Mr Sands

Have had a quick look through the search but didn't find too much of relevance. As above, brother has chance of buying from a reliable colleague a silver, 5 door Mk III 16v GTI, FSH, 89,000 miles, cambelt changed and full recent service. Only two owners, appears not to have been thrashed. Given that he lives in London, this is about the best option from a crime and insurance point of view. My opinion is that it sounds like a good deal at £2100, given that my brother knows and trusts the bloke and that this is the lowest he is prepared to go price wise. Just wondered if out of those of you who have run them, what this sounds like to you and, crucially, what sort of things need checking on it. What are the culprits for going wrong? Thanking you in advance.

Someone else did spot it in the Famous Corrados thread. http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... c&start=15

Spot on Jim. Have often driven the missus' Ka and then had to readjust to the 'rado! Also spent ten lovely days in France in the summer but driving a 1.2 Fiesta. Willing little go-kart in its own way, quite nicely torquey at low revs, but I missed the Corrado so much. Longest I've gone without even seeing it in the time I've owned it. I kinda like driving other cars though, since it makes me realise just how wonderful the 'rado is when I get back in. Also, having a 25 mile commute to school which is a mixture of motorway and some lovely winding A roads is a pleasure, not a chore, when you own a Corrado. Yes, it puts miles on, but they're good miles, since I savour the drive every day.

It'll do!

Yes, indeed it did. Thought I'd flag it up on here though, in case someone would know of the car's owner, and also to fill the time until I'm sure that it's not simply been parked there, or has broken down and is awaiting pick-up.

It's by the side of the A38 in Bromsgrove, by the Redditch roundabout, just east of the town centre. First spotted it last night, but it was still there this morning, so I don't think it's broken down. It's up on the verge and I have a feeling it might have been abandoned there. It's a black valver on big alloys, look to be seventeens, clear rear light clusters, reg L313 ***. I've seen it around that area before, on the A38 and parked up outside the loading gates for the local Brewers' Fayre pub. Seen a young chap at the wheel, who I presume works there. Last time I saw it, it had a for sale sign in the rear offside window. That's not in the car where it is now, although the blu-tack is still on the window. Front plate had had some numbers blacked out but rear plate is intact. Thus it's got all the hallmarks of something he's dumped since he couldn't sell it, although I could be doing him a grand disservice. Anyone on here know the car or owner? It's a crying shame seeing it there, especially since by this morning, someone had either ripped off or nicked the offside wing mirror.

I wish I'd gone and seen it!

Potentially disastrous move: seems to me you're balancing a temporary fix to congestion against people's lives. The only times when you will need to open the hard shoulder will be during rush hour, so you will ensure that you have four gridlocked lanes rather than three. It's at best a temporary fix, since any new lanes added to motorways will eventually fill with traffic. Meantime, this now totally gridlocked motorway that you've created will render it impossible for emergency services to get to the top of the queue in the event of an accident. Jim's got it totally right. The hard shoulder is there for emergency, either breakdown or fire engine or ambulance transit. Given that eventually the traffic will just end up stationary again anyway, is this government prepared to write off the lives of people involved in pile-ups who will not get the life-saving attention they need in time?

Hear hear.

Ordered one of Dave's kits last week, got it swiftly and fitted it at the weekend. Took fifteen minutes with no need to remove the handle from the door, and now I can luxuriate in a driver's door which opens from outside! Dave, many thanks. What a great service, helping back up what a great forum this is!

Right, hat trick time. A red Mk 3 GTI pulled out onto the A38 in Worcester a couple of cars in front of me as it was getting dark this morning. Both cars between us pulled off to the right, leaving me to catch up behind him. The Golf had all the hallmarks of something that was a bit gazzed. Silly script on the number plate and some tacky mods, but still looked well cared for and good enough. Now with Mk 3's, I often watch the driver for a reaction, to see whether he'll clock the Corrado or whether it'll zoom over his/her head. In my experience, it's an even split between those who recognise the Corrado and appreciate it (particularly true of GTI/2.8 VR drivers, naturally enough) and those who are simply haven't got a clue. Now this fella obviously knew a Corrado when he saw one: having checked his rearview mirror cursorily as I came up behind him, he then did a classic double-take, before spending the next hundred yards looking more at the VR in the rearview than the road ahead. How do I know? Because the baseball cap perched ALL the way back on his head was even more vertical than usual, and he looked like he was going to throw his neck out, craning to look in the rearview. The clincher was when he then switched to looking in his driver's wing mirror for a back-up; I think he was trying to spot the grille badge to see what flavour of 'rado it was. Since he'd done that, I thought it was rude not to acknowledge a fellow Dubber, so gave him a quick flick of full beam. I got a very swift flash of the hazards in return. The missus pointed out that he was spending more time looking at the C than the road ahead, rather missing the point I felt, far too sensible a perspective. I was just tickled that he was so keen to ogle my motor. After passing the speed camera, he booted it for a moment, to see if I'd keep up, which I did (would've been rude not to). Not far further on, I had to turn off. As I slowed to make my turn, indicating, I gave him another quick flick of the lights and got the hazards in return. All in all, a really nice moment of mutual appreciation with a fellow Dubber. Put a big smile on my face and prompted very good natured, long suffering patience from the missus, so pretty much what owning a 'rado is all about!

