dr_mat

I do 15 miles/day round trip and average 22-24 mpg. That includes motorway sprint each way. It's just not long enough to get these big engines into their efficient band...

There's a shed load of different springs listed in ETKA, but I'd have no idea which ones were which...

Exactly, fj. The only way to actually take a reading of the engine's output is to put the engine on a dyno. Most places showing vast transmission losses would admit that it's optimistic at best. A "good" VR should put between 155 and 162bhp to the wheels, so if you're in this ball park, ignore the @crank figure. But then, bhp isn't so important as torque anyway... Your point about the power loss is something that's never been adequately explained by someone who runs a rolling road. We all know what 50bhp can do (that's about 38 kW). It'll boil a large quantity of water in no time at all....

So in other words, your insurer is setting your premium based on the 23 yr old named driver. No great surprise there then! My insurers won't let me add my 27yr old g/f to my policy. No-one under 30 they say... Suits me!! :)

Best you can expect is to get VR6 insurance rates, rather than 16v. 16v was group 16 (?) VR6 is group 18. You've got to expect the prices to go up..

AMD charge £60 + VAT according to their website. And on the subject of new racks etc: my experiences. I now have a recon rack fitted, along with new track rods and track rod ends. Rear wishbone bushes were to be replaced, but the FRONT wishbone bush bolt wouldn't budge on the passenger side, so they couldn't remove that arm and therefore couldn't replace the bush. The front wishbone bush bolt uses a captive nut inside the subframe, and they didn't wanna risk breaking that. So how's it handling? Better. Much better. The car feels much more positive, much more solid. There is still a tiny amount of play noticeable in the steering, where the load transitions from one side to the other, but it's much much better than before. Plus I don't get the big heavy clunking noises on bumps any more and there's much less weaving on uneven roads. But it does still weave slightly and it does still have a tiny bit of vagueness. I'm sure that can only be explained by one thing - it has to be the column or the UJs, but is it worth the time and labour to swap those? Probably not... I suspect there was vertical play in the old rack, causing it to bounce up and down on rough surfaces. This would explain the unpredictable steering weight, and the clunking.. But that's just my theory. Meanwhile, my rechip has unleashed the Schrick properly. It was being held back previously by a butt load of pinking (mostly not audible, but the ECU knew about it). Now I'm getting 199 lbft at 3600 rpm. :twisted: I've not gained any top end power output, but I very rarely go above 5500 rpm anyway. And with 199 lbft (*) at 3600 I don't think I ever will again!! :) * - yeah I know I hate relying on rolling road "crank" figures too, but there's no at-the-wheel torque figures available. Believe me, you can feel the difference between this peak of "199" and the previous peak of "187" (ish).

Well yeah, and my wing mirrors are supposed to demist.. :roll: I guess they're a component you can't replace too often, but my personal opinion is to leave it till the next service, and keep all the scheduled jobs done at the same time, rather than jumping in and swapping things in between services. Unless you have to, of course, which it doesn't sound like you do! My 2p. :)

They are *supposed* to last 20k miles, so if they're not fouled, and the car is running ok, leave 'em till the next service. Does anyone ever have to regap plugs these days?

Yes, it was most entertaining.

It's probably not working..... ;)

Unless you have a Schrick, the whole car feels like it's lost 200kg somewhere... :)

They've made them obsolete?! Cheeky fecks!

Take one dose of salt with every flywheel figure quoted from a rolling road. Oh, and, buy a new steering rack!

Wait for the pinking..... :( But you might be lucky, everything else seems to go your way on this car, Asim.. :)

New rack: £398 + VAT from the dealer. You can't get them anywhere else. Recon rack: £around 290 + VAT from the dealer, or £229 + VAT from GSF. I can't vouch for the quality till I drive mine on monday!!

As the search will reveal, rebore/piston rings will cost ya serious wedge. You don't really wanna do it "on the cheap" either. But as the search will also reveal, you're most likely suffering from head/valve problems. Get a compression and leak down test for an engine health assesment.

By the way, for those that didn't know "eveidence" is just like "evidence", but even more conclusive!! ;)

I would write back stating that unless they can provide eviedence that there are cars of similar quality, age, spec to yours around for your "special offer" price of £2100 then they have to pay you the full current market value of the car, not the purchase price of the car. As Steve says, the point of insurance is to allow you to replace the car with another similar one. If you can't do that from their offer (or it's likely to take you 8 months searching to do it), then it's not enough money! Perhaps this is why Highway are competitive for Corrado insurance!!

So instead of being aggressive you've decided to be patronising towards those poor saps who CAN'T afford "good" tyres? ;) bait mode> :lol:

If only I could sprinkle that same magic dust on my own VR! :)

My god that's a shiny rear axle... I was reading the latest sprinter mag a few weeks back; lovely VR6 for sale on the back cover, mint condition. The guy had actually replaced both front wishbones for cosmetic reasons!!!

The way mine is going on with the work it's having done, yes. No problem... :roll:

What're you looking for? It's kinda hard to take a "overview" picture, unless you have a ramp or a pit. Or you have just rolled the car into a ditch...

My apologies. I remember being surprised by it, considering the lowly power output...

Or even the LOUD pedal. ;) Anyway, cheap shots aside, this isn't really about MPG, is it? essee, you drove a VR6. You think you can't have a VR6. Clearly you've not done many sums!! Purchase cost is a small part of Corrado ownership costs. The insurance rates for most Corrados are high, even the 2.0 8v is group 12 insurance. The G60 is group 17, VR6 grp 18. Running costs are lower for the 4 cylinder N/A cars, but if you fell in love with a VR6 you won't be happy with the 4 cylinder N/A cars. YOU are the only person who can decide. A car like the Corrado is NOT a monetary decision, no matter which model you choose. if money was really the guiding factor you'd be buying a Golf. (Or even a diesel!)