundabout at VX220 speeds. I plan to go either Elise/VX220T/Rover V8-engined TVR to replave my Corrado. Given the choice of Elise/VX220T I'd go for the Vauxhall, as with boost-tweaks it'll go faster than the world with most of the 'Elise' qualities still intact.

I, too, reckon that if I turned-up at my local VW dealer they wouldn't know what a Corrado was! I service both my Corrado & Golf VR6s myself. It isn't difficult. I'm not planning to sell either car on anyway. Incidentally, I don't think my Corrado has ever seen the inside of a VW workshop outwith its initial warranty period. Since then it has spent all its life at either AmD or Stealth, until I got hold of it. Have all of the bills since 1996, the total spent so far is eye-watering...

I'm hoping to make the Autometrix VAG day at Combe in August. Corozin, Saw your car at Castle Combe yesterday. I was chatting to the chap with the orange Celica Supra 2.8 (we were both drooling over the same Audi UR Quattro in the car park) and he mentioned he knew someone with a Nothelle Corrado VR6. Not yourself by any chance?!!

Hi Corozin, thanks for the comments. I used to have a fully race-prepared Scirocco, but I just used it for club-level sprints and trackdays. The good thing about sprints/hillclimbs is that I can drive the car to the venue, compete in a 'road car' class and drive home again. My Corrado is not race-prepared, and has only the mods listed in my signature. I don't have any plans to do car circuit racing yet, as it ends-up being horrendously expensive. Even the season of karting that I did worked out at around £300 per race, what with kart slicks at £100+ per set, maintenance, kart storage, entry fees, not including the £1600 we paid for a year-old kart. Nat B non-race licence sprint/hillclimb does keep the cost manageable; much less potential to wreck the car than trying to fit through the same corner as 20 other cars for a start! The thing with Gurston and most other hillclimb venues is the selection of scenery in the way if you depart from the rather narrow circuit. My C is my P & J, and I'm not sure to what degree I'm happy risking the car. I know from previous experience that if I do compete at Gurston Down that it'll be maximum-attack once the green light comes on... A nice airfield sprint would probably be better all-round for car preservation! I still might have a day at the Gurston hillclimb school and see what I think!

Truck racing is complete lunacy. Steam pouring from water-cooled brakes, using the vehicle in front as an aid to slowing for the next corner...

Thinking of doing some sprints this year, perhaps even a hillclimb. Anyone else take part in their C's? I've done plenty of trackdays, a bit of car club sprinting (non-MSA) in Scotland, and ran a Prokart for a year in club racing. Was going to do a few trackdays this year in the VR6, but have realised that for less than the average trackday cost I can have a day of competition instead. Initially considered a day at Gurston Down hillclimb school followed by entering an event, but by the looks of the place (went to spectate last year), any big mistake into the first corner would result in the Corrado being completely destroyed! Abingdon is just up the road, and holds a sprint in the summer. Plenty of run-off; I reckon I'll have a crack at that instead. Should be less wear/tear on the car as well, on the whole day the car is only at race-speeds for a few minutes, as opposed to lap after lap at a trackday. Need to sort a Nat B MSA licence and club membership; Farnborough & District MC are the likely contenders, they seem to like their sprint events.

Funny that this is mentioned, I had a Rallye behind me coming into Newbury yesterday! Mmmmmm..... supercharged 4WD Mk2 Golf..... TBH I always thought it was a pretty ugly car. Flared 'homologation' arches on an UR Quattro, Integrale or E30 M3, Yes! On the Rallye they just made the car too 'square' IMO. Bet it's a good car with mods to the G60 engine, though!

I keep coming back to VWs over the years, interspersed with a few Jap & French coupes/sports cars/hot-hatches en-route. On the VW front I've had: Scirocco GTX Race-prepared Scirocco GT-S Mk2 Golf GTI 8v Mk3 Golf VR6 Corrado VR6 I'd always wanted a Corrado, and gave up a rather rapid MR2 Turbo to have one. If they built the Corrado VR6 today I'd have one new. Unfortunately there's been nothing from the VW stable since that's really caught my attention. I appreciate the R32s and Mk5 GTIs, but neither are a massive leap in performance or dynamics over the Rado VR. The 20VT Cupra R Leons are no slouches either, but once I come to replace my C I'm planning to go 2 seat again and higher performance, which'll mean Lotus or TVR for me. The other VAG car that I've always loved was the UR Quattro, but I've never been brave enough to take the financial risk of running one. Very nearly had an '85 2.2 Coupe as my very first car years ago until the radiator blew on the test-drive...