A particular one to my hometown: for anyone who's driven through Worcester on the A38, it becomes dual carriageway in Sidbury. Where you are held up at the large traffic light controlled junction at the meeting of Sidbury and City Walls Road, the two lanes are for different desinations. The left hand lane is for traffic going straight ahead on College St (or left up Edgar St). The right hand lane is for traffic going right onto City Walls. Each lane is controlled by its own traffic light. There are two traffic lights. One is for the left hand lane. Its twin is for the right hand lane. They work independently, since there is a pedestrian crossing beyond the lights which can cause the light controlling the left hand lane to go to red before the right hand lane. This really is very simple. One merely has to watch the light controlling the lane in which one finds oneself in order to see when one can or can't proceed. Even for out-of-towners (and here I will concede that Worcester's traffic network is a warren of confusion), you should be able to clock the fact that there is still a green light in front of you, which must mean something. They even made this all even easier to comprehend a few years ago, by replacing the round green lights in each set with a green arrow design, which points either straight ahead or to the right, showing when those lanes of traffic can and can't proceed...it shouldn't be asking too much that (if you are indeed from out of town) that you can link the green symbol in front of you to the big one painted on the lane you've just driven down and figure out that, even though there is a red light in front of you, you can still proceed... However, people do fail to understand this, leading to unnecessary hold-ups, especially during rush hour. Mind you, it's not exactly crime of the century, given that all you do is hold people up for a moment or two... What is far more concerning is the flipside of people not paying close enough attention at these lights: the first phase of traffic moving on is for the left hand lane to be given the green straight ahead arrow, while the right hand lane remains at red. The reason? The opposite carriageway is about to be given the green light to go. If a driver blindly accelerates ahead to turn right there while their light is at red, they are about to drive across two lanes of traffic that's just been given the green light. I've seen people have close calls there, especially since the kind of doughnut who does this often does so like the hounds of hell are at his arse, which just gives him enough time to get in harm's way.

Right, two chufties in a row for me here! Get in. Held up by the lights in Tunnel Hill in Worcester tonight. For the few of you on here who might not know this section of road (shame on you), it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's one of those sections of road not built with modern traffic in mind: it's at the bottom of a hill, going through a tunnel under the railway line. The road narrows to become one lane only in the tunnel, and thus traffic is controlled by a traffic light, one direction at a time. Having found myself at the head of the queue for the traffic heading into town, I waited at the red light. Just ahead of me, a collection of young, street/chav looking fellas were stalking through the tunnel. Hadn't clocked me. I have an old uni mate staying with me at the moment. This is the first time I've ever taken him out in the car I've always wanted to own, so naturally, when the light changed, we both grinned as I opened up all six and let the sound boom back off the ceiling and walls as we flew through the tunnel... ...and past a crowd of excited young streetwise men, who'd turned on a sixpence when the VR begin to roar, and were whooping us past in pure rally checkpoint style, all fists waving and cheering. Love it.

Good man! Welcome to the fold!

Well, if it's a Dragon Green Storm, it's unique in the same way that the Nugget Yellow Storm we can see on here is!

Does it feel at all spongy? Have you tried bleeding the brakes at all lately? Does the pedal travel a long way, ie will it go all the way to the floor, or nearly? If it does, the chances are you've got air in your brake line somewhere. Try bleeding the brakes and/or replacing the fluid and see if that improves things. If it does, but it goes again, or if that doesn't improve things, your master cylinder might well be going or gone (perished seal) and be sucking in air, which will get into the brake line. Hopefully it won't be that, as the master cylinder's not the cheapest part. However, my brakes aren't the best and, having bled them, it hasn't proved a permanent fix. They work ok but really you should have that firm rod feel to things, and I think replacing my master cylinder is going to be necessary. When all's said and done, brakes are fairly crucial and it's worth having them in tip-top condition!

No worries CoxyLaad, a great tip deserves recognition! Works a treat!

Think I might show my girlfriend this thread! Enjoy it mate!

There we go, I thought someone who knew what they were doing would be along in a minute!

I know the part you mean. I'm afraid that, ignoramus that I am, I don't know what it is. However, mine does this too and doesn't seem to be a cause for concern!

Good thinking!

Well if they normally break, surely they should end up in the....oh never mind, I won't go through with it.

Breakers?

A mate and I stopped off earlier this evening in town to pick up our pizza. Were on our way to the pub, so stopped in the 'rado to consume, listen to music, chat etc. While doing so, my old Chemistry teacher (who lives just up the hill from there) walked by. He used to run a 'rocco when he taught me, and is VW nut. He'd been ogling the car already on approach, then was delighted to find two of his former pupils inside. Shook hands with us (the hands not holding pizza) through the open sunroof, and said "Hello lads: you're sitting in my favourite ever car!". He refused any pizza, feeding off looking the car over instead. He has a young son who arrived just when he was looking at finally getting a Corrado. I think tonight's rekindled his desire to get one. He couldn't stop wandering around it, passing approving comments about how good it was looking. Even when he bid us farewell and took off for the pub, he was still looking back over his shoulder 'til he rounded the corner. Sweet!

Superb!